The Outside Man 1972

French hitman Lucien Bellon Jean-Louis Trintignant is hired to kill Kovacs, a major California mobster. He flies to Los Angeles, checks into a hotel, and drives out to the victim’s luxurious home. Finding the man alone, he shoots him dead and makes his getaway. Back at the hotel, his room has been stripped, including his passport and plane ticket. Emerging into the neon-lit streets, he discovers that he is being trailed by a relentless hitman, Lenny Roy Scheider who keeps trying to shoot him.

To shake off the pursuer, he takes a woman hostage and holes up in her apartment. On the TV news he sees Kovacs’ murder reported, but the description of the suspect does not fit him at all. With only a gun and some money, and the sense that his days are numbered, he cannot survive long. He calls his boss in Paris, Antoine Michel Constantin, who tells him to find an old friend, Nancy Robson Ann-Margret, who works in a strip club. She hides him and organises a passport.

When Lucien’s pursuer, Lenny, tracks them to a motel, Lucien captures him and explains the situation. Lucien was hired to eliminate Kovacs and Lenny was hired to eliminate Lucien, but who hired them? The answer lies with Kovacs’ son, who has inherited his father’s profitable empire and his trophy wife. The two agree to tackle young Kovacs, but their alliance soon falls apart and Lenny is killed. Antoine arrives from Paris to attend old Kovacs’ funeral, which ends in a shoot-out. Antoine kills young Kovacs, but is then shot dead by the police. Lucien gets away, but dies of gunshot wounds.