Alain Delon
By 
A great actor deserves a tribute from a great critic, and Farran Smith Nehme really rises to the occasion here:
These are functions of the plot, yes, but the reason we believe them is that Delon, at the moment, believes them. “The camera’s a mind reader,” John Barrymore said. Let’s add that the camera is ruthless, and it will always reveal what the actor is giving it. Delon gave the camera focused, concentrated imagination—a mind engrossed in being, not just displaying. And Delon had more range than he is credited for. The audience might see close to everything in his character, as with the self-love and manipulative charm of the ambitious Tancredi in “The Leopard” (1963). Or you might find a void, a lack of affect that goes beyond even Tom Ripley’s sociopathy into true nothingness, as with Jef in “Le Samourai” (1967). Delon reminds me, more than anyone else, of Greta Garbo, who also was called upon to redeem some subpar material on occasion. Both could project all manner of emotions in the course of a single closeup. Not merely charm; Garbo and Delon could bring that, but it wasn’t their primary weapon. They didn’t need charm because they could fascinate, exerting an almost hypnotic pull.
There was something unapologetically old-school about Delon. His idols were actors like Jean Gabin, whom he called “boss” (and who in turn called Delon “kid”). He admired Montgomery Clift, who “never moved a muscle unnecessarily,” a technique Delon obviously took as his own. And he considered John Garfield the summit: “He did 10 years before what everybody did after.” Delon arrived around the same time as the French New Wave, but worked in a slightly different key, via roles with “father of the New Wave” Jean-Pierre Melville (“Le Samourai,” “Le Cercle Rouge“) and with breakthrough figures in other countries, like Michelangelo Antonioni and “L’Eclisse” in 1962. It would take him until 1990 to take on a film with Jean-Luc Godard, “Nouvelle Vague.” Godard told Delon, “You only made three good films,” adding by way of comfort, “but you made them, you and no one else.” (No, I don’t know which films, I wish I did.)
Seeing a new print of Le Samourai at the Film Forum was a top 10 moviegoing experience for me. R.I.P.