LÉON: THE PROFESSIONAL grabs attention from the very first shot and holds it until minute 110 closes it down. The 1994 Crime & Salvation thriller, written & directed by Luc Besson, has style to spare, including exciting (if implausible) action sequences, a central relationship that skirts unease while also managing to register as affecting, and inspired casting, distinguished by the vibrant lead performances.

‘Little Italy’, New York City. Originally from Sicily, ‘Léon’ (Jean Reno) works as ‘a cleaner’—a hit man—for ‘Old Tony’ (Danny Aiello), calm neighborhood Mafioso. Tony holds a protective attitude, as Léon, though supremely adept at his trade, is a little slow, socially backwards. When a multiple homicide—drug dealers massacre a family— goes down in his apartment building Léon takes in desperate 12-year-old ‘Mathilda Lando’ (Natalie Portman), the sole survivor. A mutually supportive relationship develops: need on her part (long-term, her family was abusive, and immediate, the killers know she’s escaped their attack), while on his end it’s loneliness for human contact; other than boss & pseudo-uncle Tony, Léon’s only friend is a houseplant he dotes over. Mathilda wants to avenge the death of her little brother: her new protector can teach her how. Then her feelings turn into an awakening crush, further complicating things for Léon, whose lethal practicality is shadowed by his interpersonal naivete. Meantime, the murderers, led by hyper-wired ‘Norman Stansfield’ (Gary Oldman) need to silence the kid who got away.

Reno projects an odd yet winning combination of dispassionate danger and reactive innocence—for example his guileless joy at watching Gene Kelly dancing; 45, he smartly took the tack of playing the character as essentially a grown-up kid, younger even than the girl, which helps dampen the sense of weirdness when she basically starts to flirt with him. Rumored to have been chosen over 2,000 others vying for the role, Portman is a revelation in her debut; at 12, physically she’s obviously a kid, but one gifted with concentration and delivery years ahead of her chronological age. Thankfully, the script doesn’t veer into territory that would turn the relationship dynamic into something reprehensible, though the role did have unfortunate repercussions during Portman’s teens in terms of sexualized casting and some unhealthy fan followings. Oldman, 35, was on a memorable run of bad guys—Bram Stoker’s Dracula, True Romance, Romeo Is Bleeding—and goes full-force bonkers as the strung-out Stansfield; his wackjob’s musings about classical composers draw wicked smiles when you know that in the same year he brought similar intensity, though more benevolently channeled, to portraying Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.

The exteriors were done in New York, all the interior scenes were shot in Paris. Made for $16,000,000, it grossed $19,501,000 in the States (74th in ’94), part of a global tally of $45,300,000.

With Michael Badalucco, Ellen Greene, Peter Appel, George Martin, Willi One Blood, Frank Senger and Maïwenn. Scored by Eric Serra.