Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, in a career-defining performance. After executing a perfectly planned hit, Jef finds himself trapped between a dogged police investigator and a cruel employer, and neither his fedora nor trench coat can protect him. Le samoura, a beautifully stylized work of cool by maverick filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, is a razor-sharp blend of 1940s American gangster filmmaking and 1960s French pop culture, with a healthy dose of Japanese samurai mythology.