Living in Paris as a young kid, I was into Francoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday before I’d even heard of The Beatles. Along with Sylvie Vartan and Serge Gainsbourg, these were my rock and roll heroes. And for those of you who think the French can’t rock, check out these videos of an intense Hallyday performing “Je N’ai Pas Voulu Croire’  live in 1969 and covering Hendrix’s version of “Hey Joe” in 2006. Hendrix actually opened for Hallyday in Paris in 1966.

The older Hallyday gets the cooler he gets. He looks absolutely dangerous in the 2006 performance which is probably one of the reasons, along with his fine acting skills, he’s been getting cast as gangsters in recent films.

In a fist fight between Nick Cave and Hallyday, my money’s on Johnny.

Happy Bastille Day and don’t fuck with Johnny Hallyday!
 

 
Hallyday and Hendrix in 1966.

 
Hong Kong’s Johnny To is indisputably one of the best living action directors on the planet. Full Time Killer, Exiled, The Mission, Election and PTU are certifiable balls out classics. So, what could be better than a new Johnny To flick? How about a Johnny To flick starring Johnny Hallyday? Hot damn!  Champs-Élysées meets bullet ballet. I am so there.

I lived in France when I was a teenybopper. The Beatles and Stones hadn’t hit yet and I was enthralled with French pop: Sylive Vartan, Francoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc and Johnny Hallyday. They were fluff, but they were sexy fluff with a sophisticated freshly-fucked vibe. So much cooler than Frankie Avalon, Leslie Gore, Fabian and the rest of the pasteurized American pop stars on top 40 radio, the white and the bland.

Johnny Hallyday has evolved over the years from a totally cool Elvis wannabee through folky hipster to a bonafide superfine actor. As he’s aged, his pretty boy looks have turned into a ragged and weary kind of beauty that makes him perfect for tender tough guy roles. Check him out as an over-the-hill gangster in 2002’s Man On A Train. And now in To’s Vengeance

Here’s the trailer for Vengeance followed by two clips of Hallyday in rock and folk mode.  He sings ‘If I Were A Carpenter’  with Emmy Lou Harris as though he really does want her to have his baby. ‘Black Is Black’ is pretty hip too.
 

 
Go directly to the next two clips…