La Grande Vadrouille

Starring the famous Bourvil/Louis de Funes tandem it is a highly entertaining caper set in WWII German-occupied France, where these 2 unlikely heroes reluctantly must help some downed British airmen to escape.

A perennial favourite on French TV during the Christmas or Easter holidays it is one of those rare movies you can watch over and over again without getting tired of it. It runs more than two hours but moves along at an incredible pace. Movie relies bigtime on the clash of character between de Funes as the self-important musical director of the Opéra de Paris and Bourvil as the simple housepainter. But also the hilarious script, some spectacular setpieces (including a spielbergesque chase by German sidecars) and a surprising finale all add up to making `Vadrouille' one of the best and most entertaining French movies ever.

Made on a lavish budget by Gerard Oury who would go on to make some other highly succesfull comedies, mostly starring big French stars as de Funes and Bourvil, but also Jean-Paul Belmondo, Pierre Richard and Christian Clavier. Incidentally his next venture was to be the equally succesfull `The Brain', starring none other than David Niven (!) and Eli Wallach, backed up by Bourvil and Belmondo. Bourvil and de Funes should be reunited again by Oury in `La folie des Grandeurs' but then sadly Bourvil passed away. He was replaced by none other than Yves Montand.

Up to that time movies made in France took war rather seriously, but `La grande vadrouille' sparked of an endless string of farces set in WWII which almost invariably depicted the French as very clever and cunning, always outwitting the Germans in the end. Even the recent (2002) `Laissez-Passer' from much-acclaimed director Bertrand Tavernier is based on this premiss.

If you like this definitely try to see `Le Corniaud', the first de Funes/Bourvil caper by Oury or why not `Mais ou est donc passé la 7ieme compagnie ?' as a prime example of the smart French vs not-so-smart German theme.

This was a hilarious movie, I'd imagine even for people who don't speak French. Louis de Funes was great, and the whole movies if definitely one I'm going to see again, just for the sheer fun of it! Bottom line: hilarious, 8/10

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!

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.

Why is this movie so funny? And why is it universally judged to be so by people who don't understand French culture? I have asked myself this question while watching it for the Nth time and while asking myself why most Hollywood 'comedies' made today are not funny at all. I believe that the answer is that the basis of all comedy is to make fun of someone. Here, fun is made of sexual stereotypes, of the British, of the French and, most of all, of the Germans, Nazis in this case. Hollywood has become so politically-correct that it now only dares make fun of a WASP male in a business suit, and of no one else. Take the case of 'The Birdcage', a remake of the French comedy 'La cage aux folles' made some 20 years earlier. Being bilingual, I can testify that the original version is immensely more funny than the Hollywood remake. That is because the Hollywood bean-counters, who like to pass themselves off as artistic decision-makers, toned down most of the fun that had been made of homosexuals in the original movie. Ask Shakespeare or Moliere: the play or movie will be funny only if it pokes cruel fun at someone, provided it is not at you. Sorry for the politically-incorrect opinion.