Movie #89 Shoot the Piano Player *1960*

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster" ~ Henry Hill, Goodfellas

Last night I finished off a trifecta of French films with Francois Truffaut's 1960 Shoot the Piano Player.  This is one of my favorite films to come out of the French New Wave movement of the late 50's and early 60's.  The movement was distinguishable by its use of jump cuts, low budget ascetics, characters breaking the 4th wall, inner monologues presented by voice over and use of locations instead of sets.  This is the movement marked by the first use of the term auteur.  The Auteur theory claims that a director is the author of a film. He/she is responsible for the over look and feel of a film.  One of the first person to use this term was Francois Truffaut.

Shoot the Piano Player is about a man named Charlie who plays piano in a small cafe in Paris.  His bother has committed a crime and double crossed some crooks that are looking for him.  The thugs find Charlie and his new found girlfriend, Lena, and try to pump them for information as to the where abouts of Charlies brother.  They go as far as to kidnap Charlie's son Fido.  During the course of the film we find out that Charlie has lived two very different live to the life he now inhabits. 

This film is about as French New Wave as it gets.  This is a very fun film with homages to the works of John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock.  Charles Aznavour is fantastic in the lead role of Charlie.  I also found Michele Mercier breath taking as the prostitute next door who looks after Fido when Charlie isn't around and "looks after" Charlie when Fido isn't around, if you know what I am saying.

This script is lock tight.  I love the playfulness of it.  It is whimsical and totally without contrivance.  Other films in the French New Wave are: Breathless, Jules and Jim, Perot le Fou, Rififi, Le Samourai and Bob the Gambler.  The last two were directed by my favorite New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville.  But I would say that if you want to get into the movement, Shoot the Piano Player is a great film to spark your interest.

Modern film makers that claim to have been influenced by the French New Wave are: Altman, Coppola, De Palma, Scorsese and Tarintino.  I love the movement and always look forward to expanding my mental catalogue of the films within.  I give Shoot the Piano Player a 5/5 stars.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.