Ein alter Dickkopf

Probably made to capitalize on the success of the "Gendarme De Saint-Tropez "saga of which the director,Richard Balducci ,wrote one of the episodes .

A cursory look at Balducci's filmography does not bode well;this postman story is worse than the worst movie of the Gendarme saga ,which at least featured a talented comic actor (De Funès).

This postman sees pollution infiltrate all over his native Provence and mounts a crusade against the mayor (Marion Game) and her henchmen (including the late Michel Galabru,who was featured in the Gendarme saga);but the mayor's daughter is in love with the postman's son and the mailman has more than one trick up his sleeve ...

This is more a desultory succession of sketches than a real screenplay,each one lousier than the one before;the last one -the postman finds oil on the Mediterranean beach- takes the biscuit!

One can save,at a pinch,two good ideas:the dog receiving a recorded parcel and having to sign with his leg;the disgusted fisherman leaving his mullets to the hero and his pal.

Even the Provençal landscapes are ugly;note that the movie was released in Summer,the duds season in France.

For those who lived the 1980s in France, or visited the French Riviera, this movie reminds how happy and special France was. The topless sun bathing, how much girls were free, the right to laugh at nearly anything including corrupted mayors and a global carefreeness, insouciance, everything is there.

Young audience might not believe it. Especially the macho jokes and girls being okay with that. But that's history, its the way it was.

Tens of dialogues or scenes could not be done today. A time of a free world.

It's all focused on the ecologist terror we're living today but that was yet to come at the time this movie was released. I can't really tell if it's making fun of it, or the reverse. It's probably intended to, I mean, it can be understood in both ways. But for sure it forecasts what today's world is now, including karate girls putting down men twice their weight (in movies).

The jokes are really funny, and the Gendarme's famous nun (France Rumilly) is there, flying an ultra-light aircraft !

This movie is a piece of history. You should pay attention to the very elegant way french women are dressed, the cars, and a lot of other stuffs.

A joyful movie.