100.000 Dólares ao Sol

Henri Verneuil is not an auteur .So what? Who cares ? He is a perfect craftsman ,a very good story teller ,the perfect antidote to the N.V. headaches ;Saturday night movies best describe his work.And we do need this kind of cinema.

"100000 dollars Au Soleil" looks like a lite "Salaire De La Peur",the classic by Clouzot,but in a tongue in cheek way,with good lines by Audiard.Plus a splendid use of the wide screen exploring the Morrocan desert.Plus two French favorites;the third lead ,Reginald Kernan is unknown in France and is in it probably because the producers could not get Hardy Kruger.Plus a cast against type Blier and Gert "Goldfinger" Froebe .Plus a magnificent score by Georges Delerue,but had this composer ever written mediocre music for films?

An action-packed movie ,which enhances male friendship (if there's a moral in this tale) .Women are demeaned :Belmondo's best fiancée (sic)(Andréa Parisy) is scarcely allowed to complete a sentence ,he expects her to sit there and look pretty.As for Angèle,who dreams of the broader horizons of the big town,Ventura tells her that "she is not a whore cause she does not get dough when she sleeps with his mates (the truck drivers)"But one of the girls will remember the proverb:he(or she) who laughs last laughs best !Eat your heart out ,machos!

...in the clothes of a truck drivers story. good dialogues. good performances. and a not real convincing plot. but nice for individual stories, for the fight scene, for humor and for the well known recipe , used in decent manner. secrets, misteries - many predictable, Belmondo and Ventura and the American flavour of a Verneuil film.

Take two large tablespoons of Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo with a sliver of Bernard Blier, add exotic location, mix with writer Michel Audiard and sprinkle with composer Georges Delerue and you should have a recipe for success. That is certainly the case here as this film of Henri Verneuil became one of the biggest box office hits of 1964 despite generally negative reviews.

Messieurs Ventura and Belmondo had certainly gelled in 'Classe toutes Risques' four years earlier and by the time they made this they were riding high in the popularity stakes. Belmondo also scored a hit during the same year with 'That Man from Rio'. Bernard Blier, father of director Bertrand, is always good value and with the help of Michel Audiard's dialogue, effortlessly steals his scenes. The quartet is completed by a plank named Reginald Kernan. The female interest is supplied by Andrea Parisy and Anne-Marie Coffinet who are required to be little more than eye candy.

After a rather slow opening with a lot of mucho macho posturing the film gradually builds momentum and although the chase sequences are vaguely reminiscent of 'Les Salaires de la Peur', there is neither the tension nor the subtle characterisation of Clouzot's film.

The cinematography in Franscope by Marcel Grignon takes full advantage of the arid, rocky landscape and Verneuil shows his customary slick direction and technical expertise. The film is inclined to meander and is a wee bit long but the charismatic leads keep one watching.

Surprisingly it was entered at Cannes but considering some of the competition that year it was hardly likely to win. The film's colonial stance and its attitude towards the female of the species is likely to raise a few eyebrows these days but it is what it is: an entertaining period piece. The 'brawn over brain' element is of course, timeless!

Henri Verneuil is reported to have said that in this 'the trucks are the stars'. That might have been his intention but as far as this viewer is concerned Messieurs Ventura, Belmondo and Blier win on points!

I have always - not mixed up - but put this very movie with UN TAXI POUR TOBROUK, because it is also shot in black and white, taking place partly in the desert, proposes an international cast including a German actor - Hardy Kruger in UN TAXI...and Gert Froebe and the other German actor here- , both films showing Lino Ventura with Michel Audiard for the dialogues. And besides, this convoy, trucks convoy in western settings scheme, reminded me Henri Georges Clouzot's LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR. This is a must see for the French film history, which demonstrates that director Henri Verneuil has always been under infuence of the American films atmosphere; here the western. Verneuil was a daring film maker, a gross seeker, more than a real artist, but a terrific professional.

Southern Morocco, 1963. The owner of a truck transports company hires a new driver (a self-called American tough guy) to transport mysterious goods in a brand new magnificent truck. While the established group of drivers of the company is welcoming the new driver, one of them (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo)hijack the mysterious truck on the day after, planning to negotiate the sale of goods for its own profit and fly over with his new young bride. The best driver of the company (played by Lino Ventura)is launched to his young fellow's pursuit. On his way, the new American driver joins him to eventually face the young "thief". The pursuit through the Moroccan "Atlas" is rich of surprises about each one, in a world where no one asks more than he has to know.

About all, friendship is always victorious, even if "Friends always share fight, problems, hunger an women, but never money when it is worth 100 000 dollars", as Jean-Paul Belmondo says.