Le magnifique

The first half of "Le Magnifique" is postmodern tongue-in-cheek genius, a wild, ludicrous and in every department excellent mixture of James Bond spoof, splatter effects, slapstick, intertextual verve and romantic comedy clearly exceeding the ten stars limit, plus a downright irresistible Jacqueline Bisset (and I'm not even into brunettes). The second half, hmm, doesn't really come as a letdown, but sticks more to conventional vaudeville formulas and simply can't live up to the absurd roller-coaster folly already established, a few bitter tones possibly due to Francis Veber, a prolific and superb, but sometimes uneven writer who also worked on the script. The Canal Plus DVD features the French original as well as the English and German dub. As for comic dramas of the 70s, unorthodox and essential viewing.

In kanopy as the man from acapulco, but in imdb as le magnifique. Jacqueline bisset, vittorio caprioli, jeanpaul belmondo. Francois is a writer who has created a suave, sharp spy hero, who is all the things the writer is not. Francois uses people and events from his own life in the spy's adventures. Lots of fake blood and guts, but it's so over the top, it's more comical than scary. The running gag where the plumber and electrician are waiting for the other to work in francois' flat before they will start their work. Fun scenery from all over the world, as the spy saint-clar chases the bad guys. Paris, puerto vallarta, orly, acapulco. It must have been really fun making this film! In french, with english subtitles. It's a fun parody of spy thrillers, with sight gags keeping us entertained. Some repetition. Mostly good stuff. Directed by philippe de broca, who has been nominated for an oscar and a bafta! It's a fun one. One forgets that it was made back in 1973.

As a spy parody, we already have a nice movie, cutting for a 7/10. But this movie doesn't stop there and adds another layer, intertwining the story of Bob Saint Clar, the perfect spy, with the one of its creator, the writer François Merlin, and raises the level one step higher.

It goes also with a nice duo of actors: Belmondo enjoying himself, and ourselves, and Jacqueline Bisset - previously James Bond girl - which shines on the movie with her double role.

Without disclosing the story, you'll have a very good time.

This movie is a story about a writer which is maintaining and developing a character, which is a lot in contrary of himself. As a viewer you follow the man when he is writing the book, and you can follow all of his sometimes funny, sometimes exaggerated fantasies by the creation of the story.

It must have been a challenge for the script writer(s) to make this film not too difficult to follow, because it depends on good timing when switching the roles as they are growing during the story.

When you place the movie in its own time, it was one of those real Belmondo's: cleverly written, and full of terrific action, with often surprising acts. A nice movie!

Bob Sinclar is the greatest secret agent in the world : he is handsome, strong, intelligent, unstoppable ... and he doesn't exist. You're irritated by the perfection of James (Bond) ? check this movie.

This movie looks old, and most of its jokes don't work as well as it worked 31 yrs ago, yet, this movie has to be seen. It is short, and there are some great findings (and some stuff are still funny too). Actually the concepts in the movie are better than the movie itself IMHO, but it's still a nice movie. When I was a kid I LOVED that movie so much !!!

BTW, I guess that the name Sinclar comes from who was James Bond at this time (Roger Moore) that was Simon Templar and Lord Sinclair on TV.

I almost forgot : if you're a man ... or a lesbian, Jacqueline Bisset is a sufficient enough reason to watch the movie.

" - coucouroucoucou coucouroucoucou

• VOS GUEULES !!!

• cou ... ou ..."

Check it out.