TOP 10 – Alain Delon is one of the few international stars who became a household name worldwide. While every country’s film industry has its iconic stars, few achieve global recognition to the extent that their names are known on the other side of the world. The French actor, Alain Delon, is perhaps one of these rare exceptions, especially during the peak of his acting career in the 1960s and 1970s. This compilation was created in memory of Alain Delon, who passed away today, paying tribute to his exceptional body of work.

Delon’s intense, handsome presence, his versatility across a wide range of roles and genres, and the fact that he remained active for over 60 years led to numerous classic films. It would be difficult to compile all of them into a single list, so we present the top 10 films (a subjective selection from his vast career) from the 1960s and 1970s, encompassing both leading and supporting roles.

10. L’Eclisse (1962)

Director Michelangelo Antonioni was famous for his slow, psychologically dense dramas. L’Eclisse is one such film, the third in a loose thematic trilogy following L’Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961). The story revolves around two people who suddenly fall in love, but their relationship is quickly tested by the many challenges life throws at them. Alain Delon plays one of the main characters, a man more focused on the stock market than on his partner, played by Monica Vitti. Their relationship reaches its climax during a solar eclipse, hence the film’s title. The film is peculiar, haunting, and often puzzling, but the performances and the bold black-and-white imagery carry undeniable power.

9. Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

This nearly three-hour family crime epic is often considered to have had a significant influence on another similarly lengthy family crime epic made 12 years later. Rocco and His Brothers marked one of Alain Delon’s first major breakthroughs as an actor. Delon portrays Rocco, and the story centers on him and his four brothers as they struggle with the hardships of life—sometimes being forced into crime. The film is long, emotionally intense—tragic even—but still captivating, and it showcased early on in his career that Delon was a remarkable actor.

8. The Sicilian Clan (1969)

The Sicilian Clan is another crime film starring Delon that’s worth watching, even though here he is more of an ensemble player rather than the star of the film. The story focuses on a successful heist and the consequences that the participants must endure in the end. The film is elevated by the music of Ennio Morricone, one of the greatest film composers of all time. The score helps to hold the film together, which might otherwise fall apart in its details.

7. The Leopard (1963)

This grand, over three-hour epic is an Italian film in which American actor Burt Lancaster plays the head of a wealthy family trying to preserve his position amid the great political upheavals and changes of the 1860s. Delon appears in a supporting role as Lancaster’s character’s nephew, effectively representing the next generation. It can be difficult to empathize with the drama of aristocrats, but both Lancaster and Delon give strong performances, and the spectacular execution of The Leopard makes the three-hour runtime more bearable.

6. Mr. Klein (1976)

Mr. Klein is a grim thriller set during World War II and features one of Alain Delon’s darkest and most sinister performances. The actor plays an amoral art dealer who profits from the desperation of those seeking to escape. The film is essentially about how this man exploits tragedy, but complications arise when he is mistaken for another man with the same name: a Jew who is being targeted in the Holocaust. The story follows Klein’s desperate struggles to prove his true identity, leading to a dark conclusion. This is far from an entertaining film, but it is intense and well-crafted, handling its heavy themes with elegance.

5. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Le Cercle Rouge is a professional, stylish 1970s thriller about a meticulously planned jewel heist that is almost perfect in many ways. This is the second crime film collaboration between Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Delon. Delon plays a recently released prisoner who is quickly pulled back into the criminal life he had vowed to leave behind. They plan an elaborate jewel heist, all while a police inspector watches their every move. The 140-minute runtime never becomes boring, thanks to the stylish direction, tense scenes, and great heist sequences. This is far from the only good heist film Delon starred in during the first two decades of his career, but it is almost certainly the best.

4. La Piscine (1969)

La Piscine is a slow but beautifully shot film in which the luxurious villa and the constant sunny weather partially conceal the darker seeds of the story. The film initially seems romantic, but it wouldn’t be accurate to describe the entire film that way. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider play lovers on vacation, but the tension begins to rise when one of Schneider’s character’s ex-boyfriends and his teenage daughter arrive. This is another slow-burning, elegant French thriller that remains memorable for its visual world and some bold scenes for its time.

3. Purple Noon (1960)

In Purple Noon, based on Patricia Highsmith’s famous novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, Alain Delon plays Tom Ripley. He perfectly embodies this famous character, as Delon is simultaneously charming, likable, yet intense, making it believable when he carries out cruel, violent acts in retaliation for perceived slights. This is a morally gray film centered on a fascinating character, which is why the Ripley stories have been adapted to film multiple times. Few surpass Purple Noon, and Delon might just offer the best portrayal of Ripley on screen, plus it was the first time the story was filmed.

2. Borsalino (1970)

Borsalino is a crime film where Alain Delon co-stars with another French film star, Jean-Paul Belmondo. The two actors play rivals who (literally) fight over a girl at the beginning of the film but soon realize they want the same things in life. They decide to build their own crime empire instead of working for local gangster bosses as expected. The film has a light-hearted tone thanks to its charismatic leads and lively soundtrack. However, by the end, the film becomes much more violent and tragic, making Borsalino a true, classic gangster film comparable to The Godfather or Goodfellas—to name two classics.

1. Le Samouraï (1967)

In perhaps Alain Delon’s most famous role, he plays a cold, calculating hitman in Le Samouraï (less stylishly titled The Godson in English). The film is stylish and deliberately slow-paced but draws you in with its hypnotic visuals and rhythm, as well as Delon’s calm and composed performance. As Delon’s hitman character finds things spiraling out of his control, with the law and other hitmen closing in, the film becomes increasingly tense as he is pushed into a corner. Some might find the film cold, but its style is undeniably strong enough to make Le Samouraï one of Delon’s best roles.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-