There was,at the beginning of Maurice Cloche 's career a handful of interesting works (a fancy for illustrious figures such as "Monsieur Vincent" (his best work) or Dr Laennec )
In the late fifties , he mainly depicted the shady places in Paris ,such as Pigalle, with prostitutes and pimps galore ,before dismally aping James Bond in the sixties with "le Vicomte" , "coplan",et al......
"Le fric" (=dough) is a fairly entertaining thriller ,but mainly thanks to the actors (Raymond Rouleau ,essentially a stage actor whose playing verges on tongue in chick , Jean-Claude Pascal,Roger Hanin ) ; it's a desultory story of diamonds which are ,as everybody knows ,a girl's best friend :it's not long before Pascal 's wife (Pascale Roberts )leaves him for a wealthier white-haired buck .
Co-production with Italy imposed an Italian star ; Eleonora Rossi-Drago sings the title track ("le fric") and her playing is particularly bland.
