Anyone else totally excited about the upcoming release of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows? If not, you should be. During a recent screening of Mountain Patrol: Kekexili at the Music Box Theatre, I was treated to the trailer for Melville’s neglected work that left me floored. I hesitate to refer to the film as a re-release despite it being over 30 years old since it was never actually released in the U.S. until now. In actuality, it’s more of a posthumous release, as Melville died in 1973 of a heart attack; a mere three years after directing this film and at what may have been the pinnacle of his career, closing out the 60s with the astounding Le Samourai and the epic Le Cercle Rouge.

Happily, Army of Shadows will be opening in Chicago at the Music Box on May 30th. Check the Rialto website for more information as to where else you can catch this treat. I will be covering this film more thoroughly in my forthcoming review of it on Stylus later this month, but for now we’ll just have whet our appetites with the superb trailer.

Incidentally, I just found out that John Woo, who clearly ripped off Melville for the better part of his overblown career, is planning a remake of Le Cercle Rouge, aptly translated for an American audience (yes, it means “the red circle”). Just imagine Nicholas Cage in the Alain Delon role! Delon may have been accused of thriving off his looks as an actor, but regardless of what skill an actor like Cage could undoubtedly bring to the role, Delon, in my mind, remains irreplaceable and for that matter, so does Melville.