Rating of
3/4
The worm that turns
Bribaba - wrote on 05/03/11
Jim Thompson’s novel Pop 1280. is transposed by Bertarnd Tavernier from its deep south setting to a small town in colonial French West Africa where Philippe Noiret is the apathetic chief of police. The change of location may seem drastic but it’s handled flawlessly. The racism of the French is shown to be just as vile as that of the rednecks in the original story.
In the book Thompson eschews his brutal hard-boiled style in favour of a black comedy verging on farce, though there is a typical Thompson denouement. This all works a treat thanks to a very sharp script and Noiret’s superb performance as the worm that turns, seriously reducing the population in the process. Two cornerstones of French cinema also pitch in: Stephane Audran as his brazen two-timing wife and Isabelle Huppert as a floozy (“you’ll make lots of money doing what you like doing best” is a cop's career guidance to her).
Thompson has been luckier than most writers with film adaptations; The Getaway (Peckinpah’s version), The Grifters and The Killer Inside Me have all been successful while his screenplays for Kubrick’s The Killing and Paths of Glory received acclaim. Not bad for a former Texan bellboy.
