L'avventura è l'avventura

I can't hide it: I am a fan of Lelouch. So when I have a chance to see one of his movies or buy a DVD, I just do it. "L'aventure c'est l'aventure" is however low in terms of filming. The most annoying is the time it takes Lelouch to move on in the movie, once the humorous scene has been plotted and showed. Yes there are good moments, but in between these, ... it gets boring. And then the actors. Lino Ventura plays his 23d times same character in a lame and unconvincing way; Jacques Brel does not fit in the movie, whatever his talent might be; Charles Gerard and Charles Denner play their usual role; and finally Aldo Maccione is worth seeing once. Rating in IMDb according to me is far too high. Just for comparison, take another Lelouch, "The cat and the mouse", and let me know. That is what I call a good Lelouch movie: its construction, its moving camera and great natural actors performance.

I watched this movie in French without subtitles, and I have to admit that my French isn't up to such a challenge, so I missed much of the discussions which are quite crucial for understanding.

But from the visuals alone, this piece offers quite a lot - and what I liked most: the period cars. Fiat 500.. Renault Dauphine.. Citroen ID/DS.. that alone made me very happy :)

This movie is old, politically somewhat dated since the early 1970s, and not much commented on here. But it's not forgotten - according to French Wikipedia, Claude Lelouch announced in January 2007 that he will make a sequel to this, "L'aventure sera toujours l'aventure", to be released in 2009 or 2010.

"L'aventure, C'est L'aventure" (oddly titled "Money, Money, Money" in the US) is a strange film about five misfit career criminals. They all seem a bit dumb and ineffectual. However, when they band together and decide to try much higher stakes crimes, they inexplicably hit it big. So, instead of robbing their usual banks, they graduate to kidnappings and political intrigues. And, in spite of themselves, they always seem to land on their feet.

I watched this film for one main reason--Lino Ventura. And, in this regard, the movie was a huge disappointment. While Ventura might just be the coolest gangster in film history, here he is nothing like his usually self-assured persona but a bit of a bumbler hanging out with other bumblers. I certainly did NOT expect a comedy! However, after I got over this, I saw that the film, while a bit dopey here and there, is still very worth seeing. It is truly a strange but enjoyable film. Some of the laughs fall a bit flat but the film is so original and engaging that I was able to look past this.

I was a little bit disappointed when I saw this film. It could be a great movie if just the political side blows worked out. But when they refer to political habits then things are too sketchy and simple. I mean you could make a great film where crooks use political knowledge to take benefit from playing people against each other, but it doesn't works like in this film.

I also agree that it takes this movie to move on. While it is good in some movies to have long scenes, here it just doesn't make sense and makes the movie a little bit boring.

So my summary is: The film and the idea could have potential, but the way the film is trying to refer to political stuff just doesn't work out here. But this also is not a bad movie, it's better than most things on TV just don't expect anything big.

Veteran film directors messieurs Claude Lelouch and Jean Pierre Mocky are absolutely unique in the field of French cinema.Both of them have created their own organizations to promote films which bear their trademark styles of cinema.Claude Lelouch has made his films with his production company "Les Films 13" which was founded in 1961.Jean Pierre Mocky screens his films at his own cinema "Le Brady".These two directors are also famous in France and outside of France as they have been unjustly ignored by French press which has always shown a certain kind of preference for American cinema.However,these two directors have been able to make good films entirely due to their fans' loyalty and for them film making is a never ending adventure.This is exactly the case with "L'aventure,C'est L'Aventure" /"The Adventure/It is the adventure" There is no denying that this film was a huge adventure both for Claude Lelouch and for his brilliant cast.Although the film was made in 1972, it is still very much relevant in 2010 as its entertainment value is cherished by everyone including those who lived through turbulent 1970s. "L'aventure,C'est L'Aventure" is a great entertaining film with an important message.It suggests that all criminals have to pay for their crimes regardless of all kinds of hilarious adventures they might experience in their reckless lives.In some ways it can be said that this film's rocking success is due to Claude Lelouch's deliberately omission of any kind of politically correct stance.Neither the director not the audiences fall into any kind of artistic trap as this film's message is clear and loud-to entertain masses at any cost.PS : Film critic Lalit Rao would like to thank a good friend Mr.Philippe Pham for having gifted a DVD of this film for detailed analysis.