Boomerang (1976) (Blu-ray Review)
Director
José GiovanniRelease Date(s)
1976 (October 14, 2025)Studio(s)
Adel Productions/Filmes Cinematografica/Lira Films (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Another interesting, introspective crime drama from director José Giovanni, who also co-wrote the screenplay in partnership with star Alain Delon, Boomerang (Comme un boomerang, “Like a Boomerang,” 1976) like Kino’s simultaneously released Last Known Address, also directed by Giovanni, explores familiar crime genre tropes from an unusual perspective, and with greater attention to detail and authenticity. In this case it’s a story told from the perspective of a father whose teenage son is accused of murdering a cop. The film has a minor twist about halfway through, and its last 20 minutes are an exciting but less imaginative retread of High Sierra (or maybe I Died a Thousand Times). Still, overall, it’s well above average.
Alain Delon stars as Jacques Batkin, Polish-French, who married into money, becoming president of his father-in-law’s international industrial truck company, based in Nice. But as the film opens, Batkin’s 17-year-old son, Eddy (Louis Julien, who resembles Delon), from a previous lover, at a party and under the influence of drugs is frightened by lights shining in from a nearby window. He grabs a loaded shotgun that others are fooling around with and unwittingly shoots dead a police sergeant standing just outside.
Though obviously not premeditated, under French law Eddy must stand trial for murder and faces a minimum 20-year sentence, perhaps even a death sentence. Longtime family lawyer Jean Ritter (the great character actor Charles Vanel) offers to help, acting as a junior lawyer under specialist Vaulnet (Gérard Hérold), but public opinion has in recent years turned sharply against violent crimes committed by young men like Eddy. Further, Eddy’s elite-class upbringing also works against him, Batkin’s Polish descent further triggers a subtle anti-immigration backlash as well.
Prompted by Ritter, Batkin visits the wife (Suzanne Flon) of the dead policeman, each impressed with the other’s empathy, she persuaded to write to the court asking for clemency. But then newspapers break the news that Batkin himself is a once-powerful gangster and ex-con, turning the widow Grimaldi and just about everyone else in France against Eddy, the apple falling not far from the tree. Ironically, this revelation helps the terrified Eddy; his prison mates suddenly respect him.
Boomerang works best when the focus is on Batkin trying to come to terms with what his son has done, and his desperate efforts to spare him many life-ruining years behind bars. Eddy’s crime clearly isn’t murder in the usual sense, but an accident, manslaughter. Yet outside forces beyond Batkin’s influence, the political winds of mid-1970s France, are less forgiving, and through no fault of his own Batkin’s wealth and, later, his criminal past, work against the boy’s already bleak chances.
In Giovanni’s hands, seemingly ordinary scenes become very interesting. Both Ritter and Batkin’s wife, Muriel (Carla Gravina), are supportive, they trying to help him hold it together as the trial nears, but realize that he’s reverting back to the gangster character he tried for so many decades to put behind him. The film has many interesting moments: in an early scene, just after the crime, everyone in his office says “Bonjour” to him, but as the court of public opinion shifts against Eddy (and, by proxy, Batkin), everyone at the office has either turned against him, doesn’t want to be associated with him, or is too embarrassed even to greet him.
Charles Vanel is particularly good, projecting intelligence and wisdom, and a man who has known Batkin his entire adult life, he understanding the dynamics of the family. An icon of French cinema probably best known for his leading performance in The Wages of Fear, Vanel had an extraordinary career stretching from 1923 to 1988, his last film released one year before his death at 96. Here, at a mere 84, he exhibits both extraordinary energy and subtle concentration. He’s particularly good in one scene where, talking with Eddy in prison, he tries to persuade the boy to write his father a letter expressing acceptance for whatever follows, hoping that will take some of the emotional weight off Batkin’s shoulders.
The last 20 minutes or so is basically a retread of High Sierra, (spoilers) with Batkin and Eddy hotly pursued by police cars and helicopters to the Italian border and its high mountains. Everything in the first part of the film hinted at something else entirely, of Batkin, as the father, having to face his son’s fate, possibly with Eddy being sentenced to death. Instead, what follows is much more conventional, but it is, admittedly, suspenseful and very well directed. Georges Delerue’s musical score is also excellent.
Kino’s new Blu-ray, derived from a 2020 restoration in 4K restoration by StudioCanal, has an impressively razor-sharp image of this 2.35:1 Panavision production, though I did find the color very slightly on the green side, with weaker flesh tones, but mostly it looks great. The DTS-HD Master Audio (French only, in 2.0 mono), is excellent, with optional English subtitles. The disc itself is Region “A” encoded.
Extras are limited to a trailer and an audio commentary track by the prolific team of historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson.
Boomerang held my interest throughout, with Alain Delon carving out yet another intriguing outsider character. Well-made and recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV