Hustle

Aldrich capitalised on the euphoric success of THE LONGEST YARD to make a second project with Burt Reynolds, which turned out to be one of the darkest contributions to the pessimistic noir revival of the 1970s. What’s more, the crime plot takes a back seat to the central romance, though this too is gnawed away by doubt. Police Lieutenant Phil Gaines (Reynolds) is investigating the death of a young woman in Los Angeles, but his superiors want to shelve this seemingly trivial case as a suicide. Meanwhile, Phil is struggling with his relationship with French luxury call girl Nicole Britton (Catherine Deneuve). Aldrich paints a portrait of a world riddled with corruption that is sinking into melancholic darkness: the cynicism of the powerful clashes with the despair of the “nobodies,” while the protagonists are worn down by the compromises of everyday life. Aldrich’s characteristic anger is almost swallowed up by sadness. He explained the screenplay’s social significance in the following terms: “The aftermath of Watergate is we’re living in a two-tier system of justice and a two-tier system of influence. It’s more than the haves and have-nots, it’s a whole combination of inequality.” (Christoph Huber)

Courtesy of the Cinémathèque suisse. 

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