Policeman Philippe Jordan works in Marseille. He intercepts the delivery of a shipload of heroin by jumping out of a helicopter onto a speedboat and throws all drugs into the sea. Drug lord Mecacci is desperate to get rid of Jordan and arranges an incident which leads to Jordan's disciplinary transfer. Jordan continues to fight against the drug cartel after all. He finds a valuable witness named "Freddy, the chemist" but Mecacci has Freddy killed before he can testify. When Mecacci's henchmen also murder Jordan's old friend Francis Pierron, Jordan retaliates immediately. Now Mecacci tries to lure him into a deadly trap. After Jordan has outsmarted Mecacci's killers he confronts their boss. The time for the final showdown has come.
"Le Marginal" was described as a "typical Jean-Paul Belmondo vehicle".[3] With 4,956,922 tickets sold, it was the third most watched feature film in France in 1983.[1]