Tre uomini in fuga

Released in Australia as DON'T LOOK NOW...WE'RE BEING SHOT AT this dubbed French WW2 farce was a runaway hit and most unexpectedly so during winter 1968. Usually French films just are subtitled here but, like Das Boot later, it is one of the few expertly dubbed...maybe there was an English version made given some of the cast. Anyway, it was plonked into one city theater as a filler when some other film fell over...and became a record breaking ticket seller for about 3 months. I can remember (it well) the audience screaming with laughter in the huge 1200 seat Lyceum Theatre...especially during one particular chase scene. The Lyceum was the showcase for most family films like THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE and later WHATS UP DOC so maybe there was an inbuilt audience for Lyceum style shows that helped this film find box office gold immediately. However, after its initial run, it never surfaced again and has never been seen on TV video or DVD in Australia. Just one colossal release and oblivion!

And the most popular. Often showed on TV, she has been seen in the cinema by 17 million viewers, absolute record in my country. Bourvil and de Funes, two of the most popular comic actors (dead in 1977 and 1983), rival of good words, jokes and poetics. It was one of the first times that the nazis were turned about ridiculous guignols in the cinema (after "papy fait de la Résistance").

If you love this film, see "le Corniaud".

The setting: a British bomber is shot down (due to some navigational errors) above Paris. The crew get separated, and each of them needs the help of a few French people to escape from the occupied city, and eventually to England. Of course, evil Germans persecute them throughout the movie...

All of this is a backdrop to a wonderful comedy. It could be compared with Mel Brooks' "To be or not to be", and I believe it comes out the superior of the two. Easily the best Louis de Funes movie ever - and so, perhaps, also the best French comedy ever...

This movie certainly belongs to one of the best comedies French cinema has ever produced.It has that rare quality of entertaining the viewer over and over again although it has been around for years. It is also probably Louis de Funès' most witty performance ever, mainly due to the fact that he reduced his frequently exaggerated ( and often irritating) facial expressions and babbling away to an acceptable level.Bourvil was always and remains, even today, an icon of the French cinema.As a team, de Funès and Bourvil form an "odd couple" that really works and their constant bickering is often hilarious. A lot of fun is made of the Germans and British but this is always done with a tongue-in-cheek approach and the whole movie bristles with a "joie de vivre" that leaves the viewer with a feeling of intense delight.

I have been teaching French for more than 20 years and saw this comedy with my 18 year old nephew who is studying French and my sister who knows none. We laughed our silly heads off for two hours. It appeals to young and old, French-speaking and non-French speaking. It is simply hilarious.