El gran golpe de los melenudos

The misadventures of a former crook who sets out to recuperate a huge sum of money loaned to his friends in hiding. Georges Lautner offers a sensational parody of the film noir which exercises the talents of Michel Audiard, whose sparkling dialogue is served with relish by Lino Ventura, Jean Lefebvre, Michel Constantin et Mireille Darc.

This movie is at first a simple funny comedy. But the cast, the lines, the "Second degré" humour have taken it to a French national monument, much like "Les Tontons Flingueurs" or "Les Barbouzes" (also directed by G. Lautner with more or less the same key guys).

Lino Ventura, Michel Constantin, André Pousse, Robert Dalban were first line figures of French crime movies. They made so many flicks together. Lautner directs them in this movie to play a parody of the roles that made them famous. Again, much like "Les Tontons flingueurs".

I would encouraged those who want to grasp what "popular culture" is for French folks to get into this movie and appreciate mostly the dialogs finely crafted by Michel Audiard. He seems to have written them for those actors with whom he shared so much: the food, the jokes, the lifestyle. 100% French stuff, as good as an AOC camembert or a local made saucisson.

Some kind of LES TONTONS FLINGUEURS rip-off, using the same ingredients, the same recipe, same atmosphere, same quality, efficiency and nearly same actors. I forgot, same screenwriter, same director. I hate comedies, but today's comedies, not those old fashioned French gems. I undertsand that foreign - not French - audiences would avoid this, because of the language and the translation. The duo Lino Ventura and Michel Constantin is terrific, and it is even better the same year 1966 in Jean-Pierre Melville's LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE. Both actors, former international athletes - wrestling for Ventura and volley-ball for Constantin - those two bring enough testosterone to fill up a tank wagon. And Jean Lefebvre, in one of his many Michalon character performances. Let me explain, in several movies of this kind, Jean Lefebvre was Michalon, but not the same character, with different first names.

For Georges Lautner who could do much better movies ("Le Septième Juré" "La Route De Salina" "La Maison Assassinée" ),it's just a job that pays the rent.But when you have a good cast at your disposal (Ventura,Mireille Darc,Michel Constantin) and when Audiard is at hand to write some good lines,the result is a good little entertaining comedy.

Antoine is a gangster who is retired.But his pals call him to their rescue.The story ends in a farm where the farmer's wife (Darc) seems to prefer our bandit to her less-than-handsome hubby (Jean Lefèvre).Good use of the wide screen and a good score add to the pleasure.In a nutshell,food for thought,it is not,but anyway who in France at the time was looking to Lautner for new horizons in cinema,but ,hell.He's really pretty good after all.