Following his dazzling directorial debut with 'Compartiment Tuers' Costa-Gavras was approached by producer Harry Saltzman. The director professed a wish to film 'The Human Condition' by André Malraux but unsurprisingly Saltzman showed reluctance! Instead they settled on a film about the French Resistance based upon the novel by Jean-Pierre Chabrol who had served in the communist-led FTP maquis.

The plot concerns a group of Resistance fighters who have succeeded in their mission to help twelve men condemned to death by the Germans to escape from prison. Much to their surprise however there is a thirteenth! Is he a spy, a collaborator or a plant? As the pursuing Germans close in it is decided that he must be eliminated.........

The film boasts an impressive cast list including Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain who had first appeared together in Claude Chabrol's 'Le beau Serge' whilst veteran Charles Vanel again effortlessly steals most of his scenes. Bruno Cremer and Jacques Perrin both play roles not entirely dissimilar to those they had played in the excellent '317th Platoon' but the contrast between that film and this could not be greater. This is more gung-ho and derring-do with a bit of comedy relief thrown in. By far the most interesting part is the 'extra man' of the superlative Michel Piccoli. His character has been written not as a villain but in the director's words as 'a lost one who has chosen not to engage or take sides.' This obviously undermines the myth of the unified resistance of the French and no doubt contributes to the film's commercial failure. Perhaps Saltzman should have gone with the director's first choice!

The film itself never stops to draw breath, contains plenty of rapidly delivered dialogue and the thrilling action sequences had to be shot quickly by Jean Tournier as they only has one camera! Christian Gaudin's contribution towards the editing is particularly impressive.

Costa-Gavras' meticulous approach is never more apparent than in the concluding scenes on the Alés Bridge. The final shot, once seen, is unlikely to be forgotten.

During the Second World War, somewhere in France, a group of fighters of the Résistance attacks a German police station to release some of its members imprisoned there. The released guys are taken, in a big hurry, to the camp of the people of the Résistance. Once in the camp, the résistants discover that among their companions who were released, there is a guy who was also detained by the Germans and who doesn't belong to their group. Inicially, they think that this guy is a spy, and in this case they should kill him to protect their group. But this guy tells to them that he was detained because of his smuggling activities and that he doesn't support in any way the Germans. He fails to convince them, they decide to kill him and appoint one of them to do the job. When this résistant takes the guy in the forest to shoot him, the guy succeeds to convince the resistant to let him free. After walking for a while in the woods, the guy discovers that the Germans have surrounded the place and are about to catch the résistants. Instead of getting away, the guy walks back to the camp of the résistants to tell them that they are being attacked by the Germans. Eventually, after some fighting, most of the resistants are killed and a handful of them caught alive. The last scene is on an iron bridge across a mountain gorge. The Germans line up the resistants and go killing them one after the other. The guy who is a the end of the line takes advantage of the distraction of the Germans, to escape, climbing down the iron structure of the bridge. The title of the film says all about this story: "Un De Trop", which means that there is no place in a conflict, for one person who doesn't belong to one of the parts of this conflict, or in other words for an outsider. It is a great and instructive story. I saw it more than thirty five years ago, but I remember very well of it. It is a pity that it has not been widely publicized.

Ending 2015 by watching "Un Homme De Trop" is a great piece of luck, this Costa-Gavras still being invisible. I really don't understand why this exceptional war movie shot with absolute genius remains invisible. Be patient, it must get released one day, every powerful movie addicts must rediscover this fantastic and suspenseful war drama, fast-paced from beginning to end. How can we imagine "Un Homme De Trop" staying invisible for again thirty years when so many invisible but dull movies get released (well, there are some exceptions of course). But I believe in Costa-Gavras great reputation, this forgotten gem will soon have a fabulous come-back, it deserves it. The cinematography and editing are so brilliant, the action is tense and very fast-paced, the actors follow that dynamic direction. No particular principal character, just Resistance in the Cévennes mountains. I was so surprised by Brialy tense interpretation, like Cremer, Brasseur, Blain, Piccoli of course, and Vanel as the old timer. Only one woman, not really useful, but it is Julie Dassin, Jules's daughter. What a great day when it will be shown again on a giant screen.

Thank you for the following friends for being fan of this masterpiece : Philippe, Marc, Jean-Pierre and that unknown guy from south.