Vultures, The (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Henri VerneuilRelease Date(s)
1984 (February 17, 2026)Studio(s)
Carthago Films S.a.r.l./Cerito Films/Soprofilms/V. Films (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Wikipedia describes The Vultures (Les Morfalous, or, “The Gluttons,” 1984) as a French remake of the Clint Eastwood film Kelly’s Heroes (1969), but other than operating from the same basic premise—during World War II, soldiers decide to steal millions of dollars’ worth of gold bars to keep for themselves—the two films otherwise have different plots and characters. This one is a star vehicle for Jean-Paul Belmondo, he once again playing a devil-may-care type oblivious to the danger he constantly puts himself into; no matter how perilous the life-threatening situation, Belmondo just flashes that 50-million-franc smile, confident that he, at least, will come out of it alive.
The awkwardly structured screenplay starts out well, with a convoy of the French Foreign Legion, charged with recovering six billion francs worth of gold bars from a bank in El Ksour in French Tunisia, ambushed by a German platoon in the city square. The legionnaires are virtually wiped out; all that remain are Sgt. Augagneur (Belmondo), Adjudant Mahuzard (Michel Constantin), Boissier (Michel Creton), and Borzik (Maurice Auzel). They take refuge in an abandoned hotel, where they find artilleryman Béral (Jacques Villeret), the lone survivor of his unit.
Borzik is quickly picked off, but Augagneur and Béral use a howitzer on the Germans, killing all of them except for their commander, Capt. Dieterle (Pierre Semmier). The next morning, Augagneur and Boissier want to steal the gold but this is opposed by Mahuzard, whom they lock up. The manager of the bank, François de la Roche-Fréon (François Perrot) is also against this, but Augagneur discovers that the bank manager’s wife, the beautiful, scheming Hélène (Marie Laforêt), is only too happy to partner with Augagneur and kill all the others. A German driving a tank, Lt. Karl Brenner (Matthias Habich), one of Hélène’s many lovers, also turns up; he has his own ideas about the gold.
After about 20 minutes of slam-bang war movie action at the start, the middle-third of The Vultures becomes hopelessly talky, with everyone squabbling about whether or not to steal the gold, the best way to fence it, and the endless double-crossing of various alliances. Some of the cynical, black humor comes across reasonably well, but one senses a lot of the French dialogue’s humor is getting lost in translation.
The final 20 minutes returns the story to war movie action-suspense, which generates some interest, but overall the narrative is as absurdly unbelievable as John Huston’s (Escape to) Victory, made a few years before, and much less goofily enjoyable than that picture.
Unlike Belmondo’s outstanding The Professional (1981), which featured the actor’s signature dangerous physical stunts, The Vultures carries little weight. He’s got screen charisma to spare, but unlike the narrative thrust driving The Professional, the characters in The Vultures are paper-thin and uninteresting. The ambush sequence at the beginning is pretty good and the danger facing the survivors is believable. But once that’s over and various characters debate stealing the money, taking turns getting the drop on and betraying one another, viewer engagement wanes quickly. Further, it doesn’t help that Belmondo’s character is as confidently indestructible as Superman.
Kino’s Blu-ray, licensed from StudioCanal, is presented in its original 1.66:1 widescreen format and looks great throughout, almost like a new movie. The color, detail, and contrast are all excellent. The DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono) is good for what it is, in French only with optional English subtitles. The disc itself is Region “A” encoded.
Extras are limited to a French trailer and a new audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Howard S. Berger.
The Vultures isn’t bad, exactly—there are enough action scenes and footage of Belmondo being emblematically Belmondo to keep one entertained, but that dull, talky middle section tests one’s patience and, even as unambitious, crowd-pleasing entertainment, it falls short.
- Stuart Galbraith IV