Shoot the Piano Player

François Truffaut is drunk on the possibilities of cinema in this, his most playful film. Part thriller, part comedy, part tragedy, Shoot the Piano Player relates the adventures of mild-mannered piano player Charlie (Charles Aznavour, in a triumph of hangdog deadpan) as he stumbles into the criminal underworld and a whirlwind love affair. Loaded with gags, guns, clowns, and thugs, this razor-sharp homage to the American gangster film is pure nouvelle vague.

France
1960
81 minutes
Black & White
2.35:1
French
Spine #315

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Raoul Coutard
Audio commentary by film scholars Annette Insdorf and Peter Brunette
Interviews with actors Charles Aznavour and Marie Dubois and director of photography Raoul Coutard
Rare interview with François Truffaut collaborator Suzanne Schiffman
Two documentary excerpts featuring Truffaut on the film and the source novel
The Music of George Delerue, an illustrated audio essay
Dubois’ screen test
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
Plus: an essay by film critic Kent Jones, an interview with Truffaut, and the director on Aznavour and Dubois

Cover based on a theatrical poster

DVD 2 Discs Currently Unavailable SRP: $39.95

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Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Raoul Coutard
Audio commentary by film scholars Annette Insdorf and Peter Brunette
Interviews with actors Charles Aznavour and Marie Dubois and director of photography Raoul Coutard
Rare interview with François Truffaut collaborator Suzanne Schiffman
Two documentary excerpts featuring Truffaut on the film and the source novel
The Music of George Delerue, an illustrated audio essay
Dubois’ screen test
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
Plus: an essay by film critic Kent Jones, an interview with Truffaut, and the director on Aznavour and Dubois

Cover based on a theatrical poster

Cast & Credits

Cast

Charles Aznavour: Charlie Koller/Edouard Saroyan
Marie Dubois: Léna
Nicole Berger: Thérésa Saroyan
Michèle Mercier: Clarisse
Serge Davri: Plyne
Claude Mansard: Momo
Daniel Boulanger: Ernest
Jean-Jacques Aslanian: Richard Saroyan
Richard Kanayan: Fido Saroyan
Claude Heymann: Lars Schmeel
Albert Rémy: Chico Saroyan

Credits

Director: François Truffaut
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Editing: Claudine Bouché
Editing: Cécile Decugis
From the novel “Down There” by: David Goodis
Adaptation by: François Truffaut
Adaptation by: Marcel Moussy
Producer: Pierre Braunberger
Music: Georges Delerue
Sound: Jacques Gallois
Production supervisor: Serge Komor
Production manager: Roger Fleytoux
Script girl: Suzanne Schiffman

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Explore

Georges Delerue

Composer

Composer Georges Delerue, once named “the Mozart of cinema” by the French newspaper Le Figaro, wrote more than 350 film and television scores, along with pop songs, ballads, and orchestral pieces. In the course of his work with such titans of cinema as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Mike Nichols, and Oliver Stone, Delerue, a native of Roubaix, France, created some of the most evocative film music of all time. Although he was trained in metallurgy, and began his working life in a metal factory, his lineage was musical (grandfather a choral singer, mother a pianist), and he found himself drawn in that direction, first studying the clarinet and eventually beginning to compose. After doing some scoring for television and short films (including Agnès Varda’s early short L’opéra mouffe, which is available on Criterion’s edition of Cléo from 5 to 7), Delerue was approached by Resnais and Truffaut to write the themes to Hiroshima mon amour and Shoot the Piano Player, two works at the forefront of the French New Wave movement. The scores for which he is now best known followed close on their heels: his energetic, lovely melody for Jules and Jim and his grand, swoony, undulating theme for Contempt—the latter appropriated years later by Martin Scorsese for his 1995 drama Casino. Delerue’s stature grew, thanks to scores for such films as The Two of Us and King of Hearts, and eventually he would not only win an Oscar (for 1979’s A Little Romance) and three Césars in a row (for Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Love on the Run, and The Last Metro) but also be named a Commander of Arts and Letters, one of France’s highest cultural honors. He came to Hollywood in the eighties and wrote music for Platoon, Beaches, and Steel Magnolias, among others. Delerue died in 1992.