Les Morfalous

At one point in Les Morfalous, Jean-Paul Belmondo's character tells the warrant officer: "I'll be frank, Edouard. It's not polite to mock us." Pause. "It's not polite." Although this war story seems often to be a bargain basement version of Kelly's Heroes, it has its moments. Another moment comes when the bank director's wife, observing her husband for the last time, gets a chance to make one really mean comment that is a play on words. Those moments do not include the cheap explosions that do no damage to the Tunisian town set where most of the action takes place in. Les Morfalous is the last of seven (by my count in IMDb) pairings of Belmondo and director Henri Verneuil. Belmondo in this movie seems as spry as ever, fighting, running and chewing the scenery. But age was catching up to him, which shows in close ups. Verneuil, a great action director, decided to end his career, after this movie, by making a series of dramatic movies about the Turkish genocide of the Armenians during World War One. I think he made the right decision, by ending his career making movies he cared about. Les Morfalous is a star vehicle that lacks the usual production gloss of Belmondo's movies in the 60s and 70s. The version I saw on the NYC CUNY Channel had subtitles but the print was grainy and washed out. Even a great print could not hide this movie's flaws: cheap action, choppy editing and too many dull characters. Belmondo is fine, the actor who plays the German officer is fine, the bank director's wife is very good looking and on target when she lists the mistakes Belmondo's sergeant made. In the end, Les Morafalous is a tired movie with too small a budget and not enough interesting action for a war movie.

I resisted to the end only because Jean Paul Belmondo is a nice actor. The script and direction are very weak, poorly directed fight scenes, exaggerations at every step, etc. You can see the difference in quality between the films of the '70s and those of the' 80s, clearly to the detriment of those of the '80s. And I'm not just talking about Belmondo's films, but about all the world's cinema.

An adventure action movie written by prestigious Michael Audiard, being heavily influenced by the American Warfare films, including thrills , explosion , entertainment and a lot of fun . A successful French film that was the fifth highest grossing movie of the year 1984 . April 5, 1943 : a battalion of the Foreign Legion commanded by a Brigade (Michel Constantine) arrives in El Ksour, Tunisia , to escort a fortune in gold bars to the home front. Thanks to roguish but brave Sergeant Augagneur (Jean Paul Belmondo who produced too) and other Legionnaires successfully counter attack against a German ambush and they take shelter at a bank. Later on, there appears the bank manager (Francois Perriot) and his seductive wife (Marie Laforet) , and so does a German lieutenant (Matthias Habich) , whom the French arrest . Then, Sergeant Augagneur wants to rob the gold, while warrant officer Mahuzard wishes to go on his line of military duty . Meantime , the team dwindles little by little , and eventually the gold heads south toward Betahoua.

A funny and amusing WWII satire set in 1943 in Tunisia, in which an unit of the French Foreign Legion fights the Germans over possession of a bank treasure in gold bars , being shot in similar plot to Brian G. Hutton's ¨Kelly's heroes¨ style . Along the way , a series of twists and turns take place with alliances form and break apart . Fun farce film packing noisy action , entertainment , and lots of humor with tongue in cheek . A hectic , extravagant warlike action movie with plenty of blow-up , betrayals , adventure, tanks and hilarious situations . The picture benefis itself from the two main actors , the always sympathetic Jean Paul Belmondo and the gorgeous though mature Marie Laforet . Here Jean Paul Belmondo is an out-of-luck Sergeant legionnaire who chases women and covets the bank's treasury . While Marie Laforet is a wealthy wife with ambition and damsel in distress, at times . And other secondaries giving agreeable and likeable interpretations, such as : Jacques Villeret, Michel Constantin , Francois Perriot, Michel Creton, and the German Matthias Habich.

The picture contains an attractive score by maestro Georges Delerue. As well sd colorful and evocative cinematography by Edmund Secham, shot on location in Tunisia and Paris studios, France. The motion picture was professionally directed by Henry Verneuil. He was a Turkish director working in France from the 40s. Although not a director of great reputation among the critics , his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market . Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan (68)¨ also with Gabin and Delon , ¨The burglars (1971)¨ with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨and ¨The 25th hour¨and only one Western : "Guns of San Sebastian (68)¨. He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : "Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable . A must see for Jean Paul Belmondo fans .

Ok it's a rip off of kelly 's heroes, but it 's worth the view if you like Belmondo

The actors are good (Belmondo play Belmondo..) the photography is good, the music too (the theme is simple, but it's ok) the scenario is well written on the beginning, and has is flaw after.. The characters are well written, the dialogs too.

The only thinks that really bother me is, the cheapness of the movie : The cannon shots on the tower, with no impact, just some wood and dirt on the top for simulate the explosion The dummy's on the ground for the legionary etc... there is a lot of small thinks like that ... The outside/inside scenery are sometimes ok, but it is use too much... half of the movie is take place on the same areas... There is a lot of flawless in the scenario, way too simple things that are not explain or develop (it's is war time remember ...) but it's a comedy I guess ... a comedy with a lot of death that nobody really care in the movie...

I enjoy watching it, it's funny sometimes, the end was not particularly good in my opinion, but I like how the movie can do such drastic choices in the middle of it.

It worth the view if you like Belmondo.

Here we change director (it is not Georges Lautner with whom Jean-Paul Belmondo made a few movies), that is to say, stage manager, with Henri Verneuil. Whose films depend on the subject and the quality of the scenarios, the director not being able to transcend his material.

The sketches of the clown Jean-Paul Belmondo are present. He is supported here by confirmed actors, with Michel Constantin, the most sympathetic and interesting character of the film, Jacques Villeret, in minor mode, Michel Creton, in "I was passing by to see my friend the clown" mode: his character serves strictly no purpose.

Jean-Paul Belmondo's declamations of dialogues are sometimes ridiculous, and some dialogues are of an abysmal nullity. The screenplay is full of impressive clichés. The editing is lazy (those alternating shots between Belmondo and the shots of the rolling tank at the end are interminable). The film is particularly misogynistic with each of the female characters.

Is it possible to screw up everything with so many means? A lazy film.