The Professional

The Professional

Never leave vengeance to amateurs.

1981 · 108 min · ★ 7.2 · Action, Adventure, Thriller

Josselin Beaumont, a French secret agent, is tasked with assassinating Njala, the president for life of Malawi in Africa. A shift in French policy means that assassinating Njala is no longer an option. But instead of recalling their agent, high-ranking officials deliberately sacrifice Beaumont by handing him over to the Malawian authorities. Arrested, tried, and imprisoned, he nevertheless manages to escape. Back in Paris after a two-year absence, he informs his superiors through Colonel Martin that he will fulfill his contract during Njala’s upcoming official visit to Paris between the 12th and 15th of this month, and that he has a few scores to settle with the D.G.S.E. The question is, should Beaumont be stopped or not?

Directed by Georges Lautner · Written by Michel Audiard

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo Commandant Joss Beaumont
Robert Hossein Commissaire Rosen
Elisabeth Margoni Jeanne Baumont, épouse de Joss
Jean-Louis Richard Colonel Martin
Jean Desailly Ministre
Michel Beaune Capitaine Édouard Valeras
Cyrielle Clair Alice Ancelin
Pierre Vernier Salvatore Volfoni
Marie-Christine Descouard Doris Frederiksen, pute présidentielle de Mme Claude
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu L'inspecteur Farges
Pierre Saintons Le président Njala
Gérard Darrieu L'instructeur Picard

Make it a double feature

3h 37m together

The Professional

Is This Reasonable?

Both from Georges Lautner.

More from Georges LautnerSee all →

Crooks in Clover

Crooks in Clover · 1963

Crooks in Clover

MovieComedyCrime

An aging gangster, Fernand Naudin is hoping for a quiet retirement when he suddenly inherits a fortune from an old friend, a former gangster supremo known as the Mexican. If he is ambivalent about his new found wealth, Fernand is positively nonplussed to discover that he has also inherited his benefactor’s daughter, Patricia. Unfortunately, not only does Fernand have to put up with the thoroughly modern Patricia and her nauseating boyfriend, but he also had to contend with the Mexican’s trigger-happy former employees, who are determined to make a claim.

Let's Not Get Angry

Let's Not Get Angry · 1966

Let's Not Get Angry

MovieCrimeComedy

One-time gangster Antoine is enjoying retirement on the coast, now managing a boating club. He receives a visit from a former accomplice who asks for a loan. The money will be repaid by a crook who is now in hiding; Antoine intends to recover his money.

The Great Spy Chase

The Great Spy Chase · 1964

The Great Spy Chase

MovieComedyAction

A cold-war spy parody. After the death of an armaments manufacturer, an international group of spies is drawn into a high-stakes battle of wits to obtain the valuable military patents which have been inherited by the lovely widow.

The Seventh Juror

The Seventh Juror · 1962

The Seventh Juror

MovieThrillerCrime

In a moment of madness a middle-aged, married and respectable pharmacist kills a young woman who is sun-bathing by a lake. Unable to take in what he has done, he flees from the scene of the crime and behaves as if nothing has happened. Eventually her boyfriend is charged with the crime and, in a strange twist of fate, the killer finds himself serving on the jury.

Pasha

MovieDramaCrime

Six months before his retirement from the criminal police, inspector Joss finds his colleague Gouvion dead, in a poorly faked suicide attempt. Joss loses his temper, and investigates on his own, which leads him through the bas-fond of Paris...

Death of a Corrupt Man

Death of a Corrupt Man · 1977

Death of a Corrupt Man

MovieCrimeThriller

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

Troubleshooters

Troubleshooters · 1971

Troubleshooters

MovieActionComedy

The day he is released from jail, Serge is expected by four killers sent by Count Charles Varèse assigned to make him confess where he has hidden the jewels stolen during his last stickup. On the other hand the police inspector who arrested him offers him protection on condition he gives him the same piece of information. Serge refuses and is about to be tortured by Varèse's henchmen when Michel, a friendly hood, comes to his rescue. His friendship will result in... a heap of corpses! —Guy Bellinger

The Road to Salina

The Road to Salina · 1970

The Road to Salina

MovieDramaMystery

Jonas, a young drifter, is wandering in a deserted area on the road to Salina, Mexico. He stops at a desolate roadside service station when Mara, the owner, identifies him as her son Rocky, who disappeared four years ago. Feeling sorry for Mara, he decides to stay on and meets Mara's friend Warren and Rocky's sister Billie, but dark facts are to be revealed about the disappearance of Rocky.

Cop or Hood

Cop or Hood · 1979

MovieComedyCrime

When the local police inspector was found dead in a prostitute's house, police division commissioner Stan Borowitz is sent to investigate the situation. Posing as the prostitute's long-lost brother "Antonio Cerruti," he discovers a mare's nest of police corruption. In fact, in this comedy thriller the whole town is corrupt. If they were closely examined, Stan's methods for pursuing this investigation might embarrass the police. For instance, he drives into a criminal's house in a fancy, expensive race car. In another incident, he callously blows up a casino owned by Musard , one of the town's crime bosses. On that occasion, he first forces Musard to remove his clothes, and the poor criminal watches his casino explode from across the square while standing naked in a phone booth. Meanwhile, Stan seduces the lovely Edmonde.

Is This Reasonable?

Is This Reasonable? · 1981

Is This Reasonable?

MovieComedyAction

A young journalist comes from Nice to Paris to meet with the famous judge, Simon, hoping he will help her understand a case. She does not know that, according to the will of fate, in the office of judge was fugitive criminal. The couple hit the road.

There Once Was a Cop

There Once Was a Cop · 1972

There Once Was a Cop

MovieCrimeComedy

Campana, a commissar at the drugs bureau of Paris police gets an undercover job in Nice to catch an Italian-French mafia boss. As he slips into the identity of a gangster's brother, who was already killed, he has to play the role of a loving husband with child - something that is not so easy for a confirmed single like Campana. Unfortunately American killers chase behind the Nice mafia clan too, in order to get control of French drug trades to USA.

Le Guignolo

Le Guignolo · 1980

MovieComedyAction

After the failure of his recent criminal exploits, international con artist Alexandre Dupré sets off for Venice to try to dupe some Japanese business men into buying a fake copy of a stolen Caneletto. On the aeroplane, a stranger asks him to look after his briefcase until after they have landed. Alexandre agrees, but the stranger is shot dead soon after and Alexandre himself becomes the target of enemy agents who are keen to recover the briefcase...

My Other Husband

My Other Husband · 1983

My Other Husband

A woman leaves her husband and marries another man without divorcing the first.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter · 1984

Chronic serial womanizer Stephane Margelle drops his wife Sophie off at the airport so she can go away for Easter weekend. He immediately picks up beautiful young Julie, who has just had a fight with her married boyfriend. He gets her back to his apartment and is preparing for a sexy weekend, when his wife suddenly returns home. He makes up a bizarre, on-the-spot, spur-of-the-moment story that the gorgeous girl is actually his long-lost daughter. Julie plays along, but this leads to a whole series of increasingly ridiculous lies and comical situations (such as when her real mother shows up).

Icy Breasts

Icy Breasts · 1974

MovieThrillerDrama

On a beach in Nice, François meets the mysterious Peggy and falls in love with her. Following her to a villa, he meets Marc, a lawyer who has a strange relationship with the girl.

How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning

How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning · 1965

How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning

MovieComedyDrama

The film consists of three novels. The film begins with the fact that the Bernard Blier hero removes a lantern from the entrance to a brothel. The second part is about how the lantern and jewelery were stolen from a young baroness. And in the third part the hero of Louis de Funes hangs a lantern at the entrance to his house.

More Like This

Running Out of Time

Running Out of Time · 1999

Running Out of Time

MovieDramaAction

Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime syndicates.

Lady Snowblood

Lady Snowblood · 1973

MovieActionCrime

A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride · 1987

The Princess Bride

MovieAdventureFantasy

In this enchantingly cracked fairy tale, the beautiful Princess Buttercup and the dashing Westley must overcome staggering odds to find happiness amid six-fingered swordsmen, murderous princes, Sicilians and rodents of unusual size. But even death can't stop these true lovebirds from triumphing.

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity · 2002

The Bourne Identity

MovieActionMystery

Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Supremacy · 2004

The Bourne Supremacy

MovieActionDrama

A CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum · 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

MovieActionDrama

Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.

The Tailor of Panama

The Tailor of Panama · 2001

The Tailor of Panama

MovieDramaThriller

A British spy is banished to Panama after having an affair with an ambassador's mistress. Once there he makes connection with a local tailor with a nefarious past and connections to all of the top political and gangster figures in Panama. The tailor also has a wife, who works for the Panamanian president and a huge debt. The mission is to learn what the President intends to do with the Canal.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie · 2008

MovieDramaThriller

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale · 2007

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

MovieAdventureFantasy

A man named Farmer sets out to rescue his kidnapped wife and avenge the death of his son – two acts committed by the Krugs, a race of animal-warriors who are controlled by the evil Gallian.

Taxi 2

MovieActionComedy

A cabdriver and a cop race to Paris to rescue a love interest and the Japanese minister of defense from kidnappers.

Topaz

MovieDramaThriller

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.

Yella

MovieDramaThriller

A young East German woman leaves her controlling husband/business partner and relocates to a West German city to start anew as an accountant, but he soon catches up with her.

Eye of the Devil

Eye of the Devil · 1966

Eye of the Devil

MovieHorrorMystery

A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret.

Red River

Red River · 1948

MovieWesternDrama

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

Baise-moi

Baise-moi · 2000

MovieCrimeDrama

Nadine and Manu are two mad women, as tidy as can be, almost perfectionists. They have several things in common: extreme sex, drugs, beer and the trigger. They find the solution to their problems with guns and beware to those who dare to get in their way!

The Astronaut's Wife

The Astronaut's Wife · 1999

The Astronaut's Wife

MovieDramaScience Fiction

When astronaut Spencer Armacost returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian, more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems to have changed, but her concerns fade when she discovers that she's pregnant. As Jillian grows closer to becoming a mother, her suspicions about Spencer return. Why does it seem as if he's a different person?

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter