La belle Américaine

You could expect the worst of a scandal American beauty in Paris, but the title is enticingly misleading - this film is not about sex at all, but only about motor cars, motor bicycles, failing coffee machines, squalid factory circumstances like in Chaplin's "Modern Times" and other humdrum trivialities like that. On this stage of grey working day ordinariness an American beauty enters, but she is a car. I think it's even a Thunderbird. She is white, and when these simple people get the custody of her you must start to worry about anyone getting into any trouble. They all do indeed, many end up in jail, the car itself gets into all kinds of complicated circumstance without anyone driving it, even being shipped on the Seine on a barge, but by some miracle everyone gets out of It alive, and even the car. There is an accident, but it actually leads to the final settlement and establishment of the car as a popular and successful icon and triumph at the same time at last giving full credit to the horse as a superior being. The actors are all delightfully excellent, and Louis de Funès even plays two parts, kickstarting his career. The wonder of the film is that the hilarity never tires, it starts from the very beginning and is sustained throughout, all the characters returning now and then in surprising coincidences, and there is even an amiable political satire. In brief, it's a glorious comedy which, as one reviewer observed, only gets better with time.

This beautiful American is not a woman but a car ; in France, the sixties were the decade of the car ,many buy their first one in this era .Most of them were small vehicles , and when the hero,a modest factory worker buys a cadillac for a song ,(450 nouveaux francs -a simple deux-chevaux would cost ten times this in 1960)he passes for an important man ,and will even help a politician get a promotion, thanks to his knowledge in Australian geography (thanks to sonny's book )

In the sixties ,some commercials claim "you're judged on your car" and as soon as the VIP see the cadillac , they are at the beck and call of the happy owner .

The gags are numerous ,including one when the hero is locked up in his trunk ,with the key in his pocket ; the cast is a who's who of the French comic actors, featuring Louis De Funès playing twins ,and thus doubling the fun .

But ,besides the absolutely crazy screenplay ,this is an interesting time capsule : the early sixties see the coming of the nouveaux francs which caused problems for those who were not good at arithmetic ; most of the people would still watch TV in the cafes,but along the decade , TV sales rocketed .And everybody took their driving test!

I said many times how much I like Robert Dhery, Colette Brosset and the whole team we find in each of their movies( Jacques Legras, Henri Rollin, jacques Fabri, and many others, not to forget Louis de Funès... who became later the great star everybody knows) This makes a good simple comedy, just for a laugh and for good old time nostalgy, with a good story, good playing and very good dialogues. Don't expect a great and brilliant masterpiece. Just comedy and good realistic dialogues. Colette Brosset is lovely as ever, and Jacques Legras shows once more he could do better than Candid camera.

The story ? a man buys a (very) used motorcycle but his wife sees an ad in the paper selling a neat cadillac for the same price. So he buy the car, and his life change. no need to say more, the story itself is well written but not very important, the colourful characters and good dialogues are the goodie of this movie, as in others of Robert Dhery or Pierre Tchernia (whom we can see in this movie, during a scene shown on TV) If you watch some Robert Dhery or Branquignol's movies you'll notice the characters have the real name of the actors. For example, in this one, Jacques Balutin is the inspector Balutin. I recommend this movie to any people who like simple french comedies, want to sit in a comfortable armchair get a good time and forget all their problems during 1:25 hour If you like it see also ah, les belles bacchantes, allez France, Vos gueules les mouettes, Le petit Baigneur,le viager, pas de problème and most of Louis de Funès movies, as obviously he didn't forget to give a role to his old mates in later movies, when he was a star.

I saw this one when it was new, in the 1960s, and with age it's only got better. The simple, lovable people of an idealized Parisian neighborhood have an additional layer of nostalgia value as we recall a country that appears to have found its feet again after wartime but has not yet been overwhelmed by globalization. The threat is certainly there, but in comical form. There's a hapless, primitive espresso machine. There's a lo-tech manufacturing machine that's replaced with a hi-tech one-- involving, by the way, a gag I remember from the 1960s version that wasn't in the version I downloaded from the web. And there's the Belle Américaine itself, a huge luxury convertible that is admired by all but something of a mixed blessing. Anyway, the script presents a charming little world and the story is full of well-scripted and well-performed comical episodes any one of which, if you put it into a comedy of the last couple of decades, would be the highlight of the movie.

A charming French comedy , admirable first for simplicity, realism , acting, twists and old fashion innocence flavors. An American car and the universe around it , from the simple - minded owner , to the rich seller, friends and adventures.

Not impressive but just sweet and, more important, comfortable .

Nostalgic in high measure, it can be just a precious oasis in contemporary world.