R.I.P. Georges Lautner

Veteran French director Georges Lautner has died. He was 87. Best known as the helmer of the classic 1963 film _Les Tontons Flingueurs_ (_Monsieur Gangster_), Lautner passed away today in

Paris after a long illness. Lautner was also a screenwriter and co-authored many of his films with Michel Audiard. Among them was black-and-white gangster comedy _Les Tontons Flingueurs_, an

adaptation of the Albert Simonin book _Grisbi Or Not Grisbi_ that includes one of the best kitchen table scenes ever committed to celluloid. That movie, which celebrates its 50th

anniversary on November 27th — and which continues to draw big audiences in annual French television airings — starred Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier, among others. Lautner was more recently

thanked in the credits to Quentin Tarantino’s _Kill Bill: Vol. 2_ and last directed 1992’s _Stranger In The House_ which starred Jean-Paul Belmondo with whom he worked often, including in

1981’s _The Professional_ and 1979’s _Flic Ou Voyou_ (_Cop Or Hood_). Lautner also directed Robert Mitchum in 1990’s _Presumed Dangerous_. The son of actress Renée Saint-Cyr, he was born in

Nice, France in 1926 and after moving to Paris made _The Black Monocle_ which got him noticed by legendary Gaumont producer Alain Poiré who backed him to direct _Les Tontons Flingueurs_.

French daily _Le Figaro_ wrote this evening, “A symbol of the renewal of French post-war cinema, Georges Lautner knew, with Michel Audiard, how to impose a style of popular comedies that

today remains inimitable.”