Les grandes gueules

Having served eleven years in prison as a convicted murderer and narrowly escaping the clutches of Madame la Guillotine, Joseph Damiani who became José Giovanni, could hardly be called a jackpot of admirable character traits. Once his novel 'Le Trou', based upon his own attempted escape from prison was taken up by Jacques Becker, he never looked back which just goes to prove that crime does pay. Naturally he himself asserted that he had 'paid his debt to society'.

His lurid background and intimate knowledge of the criminal mentality certainly gave an edge and a sense of realism to his writings which proved irresistible to directors and provided meaty roles for some of France's most iconic actors. Here he has adapted his own 'Haut-fer'.

Director Robert Enrico has again secured the expensive services of Lino Ventura who teams up with equally expensive Bourvil and they complement each other very well in their sole outing together. Ventura is entering his mature phase with his best roles yet to come and Bourvil again proves his abilities as a straight actor despite being known mainly for his rather infantile comedies.

Laurent, an ex-con played by Ventura, helps the Hector of Bourvil to run his failing sawmill by utilising a bunch of jailbirds on parole as lumberjacks. This is resented by a powerful local landowner and results in gang warfare. Moreover it seems that Laurent's motives for aiding Hector are not of the finest......

It is set in the Vosges region but with its subject matter and Morricone-like score by Francois de Roubaix, it could just as easily be transposed to the wild West where men were men and women were willing. As one would expect from Giovanni the men are decidedly men and the women seem willing enough, none more so than lovely Marie Dubois.

Plenty of testosterone-fuelled, mucho macho posturing here of course, notably from Jess Hahn as a Neanderthal nitwit whilst Michel Constantine supplies his customarily understated menace. Ventura is able to utilise his previous experience in the Ring to great effect in the frequent fisticuff fests that punctuate the film at regular intervals. He also gets to rival Jean Gabin in the sheer quantity of cigarettes he smokes.

For those who like this sort of thing there is a great deal here to enjoy but it fails alas to fulfil its early promise and is simply not substantial enough to justify its two hour length whilst Giovanni's themes are better suited to a more enclosed underworld setting. Great conflagration scene however and an effective downbeat ending.

We should be grateful for small mercies in that this film was not directed by Giovanni himself.

I don't know if Jose Giovanni and Robert Enrico made this movie as a tribute to the John Ford's atmosphere, or even Tay Garnett's: rough, tough guys, no reluctant to fist fight, big mouth, golden heart, manhood all over the place, generous in feelings. I also thought of Andrew Mac Laglen's films such as MC LINTOCK. OK Mac Laglen meant Ford, xanks to Victor Mc Laglen...So LES GRANDES GUEULES remains a classic of French film industry, especially from the sixties, a forever lost cinema. Giovanni and Enrico have worked together on LES AVENTURIERS, HO and this very one. LES AVENTURIERS is of course very close to this one, not only because Lino Ventura's presence but also because both movies are adapted from the same Jose Giovanni's book. It is long, two hours length, but you get never bored. In the equivalent US film, the producers would have hired their local heavies, such as Chuck Bronson, Ted de Corsia or Leo Gordon. Here you had Michel Constantin and Jess Hahn, who worked together again in L'ARDOISE, four years later.

Les Grandes Gueules benefits from Robert Enrico's gusto for location shooting plus José Giovanni's talent for describing brawny he-male relationships. Thus the setup is great with those great French actors Bourvil and Lino Ventura. Then the supporting cast is pretty soon rounded up to strengthen the atmosphere but from there the movie is freewheeling, dragging its footage between subplots: the competition with the "monopolistic" sawmill, the tension at home between the tough guys, a touch of MacGuffin suspense and the vaguely romantic subplots.

What's enjoyable is the atmosphere of male camaraderie and the Vosges forest setting but there's not enough in the plot for the movie to last over 2 hours. What is more Lino Ventura has always been at a loss when it comes to playing a romantically involved character, let alone driving sexual chemistry. All in all an immature movie playing with its toys and friends until toys and friends are gone.

With "les Grandes gueules" ,Robert Enrico made a volte face:whereas his first works ' actors were completely unknown,he 's got two French megastars Bourvil and Lino Ventura.

Someone who would have only seen Enrico's two first efforts might easily think that this Enrico is another director an homonym."Au coeur de LA Vie" his first film was a masterpiece ,so ahead of its time it continues to fascinate the directors ("Jacob's ladder" was clearly inspired by "La Riviere du Hibou " aka "An Occurrence at owl creek bridge" ).Although not as ambitious in scope as it,"la Belle Vie" was anti-commercial stuff.

Actually "les Grandes Gueules" is Robert Enrico as the audience may have to like him: manly friendship,fighting against something hostile. Jose Giovanni provided Enrico with the screenplay and the most amazing thing is that the villains either do not intervene (the big sawmill's boss's men )very often in a 2hours+ movie or do not show up (Ventura's enemy) at all.Few women :Mick and his girlfriend's love affair is doomed.Marie Dubois's part is too underwritten to allow her to shine in a man's story.

Finally,"Les Grandes gueules" is a blueprint for Enrico's next movie ,"les Aventuriers" which succeeded at depicting male friendship,introducing an endearing female character and telling a really absorbing tale (again written by Jose Giovanni)

A strange film. Riddled with clumsiness: fight scenes with punches missing by a mile and ridiculuous Foley work using interior echo for outdoor action; people working as lumberjacks wearing clean shirts at the end of the day, etc. etc.

Funny too that the actor Bourvil, best known as a comedian, comes across as

slightly mean, taciturn and unpleasant in a role obviously written to be warm- hearted. An aging Lino Ventura is frankly embarrassing as the romantic lead,

and his lazy gambit of instilling drama by lighting up yet another Gauloise or Gitane (count 'em!) should have been jumped on and stubbed out by the

director. The plot seems to borrow hugely from American films, and there is little local flavour. The bizarre highlight is the gang of convicts letting their hair down on a fairground carousel, gaily tossing confetti at each other, followed by the dramatic denouement when one of the convicts refuses to let a rival have a turn on a fairground game! Zut alors!