Wet Swashes of Buckles

We watched Cartouche (1962) because we enjoyed Fanfan la Tulipe so much. Since it stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, we felt like we would be in good hands.

Belmondo plays a devil-may-care thief and pickpocket in 18th-century Paris. He works a loyal boy companion and turns all of his loot over to Malichot, king of thieves. But Malichot gets too greedy, so Belmondo fights him and escapes. Like Fanfan, his escape route is through the army. Once there, he makes some friends and robs the general of the gold for the payroll, as the thief called Cartouche.

Hiding out in an inn. they find Claudia Cardinale as Venus, a free spirit being held captive, and Belmondo frees her. This merry band go on a spree, robbing nobles and giving (some) to the poor. As he gets more famous, he heads back to Paris to challenge Malichot - and soon he's king of the thieves.

He spends time with Cardinale alone in the countryside, but has his sites set on an aristocratic married woman, Odile Versois. Venus is jealous, but fiercely defends Cartouche's right to romance any woman he wants. But he should not have left Malichot alive. He rats Belmondo out to the police, who set a trap for him.

He escapes, but Cardinale dies to save him, which leads to a very downbeat ending: He vows to avenge her, even though he expects it to lead him to the gallows. "And may we get there swiftly."

Wow. After all the gaiety and happy violence, this really put a damper on our mood. It wasn't just sad, but mean - and highlighted how mean some of the rest of the movie was.