Le magnifique

As a spy parody, we already have a nice movie, cutting for a 7/10. But this movie doesn't stop there and adds another layer, intertwining the story of Bob Saint Clar, the perfect spy, with the one of its creator, the writer François Merlin, and raises the level one step higher.

It goes also with a nice duo of actors: Belmondo enjoying himself, and ourselves, and Jacqueline Bisset - previously James Bond girl - which shines on the movie with her double role.

Without disclosing the story, you'll have a very good time.

A funny and amusing satire about secret agents and James Bond especially , packing noisy action , entertainment, and lots of humor with tongue in cheek. In fact , it was one of the best spoofs of the James Bond and Euro-spy films in the Seventies . Here Jean Paul Belmondo is an out-of luck writer called Francois in his 43rd novella as well as a máster spy called Bob Saint Clair , while mixing fantasy and reality when he chases women and solves cases. While Jacqueline Bisset is a cute student and damsel in distress who is saved by Belmondo in Acapulco from the claws nasty Vittorio Caprioli. Philippe de Broca , the director of King of hearts ..the Man from Río...Cartouche , now returns with Belmondo and Bisset in this great action comedy !

A hectic , extravagant and sophisticated action movie with plenty of farce , adventure and hilarious situations . An adventure action movie heavily influenced by the comic books including fantasy , imagination, thrills and a lot of fun . A successful French film that was the highest grossing movie of the year 1973 . The picture benefis itself from the two main actors , the always sympathetic Jean Paul Belmondo and the gorgeous Jacqueline Bisset as the cute neighbour in her total total splendor , along with the attractive villain played by Vittorio Caprioli who appears as his editor and as Colonel Karpoff . And other secondaries giving brief but likeable interpretations as Hans Meyer and Jean Lefebre , the famous Gendarme of Saint Tropez along with Louis De Funes .

The motion picture was lavishly produced by Alexander Mnouchkine and amusingly directed by Philippe De Broca and made in similar style to The Man from Río 1964 starred by Belmondo and Ursula Andress . De Broca directed some nice movies , most of them comedies , action and adventures , such as Cartouche , The King of Hearts , Oldest profession, Le Cavaleur , Jupiter's thigh, The Green House , Louisiana, among others . And his fetish actor was the recently deceased Jean Paul Belmondo , being his best movie this Le Magnifique . Rating :7/10. Better than average . Well worth watching . The picture will appeal to Belmondo and Bisset fans .

Bob Sinclar (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a superspy in a ridiculous spy world. He's actually the central character in a book series written by François Merlin (Jean-Paul Belmondo). In his imagination, many people in his real world are incorporated into his spy fantasy.

This film announces itself as a ridiculous spoof right from the start with the giant claw lifting up the phone booth. There is nothing funnier than the translators scene. I like to stay in the spy universe and keep it as ridiculous as possible.

Albanian agents are smuggling missile platforms into Mexico. An American agent is devoured by a shark in a phone booth. Superspy Bob St. Cloud is sent to Acapulco to investigate. There he meets the beautiful Tatiana, but their romance is interrupted when they are attacked by an army of Albanian scuba divers, armed with machine guns. In the middle of the carnage, a cleaning woman pushes a vacuum cleaner up the beach. She enters the door of a small beach house where...

In a shabby Parisian flat, Francois Merlin, writer of cheap fiction, is pounding out his forty-third spy novel. He sees a young sociology student through the window of a nearby flat. Though he's never met her, she becomes part of his novel.

From this beginning French director Philippe de Broca (King of Hearts) creates a bizarre comedy of frustrated desires and fantastic dreams. Like Walter Mitty, Merlin creates a fantasy life within his novels far more exciting than his own.

French film star Jean-Paul Belmondo shows great versatility in a duel role as the campy hero Bob St. Cloud and the burnt-out Francois Merlin. Jacqueline Bisset is the vampish spy, Tatiana, as well as Christine, the sociology student who studying the popular appeal of Merlin's escapist novels. Vittorio Caprioli also plays a dual role as Bob St. Cloud's arch-enemy, the evil Colonel Karpoff, and as Merlin's smarmy publisher Georges Charon.

De Broca is a master of light comedy and his film careens wildly through moments of high camp, pathos and outright slapstick, as the story switches back and forth between the fantasy of Merlin's novel to the reality of his own life. In the end Merlin must battle his own fictional alter ego, as well as his publisher, for the love of the fair Christine.

Seriously underappreciated comedy with one of the finest and funniest opening "twists" this filmgoer has ever seen. Belmondo is at his comic and athletic best and Bissett is gorgeous and perfectly cast as a student doing a research paper on pulp-fiction authors (Belmondo). To say much more would spoil the imaginative twists and turns in this film. If you can find it, watch it!

If you like Belmondo in this you might also enjoy "Up to His Ears" (1965)

The CineZonk