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Legionnaire (film)

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Legionnaire
Official DVD cover
Directed byPeter MacDonald
Screenplay bySheldon Lettich
Rebecca Morrison
Story bySheldon Lettich
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Produced byChristian Halsey Solomon
Kamel Krifa
Sheldon Lettich
Peter MacDonald
Roberto Malerba
Richard G. Murphy
Edward R. Pressman
Jean-Claude Van Damme
StarringJean-Claude Van Damme
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Daniel Caltagirone
Nicholas Farrell
Steven Berkoff
CinematographyDouglas Milsome
Edited byMike Murphy
Christopher Tellefsen
Music byJohn Altman
Production
companies
Edward R. Pressman Film Enterprises
Long Road Productions
Quadra Entertainment
Distributed byNew Films International
Sterling Home Entertainment
Release date
  • December 3, 1998 (1998-12-03)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[1]

Legionnaire is a 1998 American drama war film directed by Peter MacDonald and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a 1920s boxer who wins a fight after he was hired by gangsters to lose it and then flees to join the French Foreign Legion. The cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Daniel Caltagirone, Nicholas Farrell, and Steven Berkoff. The film was filmed in Tangier and Ouarzazate, both in Morocco.

Plot

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Alain Lefèvre (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a French boxer in 1925 in Marseille, France. His brother has asked for him to throw a fight so that both can live on the money. Lucien Galgani (Jim Carter), the mobster who forced him to do so, requests him to do it in the second round. Galgani's girlfriend, Katrina (Ana Sofrenović), is Alain's ex-fiancée. He had left her standing at the altar, but Katrina forgives Alain, and the two hatch a plan to run off to America together.

Alain does not take a dive in the fight and instead defeats his opponent. Just as the escape plan is about to succeed, Alain's brother is killed, and Katrina is captured by Galgani's men. Alain shoots and kills Galgani's brother. Desperately needing a new escape plan, he signs up for the French Foreign Legion and is shipped to North Africa to help defend France against a native Berber resistance of Rif warriors, who are led by Abd el-Krim.

Along the way, Alain meets some new friends, including Luther, an African-American who has fled injustice in the Southern United States since he felt that he would be well treate dby returning to Africa; Mackintosh, a former British Army major who was dishonorably discharged because a gambling problem caused him to pass bad checks; and Guido, a naive Italian boy who wishes to impress his fiancée back home by returning as a hero. Alain realises that the only real way to escape from the Legion is to survive the term of service but that it is outnumbered by the rebels.

After marching for days, the troops arrive at a small pond, but before getting their full share of water, they are ambushed and shot down by the Berbers. Among the dead is Guido. After leaving, the survivors, including Alain, go to the Legion's fort.

Meanwhile, Galgani has sent his hired thugs into the Legion to revenge his brother by finding Alain. After a few days, they find him in the fort. After the commander sends Alain, Mackintosh, and the others to guard the fort, Mackintosh reveals that he had been sent to kill Alain as part of a deal to reimburse his father, who was left penniless by gambling debts. Before he can do so, however, they are chased down by the natives, who advance towards the fort.

The colonel sends Luther in a dangerous mission to infiltrate the natives' camp. Alain, knowing that it will be suicide, demands to go along but is ordered not to do so. Before leaving, Luther gives him his harmonica as a symbol of friendship. As Alain later guards the fort outside, he sees Luther returning without his disguise and the Berbers following behind him. As they begin attacking, Alain decides to kill Luther to give him a quick death.

Very swiftly, the rest of the Berbers take down the Legionnaires. As one of Galgani's thugs is about to kill Alain, Galgani gets shot down by Mackintosh, who remorsefully reveals that Katrina has managed to escape from Galgani and go to America, as she had always wanted. Alain, as a token of appreciation, gives Mackintosh a single bullet to let him commit a merciful suicide. In the end, only Alain is alive after the battle. Abd el-Krim, seeing Alain's courage and determination, allows him to live and tells him to inform his superiors what is waiting for them if the French continue their colonization. Now standing as the only survivor of the ordeal, Alain is left alone in the desert as he remembers Katrina and his former friends.

There is an alternate/deleted ending in which Alain rescues Katrina and originally plans to kill Galgani but does otherwise; the director and producer felt that would be too violent. There is a script to the alternate ending at the New Year's Eve party in which Alain aims his pistol at Galgani, and the place goes quiet, but Alain refrains from killing Galgani and walks out with Katrina.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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Van Damme originally pitched the story of joining the Foreign Legion to escape from the mob as a more humorous vehicle starring himself and a comedian such as John Candy.[2]

The often-recorded 1936 song "Mon légionnaire" is sung over the closing credits by Ute Lemper.

Release

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Home media

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Legionnaire was released as a direct-to-video in the United States since the distributor, Lionsgate, predicted the film would do poorly on the box office because since Van Damme's drawing power was decreasing drastically.[3]

Historical accuracy

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In the film, Alain gets found out by the gang from a press photograph. In real life, that would not happen since the French Foreign Legion's anonymity policy bans reporters.

Reception

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Critical response

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The film received mixed reviews.[4][5]

Canceled TV series

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Prior to the film's cable debut, the producer, Edward R. Pressman, voiced his intentions to turn Legionnaire into a franchise that would include a weekly hour-long action/adventure series in which Van Damme would participate as co-executive producer and guest star in a number of episodes.[6] The series was to be financed by Quinta Communications, a French television company owned by Germany's Kirch Group, Italy's Mediaset, and Kingdom Holdings (the entertainment investment company of Saudi Prince Al Waleed Ben Talal).[6] Unlike the film, the series was to be set in contemporary times.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Van Damme will topline 'Legionnaire'". Variety. May 12, 1997.
  2. ^ "Van Damme very determined". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Nichols, Peter M. (1999-01-08). "Movie review - Home video; Two big names on small screen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
  5. ^ "Legionnaire". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
  6. ^ a b c "Van Damme pic may bow on USA". Variety. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
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