Il commissadro

... or, if you don't speak Pig Latin/Backslang, top drawer. Pig Latin had a vogue in the forties - and possibly earlier - and for a time it was commonplace to hear expressions like 'amscray' (scram) in low-budget Hollywood movies. If the US had Pig Latin France has 'verlan' or 'la langue de banlieues' (the language of the suburbs). Pourri, which means 'rotten' when transposed to verlan comes out ripoux, thus Le Ripoux, The Rotten. It's basically our old friend the veteran taking the rookie under his wing, in this case veteran cop, Philippe Noiret, who's also a BENT veteran cop, if anyone asks you, is lumbered with green-as-grass rookie Therry Thermitte. Believe me, it's a match made in Heaven. Not a lot happens but the trick is, IT HAPPENS IN FRENCH and that gallic flavor makes all the difference. It was so good that six years later they made a sequel, and last year they made a sequel to the sequel. Hooray. 9/10

I purchased the DVD box set of Les Ripoux and Ripoux Contre Ripoux, its first sequel (there is now a third, Ripoux 3). To my horror, it only has the French language track, no English anything, to include subtitles. The had subtitles in the theater, so is it a French government plot that they cannot put them on DVD? Otherwise, I'll say that Les Ripoux is one of the best French comedies of all time, along with Grand blond avec une chaussure noire, "The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe", and its sequel. Which I would also like to have if I could get subtitles for them! (For those who have seen the Tom Hanks version of the latter, while funny, I found it to be too Americanized and think the original version was better.)

Such an amazing music. Francis Lai's art is one of many reasons to watch this film.

Came across this film years ago, the french teacher at school put the video to keep us quiet; thought it was brilliant then. Caught it by accident the other night on cable - its got better with age!! The characters are superbly drawn and believable, the plot just bizarre enough to work. Which begs the question, why isn't it available on DVD? Or if it is, where?

What a great movie! All around good fun -- I'd recommend it to anyone. The lead actors were awesome -- does anyone else think the guy playing Francois looks like a French Baldwin brother? Anyways, the story of two crooked cops hasn't aged at all. Hard to believe this one's not on VHS or DVD yet. See it if you can.