Sonntagsfreunde

"Les Copains Du Dimanche " is a good overlooked movie,if only for its spontaneity .Its low budget,its amateurish directing and its filming on location could lead it to the Nouvelle Vague territory ,but I would never,in a month of Sundays ,label it so.The Young Turks never took an interest in the working class (heroes).

The characters of "Les Copains" do not have time to contemplate their navel,they have no interminable conversations about their existential problems.They work.They have got to earn their crust and to make both ends meet .

Young people of the fifties work 50 hours a week and on Sunday they try to enjoy life ;they find an old crate they want to repair :one of them (Marc Cassot) is an amateur pilot and he takes his friends to a first flight.

But their dream is to own their own plane ;for this handful of boys and girls ,it will be a rocky road :the bourgeois management makes them understand that such a pleasure is reserved for wealthy people (a short scene with an arrogant rich kid at the flight club is revealing) The workers Council clashes with the manager to whom workers are such big kids !.Will the board of directors eventually approve of this so called insane plan? This movie depicts the proletarians' hard labor,but also their Joie De Vivre ,their camaraderie and their solidarity which often suffer great ordeals.The music is quite stirring and tuneful and the score features an infectious campfire song.

One of Jean-Belmondo's first part,he already displays plenty of go,good humor and a simplicity many of his peers should envy.

Like this? Try these......

"Le Ciel Est A Vous" Jean Grémilllon,1943

"Horizons Sans Fin" Jean Dréville,1952

"Rendez-Vous De Juillet " Jacques Becker,1949

A very nice film about friendship, camaraderie and solidarity. The workers of a factory are fond of aviation and they will dedicate their Sunday to restore an airplane.Later this airplane will be used for the first flights of the workers of the factory and their families. The film shows us all the difficulties that these friends will meet in their adventures (the arrogance of wealthy people, thge doubts of their trade union,etc), but little by little more workers and their families will support them. Among the actors and actresses a young actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo who plays the role of Trébois,one of the workers of this tale.