La grosse caisse

Bourvil punches tickets at a decrepit station on Parisian metropolitan train. It's a dull job, and he has taken note of the weekly money train carrying six hundred million francs to the treasury. He has worked out a scheme to rob it, and written a policier based on it. Unfortunately, no publisher will touch it, proclaiming it absurd. His amour-propre wounded, he tries to get some professional thief to do the job. At first he can't even find a crook. But when the elegant and forceful Paul Meurisse finds the manuscript, he is enchanted. No more dull bank robberies! A chance to drive a train! And Bourvil realizes that when the real thing comes along, he is in way over his head.

Bourvil jitters five times a second in this very funny caper movie, but it is Meurisse who carries away the comedy prize with his blithe portrayal. The caper is also carried out in exquisite detail, in a manner that is completely convincing. It's a lot of fun for fans of Bourvil, and for French comedy in general.

Three decades later, American film industry made MONEY TRAIN, starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, a buddy movie, in the pure nineties fashion, and also speaking a heist against the New York City - instead of Paris - subway train collecting the stations money. But the Alex Joffe's film, which I review now, is an amusing comedy and not an action thriller. Only the basic element was in common between the two features. If you like Paris from the sixties point of view, the Parisian subway and so on, this movie is made for you. Bourvil and Paul Meurisse steal the show. It is not a crime film, I warn you, despite the heist plot. But Paul Meurisse's character, just released from prison, pulling a heist without any gloves, is very unlikely. Because ex cons have always had their fingerprints registered in a database.