Exuding a gruff, jaded cynicism, Jean Gabin became the defining face of pre–New Wave French cinema, embodying its downtrodden, working-class heroes with a mix of smoldering charisma and sardonic ennui. His renowned collaborations with leading directors like Jean Renoir (GRAND ILLUSION, LA BÊTE HUMAINE) and Julien Duvivier (PÉPÉ LE MOKO) placed him at the center of the burgeoning poetic-realist movement and, inevitably, attracted the attention of Hollywood—which sought to sell his Gallic earthiness to American audiences in the fascinating, if ill-fated, noir MOONTIDE. Returning to France, Gabin took his rightful place as a living, almost mythic symbol of his country’s national cinema, reuniting with Renoir for the spectacular period musical FRENCH CANCAN and teaming up with his next-generation successor, Jean-Paul Belmondo, in the alcohol-soaked seriocomedy A MONKEY IN WINTER.
Directed by Jean Renoir • 1936 • France
Starring Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet
In Jean Renoir’s lightened adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s play, a thief and a destitute Baron form a friendship as the inhabitants of a Parisian slum go about their lives.
Directed by Jean Renoir • 1937 • France
Starring Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
One of the very first prison escape movies, GRAND ILLUSION is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Jean Renoir’s antiwar masterpiece stars Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay as French soldiers he...
Directed by Julien Duvivier • 1937 • United States
Starring Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre
The notorious Pépé le moko (Jean Gabin, in a truly iconic performance) is a wanted man: women long for him, rivals hope to destroy him, and the law is breathing down his neck at every turn. On ...
Directed by Jean Renoir • 1938 • France
Starring Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Julien Carette
Based on the classic Emile Zola novel, Jean Renoir’s LA BÊTE HUMAINE was one of the legendary director’s greatest popular successes, and earned star Jean Gabin a permanent place in the hearts of his country...
Directed by Jean Grémillon • 1941 • France
Jacques Prévert co-wrote this atmospheric tale of the romantic trials of a tugboat captain, played by the iconic French star Jean Gabin. For André and the other members of the Cyclone's crew, existence is harshly divided between the danger of the stormy...
Directed by Archie Mayo • 1942 • United States
Starring Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell
French screen legend Jean Gabin made his Hollywood debut in this broodingly fatalistic noir melodrama. He stars as an alcoholic dockworker who, following a night of heavy drinking, wakes up with no me...
Directed by Max Ophuls • 1952 • France
Starring Danielle Darrieux, Jean Gabin, Simone Simon
Roving with his dazzlingly mobile camera around the decadent ballrooms, bucolic countryside retreats, urban bordellos, and painter's studios of late nineteenth-century French life, Max Ophuls brings his a...
Directed by Jean Renoir • 1955 • France, Italy
Starring Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, María Félix
Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the canc...
Directed by Henri Verneuil • 1962 • France
Starring Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon
French screen icons Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo star opposite each other in this captivating, booze-soaked comedy based on a novel by Antoine Blondin. Years earlier, inn owner Albert (Gabin) ma...
Directed by Henri Verneuil • 1963 • France, Italy
Starring Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Viviane Romance
This ice-cool crime caper bridges two generations of French cinema by bringing together longtime national screen icon Jean Gabin with hotshot rising star Alain Delon. Gabin is the career ex-con de...
