Honor Among Thieves (1968)

In this stylish riveting French thriller film icons Charles Bronson and Alain Delon team up to create a one-of-a-kind buddy film with a fascinating premise. After serving together in the French Foreign Legion Franz Propp (Bronson) and Dr. Dino Barran (Delon) go their separate ways only to be reunited by an extraordinary coincidence. Barran is persuaded by a friend to sneak into an underground bank vault and help return stolen bonds. While he is hiding he comes upon Propp who is actually there to rob the safe. After getting locked inside the vault the two very different men strike up a powerful friendship that binds them together through a series of shocking developments - from a miraculous escape to being framed for murder.Runtime: 115 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 012236214083 Manufacturer No: 21408 Product Description

Farewell Friend

Farewell Friend aka Adieu L'Ami/Honour Among Thieves isn't perfect but it is a neat and entertaining thriller that sees mismatched demobbed French Algerian War veterans Alain Delon and Charles Bronson trapped in the same basement vault, one to return stolen bonds, the other to clean out the two million in wages sitting there over the Christmas weekend. Naturally things aren't quite that simple even after they open the vault, leading to some neat twists and turns. On the debit side, there's a very bizarre striptease scene in a car park, Bronson has a very irritating Fonzie-like catchphrase he uses at the most inopportune moments, Brigitte Fossey, sporting perhaps the most hideously misconceived hairstyle of the 60s (it makes her look like a bald woman whose wig is blown back off the top of her head by a high wind), is something of a liability - her "I'll cook spaghetti! I'll learn to make love well! I'll read Shakespeare!" speech is hysterical in all the wrong ways - and it's a shame about the horrible last line/shot, but otherwise this is a surprisingly entertaining and unpretentious number that's worth checking out if you can find a decent print.

While LionsGate's Region 1 NTSC DVD ios fullscreen, those with multi-region might want to seek out Cinema Club's UK PAL DVD, released as 'Farewell, Friend.' It only offers the English soundtrack, but since Delon voices himself and the rest of the cast are fairly well dubbed that's no great problem, especially since the widescreen transfer is pretty good quality.
February 17, 2008

Full screen DVD. Someone tell Lionsgate this is 2007 not 1997.

A classic 4 star old style 1960's thriller with good performances from Alain Delon and Charles Bronson. However, do not be fooled by Lionsgate's marketing department DVD cover art, this is in no way a Bronson action film such as The Mechanic, Mr Majestyk, Stone Killer, Death Wish or any number of other 1970's/1980's action rolls Bronson took on. This movie is for one third of its running time, a two man show with Alain Delon and Charles Bronson trapped inside a bank vault with little dialogue at times. Honor Among Thieves is one of four 1968 movies Bronson made in Europe after his big break in The Dirty Dozen the previous year. This one was made in France and as such is very typical of the type of movies being made in that time period. Honor Among Thieves is a small scale thriller reliant on characters with little to no action but does show that Bronson as an actor had more to offer than the simple action man roles that he ended up being type cast in. If you enjoyed other non action Bronson outings such as Twinky, Someone Behind The Door or Cabo Blanco then you will probably enjoy Honor Among Thieves also.

This movie has been out on Region 2 DVD for 3 years now under its European title "Farewell Friend". The Region 2 DVD is from a Studio Canal master with an excellent transfer to DVD with an Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen. This Lionsgate DVD has been presented in full screen.

It's good to see semi-respectable studio releases of some of these lesser know Bronson outings on DVD and perhaps Lionsgate may also get the distribution rights with decent DVD transfers for Rider On The Rain, Guns For San Sabastian, You Can't Win'Em All, Telefon or the two Bronson movies Paramount Pictures hold the rights to, When Hell Broke Loose and Villa Rides. This is 2007, 10 years since DVD first hit the market and still we have not seen DVD releases of Run Of The Arrow, Target Zero or A Thunder Of Drums.
June 30, 2007

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