Philippe Noiret plays a leather-jacketed corrupt cop who is the king of his little bailiwick in one of those corners of Paris tourists never see, gruffly administering rough justice while collecting bribes and sweeteners right and left. All is well until he's stuck with a rookie partner, a handsome straight arrow college graduate (Thierry Lhermitte) with ambitions to be police commissioner one day, who believes in arresting lawbreakers instead of chasing them into someone else's neighborhood, and who is definitely cramping Noiret's style and cutting into his income. What to do? Noiret and his longtime lover, an ex-hooker who owns a bar, decide that the best way to humanize this guy is to get him involved with an expensive new girlfriend who he can't afford on a cop's salary. A suitable working girl is found, the expected happens, and by the end Noiret is retired (after a short stretch in the can) and Lhermitte has inherited his place and his way of life.
No surprises along the way, but a very enjoyable ride.
No surprises along the way, but a very enjoyable ride.