Farewell, Friend (Kino Lorber Blu-Ray Review)

Is Farewell, Friend Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Kino Lorber / November 19, 2019

After serving together in the French Foreign Legion, a mercenary and a doctor reunite by a coincidence. The doctor has made a promise to a friend to break into a safe and return some improperly removed bearer bonds in an act of good faith; the mercenary follows him to steal the contents of the safe. Locked inside the vault’s building together after-hours, they reluctantly agree to cooperate in cracking the safe wide open.

Jamie’s Take (3.5 / 5)

Bonjour Bronson! This French production is the film that sparked Charles Bronson’s career as a leading man. While Bronson was already in such classics as The Magnificent Seven and The Dirty Dozen, he became an international star after Farewell, Friend was released, becoming a huge success in France and Italy. Oddly, the film wasn’t released in the U.S. until several years later.

Charles Bronson and French superstar Alain Delon (The Concord: Airport ’79) star as Franz and Dino, who served together in the French Foreign Legion and have now completed their tour of duty. Both men happen to be gamblers and thieves, two men that are not on the straight and narrow. Dino declines Franz’s offer to join him and a bunch of other mercenaries on a mission in the Congo, even slugging Franz in the jaw at the very suggestion.

The two part ways where Dino gets mixed up with Isabelle (Olga Georges-Picot) who claims to be a former lover of Dino’s wartime friend who was killed accidentally by Dino. She convinces Dino, who happens to be a doctor, to take a job as a physician at a large office building where he can deposit bonds that Isabelle’s former lover had stolen. Dino agrees and eventually finds out that the safe will also include two million francs that will be deposited before the Christmas holiday (yes, this is a Christmas movie and shame on me for not reviewing this earlier).

Franz, on a quest to find Dino, happens to come across Dino at the office building and forces Dino to give him half of the loot as the two men take turns trying to crack the safe open until they accidentally get locked inside. With no food or water and the office locked up over the Christmas holiday, the two men are at odds with one another but try and find a way to come together and devise a way to escape.

If Farewell, Friend happened to take place inside the safe for the rest of the movie, I would have been happy. Bronson and Delon are fantastic together and have such great chemistry with one another, I was really enjoying the film. But when the two break out and are able to escape without being caught, the film takes a turn that suddenly gets convoluted and muddled.

When a security guard at the office building is found murdered, the police are after the culprit who killed the guard with clues pointing to our main characters. When the police, lead by Inspector Meloutis (Bernard Fresson from French Connection II) capture Franz and tries to get a conviction out of him, he refuses to give up Dino. Meanwhile, Dino soon finds out what Isabelle’s real roll is on this scheme.

The film’s biggest flaw is separating the two lead actors and centering more attention on Dino where Bronson’s character takes a backseat. Franz is the more interesting character. He is an egotistical asshole who still comes across as cool and suave. You can see a gleam in Bronson’s tiny eyes as it’s obvious he had a fun time playing this character. I would say this is one of his better performances as he is a real treat to watch. In one sequence he even tricks some gamblers by offering up a prostitute to strip for them while he robs them of their belongings unbeknownst to them. Very atypical for Bronson who typically plays the hero, a good guy with morals. Not so much here.

God, he was great. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. You are forever missed, Charlie.

While the story could have used some help in clarity with a more spiced up third act that ultimately ends too quickly without much resolution, Farewell, Friend still has a lot to offer. If you like heist movies and crime capers, Farewell, Friend is really worth a look. It is stylistic as well and has some really nice cinematography that looks stunning on blu ray thanks to Kino Lorber’s great transfer. I remember this film was in public domain for years under the U.S. title Honor Among Thieves and I am glad that I had not seen that version on a crummy pan and scan transfer on VHS. I doubt I would have enjoyed the film as much.

Kino also offers up a 15 year old interview with director Jean Herman who has since passed away. He does offer up some interesting stories on the making of the film, detailing Bronson and Delon’s competitiveness on set and how Bronson wasn’t the original choice for this role (the two actors would eventually work together on 1971’s Red Sun. Kino, please release that on blu ray!) . The audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson is informative although at one point one of them discusses the films homo-erotism when Bronson and Delon are shirtless that I just had to roll my eyes when I heard that. The two men are locked in a safe with little air and no air conditioning, so they have their shirt off because it is hot…big fucking deal. Roadhouse, this is not.

I really liked Farewell, Friend and would easily recommend this but it’s a film you really need to pay attention to as the plot can get too complicated for it’s own good, especially in the third act. Pause it if you gotta take a piss or look at your phone as any distraction may cause you to be lost. Plus it is disrespectful to ignore Charlie when he is on the screen.

Au Revoir!