L'Insoumis

The Unvanquished (French: L'Insoumis, literally "Missing without leave") is a 1964 film noir directed by Alain Cavalier and starring Alain Delon opposite Lea Massari. The film's background is the Algerian War and Alain Delon plays Thomas Vlassenroot, a deserter of the French Foreign Legion in Algeria during the 1961 uprising. When a former lieutenant who now works for the OAS proposes to him to kidnap lawyer Dominique Servet (played by Massari), who is in Algiers to defend some Algerian nationalists, Thomas agrees. However Thomas falls in love with Dominique and helps her escape back to France. In doing so he comes into inevitable conflict with his OAS colleagues who subsequently hunt them down. The film was not a completely happy experience for Alain Delon. He sustained physical injuries while filming and the reception of the picture by the French public was not good probably because it reminded the French of their defeat in the Algerian war while the censors insisted on a number of cuts which compromised the artistic integrity of the film. Alain Delon along with Georges Beaume were the two producers of the film. Despite Alain Delon's great performance, the film is considered his first failure.