Review of Animal

Animal (1977)
7/10
Belmondo is ideally suited to his character , giving a very diverting and likeable acting
12 September 2022
An attractive movie dealing with good-for-nothing stuntman Mike Gaucher , nicely played by Jean Paul Belmondo , whose death-defying job interferes with his love life , Raquel Welch . What ever shall he do ? . Meantime, he works as a disguised King Kong for a promotion in a supermarket , but he winds up destroying some food shelves . While Welch , his ex-fiancée plays a stuntwoman who wants him out and the film studios don't wish to give him any more work . Then along comes the foppish actor called Bruno Ferrari : Jean-Paul Belmondo as well . But Ferrari results to be afraid of heights once his feet leave the ground . So a stuntman is needed to do the dangerous scenes . And the man who looks exactly like to him turns out to be Mike, then a director : Aldo Maccione hires him to make the risked action set pieces .

A fun as well as extravagant comedy adventure concerning crazy misadventures of a dating duo of movie stunt professionals in France with full of turbulent action , fast paced , romance and farcical events . It has a lot of stunts , in fact Belmondo himself did his own stunts, being well accompanied by the always gorgeous Raquel Welch . This was a decent and brilliant Claude Zidi film, but neither extraordinary , nor notable , but an acceptable and passable time-passer . It's a very well designed piece which is filled with subtle characterizations , a love story , action , and brief bits of humor and irony . These elements are efficiently and compellingly blended by Claude Zidi , a director of great quality . Including a splendid protagonist , Belmondo in a double role, who along the way gets flirty with the wonderful and popular American actress Raquel Welch . To compete the big boxoffice James Bond movies by the time , Belmondo made this picture that had a big hit , as well . Cast is frankly well , as Jean Paul Belmondo who gives a sympathetic and enjoyable acting , as usual , as a fearless stuntman who embarks the feat to reconquest his sweetheart and as a gay actor .He is pretty good as the young who can't do one single job without something going wrong . Belmondo was at the peak of his international fame , by the time he played his best titles . A worthy companion piece to "That Man from Rio" and ¨Chinese Adventures in China ¨directed by Philippe Brocca and starred by Belmondo , both of them were the French highest films of the years 1964 and 1965 , respectively . Belmondo had a prestigious national and international career , playing all kinds of genres , outstanding in thrillers : "Incorregible" , "Hunter Will Get You" , "Stravinsky", "Borsalino" , "Le Professional", "Sicilian Clan" , "Hold-up" , "Mississippi Mermaid" and Adventures : "Cartouche" , "Le Magnifique" , "Ace of Aces", "Happy Easter" , among others . Belmondo is perfectly adequate to their roles , providing two very fun and enjoyable performances , both a valiant stuntman and an effeminate actor . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Aldo Maccione , Dany Saval , Didier Flamand, Henry Attal and brief appearances from Jane Birkin , Johnny Hallyday and Claude Chabrol.

The film displays an engrossing and adequate cinematography by prestigious camera operator Claude Renoir , Jean Renoir's son. As well as a lively and atmospheric musical score by Vladimir Cosma .The motion picture was professionally directed by Claude Zidi , it was a big hit ; in fact , Zidi got him the nickname "Mr. Box Office". He's one of the most successfully commercial directors of France with smash comedy hits as the Charlots , Les Sous-Doués , Les Ripoux series and usually played by the best French actors . On the other hand the few non-comedies he made turned out to be big flops . Also made the first Asterix and Obelix movie : ¨Asterix and Obelix against Cesar¨, and other notorious movies as ¨The Wing or The Thigh?¨with Louis de Funes, ¨My New Partner¨ with Philppe Noiret, ¨Deux¨with Gérard Depardieu , ¨La totale !¨ with Thierry Lhermitte , Miou-Miou and ¨Banzai¨ with Coluche, among others. Raing : 6.5/10 . The flick will appeal to Jean Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch fans.
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