Pépé le Moko (1937)

The anti-hero is something that has been around in film for a very long time, even in literature. There are a variety of antiheroes, from Rick Blaine in Casablanca to Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, to any gangster in any gangster movie. The earliest anti-heroes can be seen in the gangster movies of Hollywood's 1930s, but Pépé le Moko is probably one of the most significant in terms of firsts.

Directed by Julien Duvivier, Jean Gabin plays the antihero of the title, a thief from Paris who hides in Algiers and steals, steals, steals. In an early opening sequence, the police try and catch him by swarming several houses, but he is so well connected with everyone that he escapes without detection (though a gun fight ensues).

He meets and falls in love with a woman visiting from France, and wants to finally end his career as a criminal. The movie is about deception, greed, and crime, as Pépé is loses an accomplice to the police and, eventually, succumbs to a French ending. Anyone who knows French films from the 30s through the 60s (most of them, anyways), know that the characters usually die by the end. Wages of Fear (which I will review much later down the road) has an example of one of these.

But this movie is famous because it firmly establishes what an antihero is. He is charming, yet violent, pleasant, yet cold and calculating. Jean Gabin, who also stars in another on my list to review, Grand Illusion (1937), is terrific as the man who knows no limits, who steals and pilfers to his hearts content.

Really, anyone who loves a good gangster movie and wants to understand where the archetypal character came from need only turn to Gabin in this film. It is a seminal performance, laying the pathway for Humphrey Bogart, Al Pacino, and many others to follow. It is not a terrific film by any means, but it is a damn good one, and one worth checking out.