recommended

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I watched this movie in the theater, as a kid, in original time it came out. There were 2 showrooms with daily projections each, every 2 hours, one on odd the other on even hours. Ever since I'm not sure about the ending. Namely, was he really ... BTW those two ..., or he made a deal with those Canadian ..., so everybody would ..., while he ... enjoy ... with his ...Am I expecting too much from this movie? Never the less, it's one of my private cults, and these last couple of lines are just to conform to IMDb minimum No. of lines rule. But it seams they will never get enough of it. Blah , Blah ...

They do not love, that do not show their love.--SHAKESPEARE.Henri S.,a middle-aged man who works in the transport trucks business,is ready to switch from one mistress to another:from a richer one,Dominique (who is also his boss),to a younger,poorer one,Julie Manet (played by Carole Laure ,a Canadian starlet).Dominique doesn't seem ready to accept Henri's leave,on the contrary.She tracks "Julie" and meets her at the "Citadel",somewhere outside the town.The two women fight,Dominique knocks Julie,asks her to leave Henri,offers her money.Julie manages to run off.Dominique kills herself.Dominique's body is found.A cop inquires into her death,and looks inquiringly at Julie,he believes she settled Dominique's hash.Some marks,some witnesses,some paint scratched lead to Julie.Henri inherits ,by Dominique's will,a large sum of her money.He and Julie are both taken to task.They did not kill Dominique,are not responsible for her death;non the less,some things indicate them.On that score,the police suspects Julie.Henri decides to solve this on his own;his innermost thoughts are hidden.He seems to hold off,while he deepens in himself and works up a carefully conceived plan. Henri seems to accuse Julie and to leave her to her own devices;in fact,he gives her a leg up,and paves the way for them getting through.(" No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with only a single thread."--BURTON.)He outwits the cops,and moves heaven and earth to tip the scale.His plan has two steps:first,he does everything to incriminate "Julie Manet",so that he may gain some time,then he plants evidences against himself and drives the policemen to suspect him,so that "Julie Manet" may be released Scot-free,while he leaves France,going the whole hog.He pushes this plan through.In Canada,he works as a trucker.Julie,still in France,gives birth to Henri's child.Henri S. will drink his cup to the lees.The movie gets increasingly good.La Menace's last third (after "Henri" leaves France) is very suspenseful,igneous,uncompromising and intense,it looks like an homage to Clouzot.The climax is violent,it has suspense,bitterness,and strength.Montand is ripping,does himself justice as the gnarled,ungentle Henri and acts keenly.If you are a serious Alain Corneau fan,don't miss this one.

Corneau's career is a bit of a puzzle. He started with thrillers and is now making sombre mood pieces like Nocturne indien and Tous les matins du monde that feature career making performances (see Anne Brochet in the latter). La menace starts off as a tight thriller with a harried Yves Montand trying to balance wife and mistress, loses some momentum in the middle as fumble-foot detective Balmer sniffs around the principals, then picks up for a slam-bang finish in the twisting mountain roads of southern British Columbia.Montand and Carole Laure, the Canadian singer-actress, supply the tension after the sudden death of Marie Dubois (who is the best performer in the picture). Although it's not as good as the classic Série noire with Dewaere, this is a watchable film.

With hindsight,Alain Corneau's best works are his second (Police Python 357),the third one (this one) and the fourth effort(série noire).The first two are unpretentious suspense movies which are quite gripping.THe last one is a different matter:much more ambitious in scope ,Corneau ,abetted by the late Patrick Dewaere,peaks and shows his limits the same way.Subsequent works will be overblown sagas (Fort Saganne),boring arty works (tous les matins du monde) and blatant commercial duds (le prince du Pacifique)."La menace" and "POlice Python 357" look like each other.Both feature Montand ,trying to get away with an inextricable situation.In both movies,in order to fool the POlice,he accumulates false pieces of evidence,clues made up from start to finish,you name it...Enough is enough!Sometimes the viewer is fed up .It's more obvious in "la menace" than in "Police Python 357" because the pace is too slow,and the movie suffers from an inexpressive Carole Laure.MINOR SPOILER:It's really too bad that highly superior Marie Dubois should disappear so early in the story(after 25 minutes!)END OF SPOILERMontand was not that much exciting an actor either.Best male part comes from Jean-François Balmer,playing a die-hard Colombo ,but with a clean raincoat.The ending is rather unusual and nicely absurd;But ,should the Canadian long-distance truck drivers see this movie,they might not agree with the picture of them Corneau gives to the world.