Operation Leopard

Operation Leopard

1980 · 96 min · ★ 5.7 · War

In May 1978, the mining town of Kolwezi in Katanga, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Belgian Congo) is under attack from a group of communist guerillas coming from nearby Angola. The Europeans who work for the Belgian mining company and the Blacks who live in the town are taken as hostages by the invaders, who start a blood bath, shooting Europeans as well as Africans. Many of the Europeans being French, the French decide to organize a counter-attack, and to send a Regiment of Paratroopers from the Foreign Legion. The movie follows the stories of Delbart, a former non-commissioned officer, who was about to go back to France with his African wife and his child, Damrémont, who was Delbart's replacement, Bia, a Zairian doctor, and Annie, an American married to a Belgian engineer as well as Non com Legion officer Federico and the French Ambassador and the Military Attaché.

Directed by Raoul Coutard · Written by André G. Brunelin

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

Bruno Cremer Pierre Delbart
Mimsy Farmer Annie
Jacques Perrin L'ambassadeur Berthier
Giuliano Gemma Adjudant-chef Federico
Laurent Malet Damrémont
Pierre Vaneck Colonel Grasser
Jean-Claude Bouillon Maurois
Gérard Essomba Bia Kombo
Robert Etcheverry Le colonel Dubourg
Pierre Rousseau Debruyn
Henri Marteau Chamfort
Laure Moutoussamy Elodie

Make it a double feature

3h 38m together

Operation Leopard

Z

Both from Raoul Coutard.

More from Raoul CoutardSee all →

MovieThrillerCrime

A prominent politician is murdered during a demonstration. The government and army are trying to suppress the truth, but a tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.

Vivre Sa Vie

Vivre Sa Vie · 1962

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

Jules and Jim

Jules and Jim · 1962

MovieDramaRomance

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

Band of Outsiders

Band of Outsiders · 1964

Band of Outsiders

MovieCrimeDrama

Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.

Breathless

Breathless · 1960

MovieDramaCrime

A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.

The Confession

The Confession · 1970

MovieDramaThriller

In 1950s communist Czechoslovakia, a government minister, a war veteran long a loyal party man, leads a relatively comfortable life with his wife. However, he soon finds himself under surveillance, then under arrest. Unclear what his offense is, agents for the totalitarian regime interrogate and torture him, aiming to use their unending power to gain a false confession for these supposed crimes against the state.

Pierrot le Fou

Pierrot le Fou · 1965

MovieDramaRomance

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

A Woman Is a Woman

A Woman Is a Woman · 1961

A Woman Is a Woman

MovieComedyDrama

Longing for a baby, a stripper pursues another man in order to make her boyfriend jealous.

Shoot the Piano Player

Shoot the Piano Player · 1960

Shoot the Piano Player

MovieDramaThriller

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

The Soft Skin

The Soft Skin · 1964

MovieDramaRomance

Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a love affair with air hostess Nicole, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stay away from her.

Lola

MovieDramaRomance

A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.

The Bride Wore Black

The Bride Wore Black · 1968

The Bride Wore Black

MovieCrimeDrama

Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves home with the intent to track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?

A Pain in the Ass

A Pain in the Ass · 1973

A Pain in the Ass

MovieComedyDrama

Ralf Milan, a hitman, arrives in Montpellier to kill an important witness. He checks in a hotel without knowing that his neighbour has become neurotic after his wife left him.

Contempt

Contempt · 1963

MovieDramaRomance

Art film producer Jeremy Prokosch, unhappy with the work of his director, hires Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb, he brings in a screenwriter to energise the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.

La Chinoise

La Chinoise · 1967

MovieDramaComedy

A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.

Le Petit Soldat

Le Petit Soldat · 1963

Le Petit Soldat

MovieDramaRomance

Despite his lack of political convictions, photojournalist Bruno Forestier is roped into a paramilitary group waging a shadow war in Geneva against the Algerian independence movement.

More Like This

Platoon

Platoon · 1986

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express · 1932

Shanghai Express

MovieDramaRomance

A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.

Hart's War

Hart's War · 2002

When Col. William McNamara is stripped of his freedom in a German POW camp, he's determined to keep on fighting even from behind enemy lines. Enlisting the help of a young lieutenant in a brilliant plot against his captors, McNamara risks everything on a mission to free his men and change the outcome of the war.

The Forgotten Battle

The Forgotten Battle · 2021

The Forgotten Battle

MovieWarHistory

During WWII's crucial Battle of the Scheldt, the lives of a glider pilot, a Nazi soldier and a reluctant Resistance recruit tragically intersect.

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front · 1930

All Quiet on the Western Front

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

Savior

MovieHistoryDrama

A hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia.

Green Zone

Green Zone · 2010

During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors are dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.

Destination Tokyo

Destination Tokyo · 1943

Destination Tokyo

During World War II, Captain Cassidy and his crew of submariners are ordered into Tokyo Bay on a secret mission. They are to gather information in advance of the planned bombing of Tokyo. Along the way, the crew learn about each other as they face the enemy and some of them lose their lives.

Henry V

Henry V · 1944

MovieHistoryDrama

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

The Flying Deuces

The Flying Deuces · 1939

The Flying Deuces

Ollie falls in love with a woman. When he discovers she's already married, he unsuccessfully attempts suicide but he and Stan then decide to join the Foreign Legion to get away from their troubles. When they’re arrested for soon trying to desert the Legion—they escape a firing squad by stealing an aircraft.

The Angel

The Angel · 2018

MovieActionDrama

True story of Ashraf Marwan, who was President Nasser's son-in-law and special adviser and confidant to his successor Anwar Sadat - while simultaneously Israeli Intelligence's most precious asset of the 20th century. Based on NYT bestselling book 'The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel' by Uri Bar-Joseph.

Harrison's Flowers

Harrison's Flowers · 2000

Harrison's Flowers

MovieDramaRomance

1991. Harrison Lloyd, a renowned photojournalist covering the war in Yugoslavia, is reported missing. Sarah, his wife, convinced that he is not dead, decides to go to Bosnia to find him.

Testament of Youth

Testament of Youth · 2015

Testament of Youth

MovieHistoryDrama

Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.

March or Die

March or Die · 1977

MovieDramaAdventure

Just after World War I, Major Foster is incorporating new recruits into his French Foreign Legion platoon when he is sent to his former remote outpost located in the French Morocco to protect an archaeological excavation from El Krim, a Rifian leader who intends to unite all local tribes to fight the colonial government…

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter