FILM DIRECTOR

Jean-Pierre Melville

1917 - 1973

Photo of Jean-Pierre Melville

Icon of person Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Grumbach (20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973), known professionally as Jean-Pierre Melville (French: [mɛlvil]), was a French filmmaker. Considered a spiritual father of the French New Wave, he was one of the first fully-independent French filmmakers to achieve commercial and critical success. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jean-Pierre Melville has received more than 778,528 page views. His biography is available in 38 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 36 in 2019). Jean-Pierre Melville is the 103rd most popular film director (up from 104th in 2019), the 800th most popular biography from France (down from 737th in 2019) and the 16th most popular French Film Director.

Jean-Pierre Melville is most famous for his films, including Army of Shadows, Le Samourai, and Le Doulos.

Memorability Metrics

  • 780k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.57

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 38

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.77

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.70

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Jean-Pierre Melville ranks 103 out of 2,041. Before him are Sidney Lumet, Michael Mann, Zhang Yimou, Sam Peckinpah, Ang Lee, and Marcel Carné. After him are Walter Hill, Mel Brooks, Joris Ivens, John Carpenter, Robert Altman, and David Fincher.

Most Popular Film Directors in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1917, Jean-Pierre Melville ranks 22. Before him are Sidney Sheldon, Joan Clarke, Kenan Evren, James Rainwater, Otto Günsche, and Joan Fontaine. After him are Zsa Zsa Gabor, Robert Mitchum, Algirdas Julien Greimas, Óscar Romero, Bourvil, and Robert Burns Woodward. Among people deceased in 1973, Jean-Pierre Melville ranks 39. Before him are Selman Waksman, Jacques Maritain, Karl Ziegler, Luis Carrero Blanco, Walter Rudolf Hess, and Gerard Kuiper. After him are Amílcar Cabral, François Cevert, Taha Hussein, A. S. Neill, Lex Barker, and Dickinson W. Richards.

Others Born in 1917

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Others Deceased in 1973

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In France

Among people born in France, Jean-Pierre Melville ranks 800 out of 6,770. Before him are Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1162), Marie de France (1101), Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741), Henri Lefebvre (1901), Marcel Carné (1906), and Vincent Cassel (1966). After him are Maurice Blanchot (1907), Bernard Gui (1261), Saint Remigius (437), Léon Bourgeois (1851), Robert Nivelle (1856), and Inessa Armand (1874).

Others born in France

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In France

Among film directors born in France, Jean-Pierre Melville ranks 16. Before him are Jean-Jacques Annaud (1943), Alain Resnais (1922), William Wyler (1902), Robert Bresson (1901), René Clair (1898), and Marcel Carné (1906). After him are Claude Lelouch (1937), René Clément (1913), Jacques Demy (1931), Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1953), and Alice Guy-Blaché (1873).

French born Film Directors

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Filmography

Le Samouraï
Director
After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.
Oct 25o 19677.794 / 10
Le Cercle Rouge
Director
When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.
Oct 19o 19707.624 / 10
Army of Shadows
Director
Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.
Sep 10o 19697.955 / 10