Pasha (film)

1968 French film

Pasha

Directed by| Georges Lautner
Screenplay by| Michel Audiard
Georges Lautner
Albert Simonin
Based on| Pouce!
1967 novel
by Jean Laborde
Produced by| Alain Poiré
Starring| Jean Gabin
Dany Carrel
Cinematography| Maurice Fellous
Edited by| Michelle David
Music by| Serge Gainsbourg
Distributed by| Gaumont Distribution

Release date

* 14 March 1968 (1968-03-14)

Running time

| 82 minutes
Country| France
Language| French

Pasha (French: Le Pacha) is a 1968 French crime film directed by Georges Lautner that stars Jean Gabin and Dany Carrel and is based on the novel Pouce! by Jean Laborde. It tells the story of a senior Paris policeman pursuing a ruthless killer.

Filming began on 14 November 1967 and ended in December the same year,[1] with release on 14 March 1968.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

Six months off retirement from the Paris police, Commissioner Joss is faced with a troubling case. His lifelong friend, Inspector Gouvion, was the only survivor when a valuable consignment of gems was lifted by a violent criminal known as Quinquin, who killed not only the rest of the escorts but the three men in his gang as well. Then Gouvion is shot dead in his apartment: it could be accident or suicide, but Joss is sure it must be murder. Despite huge efforts, he can't find Quinquin but he does find the body of another of his murdered colleagues. This was Léon, whose attractive sister Nathalie works in a night club.

She admits to having known Gouvion, in fact to be being kept by him, and it was to fund his passion for her that he co-operated with Quinquin. That ended with his death, and Joss is determined to avenge his foolish old friend. So is Nathalie, who has lost both brother and lover, but when she goes with a gun to Quinquin's hideout, he shoots her too. For Joss, the wraps are now off and he is going to get Quinquin dead rather than alive. Putting heavy pressure on his sources, he learns that Quinquin is going to rob a mail train and take the proceeds to a deserted sugar refinery. Waiting there, he personally finishes off Quinquin and in a gun battle his men kill the rest of the gang.

## Cast

[edit]

* Jean Gabin as Comissaire Joss, le Pacha
* Dany Carrel as Nathalie Villar
* Jean Gaven as Marc
* André Pousse as Quinquin
* Louis Arbessier as Le directeur chez Boucheron
* Gérard Buhr as Arsène
* Robert Dalban as Inspecteur Gouvion
* Maurice Garrel as Brunet
* Pierre Koulak as Marcel le Coréen
* Pierre Leproux as Druber
* Frédéric de Pasquale as Alfred
* André Weber as Gino
* Serge Gainsbourg as himself

## Reception

[edit]

### Censorship issues

[edit]

The French Board of censorship was outraged by the violence of certain scenes in the film as well as by one particular Gainsbourg’s song in the soundtrack, with its vulgar and cynical lyrics (literally ’Requiem for a cunt’[3]), which led to the film being rated for Adults only at its release in 1968. Lautner had to hurry and edit some scenes so that the film might be distributed with a rating allowing spectators over 13 years of age.[4]

### Critical response

[edit]

Le Monde found that the film showed too much self-indulgence and vulgarity but that its ’American’ cinematographic aspects and its novelty were worth praising.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Le Pacha". bifi.fr (in French). Cinémathèque Française. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
2. ^ "Le Pacha". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2016-06-28.
3. ^ Travers, James (2011). "Review of the film Le Pacha (1968)". frenchfilms.org. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
4. ^ Telestar.fr (2021-07-25). "Le Pacha : pourquoi ce film a-t-il failli être censuré ? - Télé Star". www.telestar.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-17.
5. ^ "" LE PACHA "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 1968-03-18. Retrieved 2023-03-17.

## External links

[edit]

* Le Pacha at IMDb
* French Wikiquote has quotations related to: Le Pacha

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Georges Lautner

* The Black Monocle (1961)
* Operation Gold Ingot (1962)
* The Seventh Juror (1962)
* The Eye of the Monocle (1962)
* Les Tontons flingueurs (1963)
* Salad by the Roots (1964)
* The Monocle Laughs (1964)
* The Great Spy Chase (1964)
* How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning (1965)
* Let's Not Get Angry (1966)
* Pasha (1968)
* Road to Salina (1971)
* Icy Breasts (1974)
* On aura tout vu (1976)
* Death of a Corrupt Man (1977)
* Cop or Hood (1979)
* Le Guignolo (1980)
* The Professional (1981)
* My Other Husband (1983)
* Happy Easter (1984)
* La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding (1985)
* Triplex (1991)
* Stranger in the House (1992)
* "Le bistrot" in Drug Scenes (2000)

* v
* t
* e

Films by Michel Audiard

Written and directed|

* Leontine (1968)
* A Golden Widow (1969)
* Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drague pas, mais... elle cause ! (1970)
* Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard (1974)

Written only|

* Mission in Tangier (1949)
* Beware of Blondes (1950)
* One Only Loves Once (1950)
* Darling Caroline (1951)
* Mr. Peek-a-Boo (1951)
* My Wife Is Formidable (1951)
* Young Love (1951)
* The Man in My Life (1952)
* Massacre in Lace (1952)
* She and Me (1952)
* The Long Teeth (1953)
* The Most Wanted Man (1953)
* The Three Musketeers (1953)
* April Fools' Day (1954)
* The Cheerful Squadron (1954)
* Love in a Hot Climate (1954)
* Quay of Blondes (1954)
* Storm (1954)
* Gas-Oil (1955)
* Blood to the Head (1956)
* Mannequins of Paris (1956)
* Short Head (1956)
* Fugitive in Saigon (1957)
* Retour de manivelle (1957)
* Speaking of Murder (1957)
* Three Days to Live (1957)
* Until the Last One (1957)
* Le désordre et la nuit (1958)
* Maigret Sets a Trap (1958)
* Les Misérables (1958)
* The Possessors (1958)
* 125 Rue Montmartre (1959)
* Archimède le clochard (1959)
* Babette Goes to War (1959)
* Eyes of Love (1959)
* Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre (1959)
* Rue des prairies (1959)
* Too Late to Love (1959)
* The Baron of the Locks (1960)
* Love and the Frenchwoman (1960)
* The Old Guard (1960)
* The Counterfeiters of Paris (1961)
* Famous Love Affairs (1961)
* The Lions Are Loose (1961)
* The President (1961)
* Taxi for Tobruk (1961)
* The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1962)
* Emile's Boat (1962)
* The Gentleman from Epsom (1962)
* A Monkey in Winter (1962)
* Any Number Can Win (1963)
* Carom Shots (1963)
* Les Tontons flingueurs (1963)
* The Trip to Biarritz (1963)
* La Chasse à l'homme (1964)
* The Great Spy Chase (1964)
* Greed in the Sun (1964)
* Salad by the Roots (1964)
* Une souris chez les hommes (1964)
* How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning (1965)
* Crime on a Summer Morning (1965)
* La Métamorphose des cloportes (1965)
* Let's Not Get Angry (1966)
* Tender Scoundrel (1966)
* All Mad About Him (1967)
* An Idiot in Paris (1967)
* Johnny Banco (1967)
* A Little Virtuous (1968)
* Pasha (1968)
* Under the Sign of the Bull (1969)
* Incorrigible (1975)
* Body of My Enemy (1976)
* The Big Operator (1976)
* Animal (1977)
* Death of a Corrupt Man (1977)
* Cop or Hood (1979)
* Les Égouts du paradis (1979)
* Le Guignolo (1980)
* Jupiter's Thigh (1980)
* Il lupo e l'agnello (1980)
* Garde à Vue (1981)
* The Professional (1981)
* Espion, lève-toi (1982)
* Deadly Circuit (1983)
* Le Marginal (1983)
* Dog Day (1984)
* Les Morfalous (1984)
* La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding (1985)
* He Died with His Eyes Open (1985)

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