Legionnaire (film)

Legionnaire
DVD cover
Directed by	Peter MacDonald
Produced by	Christian Halsey Solomon Kamel Krifa Sheldon Lettich Peter MacDonald Roberto Malerba Richard G. Murphy Edward R. Pressman Jean-Claude Van Damme
Written by	Sheldon Lettich Rebecca Morrison Jean-Claude Van Damme
Starring	Jean-Claude Van Damme Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Narrated by	Jean-Claude Van Damme
Music by	John Altman
Cinematography	Douglas Milsome
Edited by	Mike Murphy Christopher Tellefsen
Production company	Edward R. Pressman Film Enterprises Long Road Productions Quadra Entertainment
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date	December 3, 1998 (1998-12-03)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35,000,000

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 having been hired by gangsters to lose it, then flees to join the French Foreign Legion. The cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Steven Berkoff, Nicholas Farrell and Jim Carter. The film was filmed in Tangier and Ouarzazate, Morocco.

Plot summary

Alain Lefevre (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a French boxer in 1920s Marseille, France. His brother has asked for him to throw a fight so both can live with the money. Lucien Galgani (Jim Carter), the mobster who forced him to do so, requests he do it in the second round. Galgani's girlfriend Katrina (Ana Sofrenovic) is Alain's ex-fiancée whom he left 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. But Alain has shot and killed Galgani's brother. Desperately needing a new escape plan, Alain signs up for the French Foreign Legion, and is shipped to North Africa to help defend Morocco against a native Berber rebellion of Rif warriors, led by Abd el-Krim.

Along the way, Alain meets some new friends, including Luther, an African American who has fled injustice in the States and felt that by returning to Africa he would be treated well, Mackintosh, a former British Army Major who was dishonorably discharged due to a gambling problem, and Guido, a naive Italian boy who wishes to impress his fiancée back home by returning as a hero. But things will not be easy. The only real way to escape from the Legion is to survive the term of service, and the rebels have them outnumbered.

After marching for days, the current troop arrives at a small pond. Unfortunately 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 as well, to find Alain and get revenge for the death of Galgani's brother. After a few days, they find him in the fort. After the commander sends Alain along with Mackintosh and the others to guard the fort, Mackintosh reveals his true intentions of being sent to kill Alain as part of a deal to reimburse his father, who was left penniless due to gambling debts. Before he can do so, however, they're 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 it will be suicide, demands to go along but is ordered not to. Luther, gve him his harmonica as a symbol of friendship.

As Alain is guarding the fort outside, he sees Luther without his attire coming. Alain then sees the rest of the group arrive. As they begin attacking, Alain decides to kill Luther in order to give him a relatively painless and quick death. Very swiftly, the rest of the group take down the Legionnaires.

As a former thug is about to kill Alain, he gets shot down by Mackintosh, who remorsefully reveals that Katrina has managed to leave Galgani and go to America as she always wanted. Alain, as a token of appreciation, gives him a single bullet so that Mackintosh can commit sucide to save himself from despair

In the end, only Alain stands up alive after the battle and Abd el-Krim seeing Alain's courage and determination allows him to live and tells him to inform his superiors what's waiting for them if they continue the colonization. Now the only survivor of the ordeal, Alain is left alone in the desert as he remembers Katrina and his former friends. There is the alternate/deleted ending when Alain rescues Katrina and is to originally kill Galgani but doesn't as the director and producer walking on set felt it was too violent.

Cast

Production notes

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.^[1]

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

Deemed unreleasable for movie theaters in the United States, Legionnaire was released to cable TV channels and home video despite a $35 million production budget.^[2]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews.^[3][4]

References

External links

• Legionnaire on IMDb
• Legionnaire at AllMovie
• Legionnaire at Rotten Tomatoes