This is not the sort of French film I usually watch, but recovering quietly after a short illness, I decided to watch the combined forces of Bourvil and Louis de Funes to relax me. This ' fun ' gangster caper nearly sent me to sleep as the visual jokes and banal dialogue were a bore after an hour, and the film stretches to nearly 2 hours. Bourvil made it tolerable to reach the laughter finale, as he has the sort of face that even in poor material can win you over. As for Funes I found his heavily choreographed pranks tiresome, and I am not fond of his delivery of dialogue. Shown on France 2 it was in widescreen and the views of Paris, Rome and some superb views of Carcassonne were a joy to watch, and hardly a tourist in sight. I give this recovery film a 4 for Bourvil's expressive face and also for the views that managed to take me elsewhere. Georges Delerue's accompanying music was not his best, and the director is an acquired taste I do not have. The film's best merit was not being studio bound, and at least something had been learnt from the last splashes of the Nouvelle Vague. I also did not find Louis de Funes funny in two homophobic joke scenes, one set in a shower and another in a tent. But then popular French cinema had a lot to learn back in 1965 on that subject, and I felt suddenly unwell recalling audiences of the time literally rolling in the aisles with laughter. It is watchable but only for those who like this genre of film, rich in pratfalls and poor on wit.
Review of The Sucker
