One of the many great comedies from France from the 1970's, and a commodity which is seriously lacking nowadays in that country ! It is now available in France ( March 2007 ) on DVD, and please note that the DVD has English Subtitles if required. Ventura was a great actor and Brel, though hopeless as an actor, occupied a part which didn't need a great actor. Brel in this film can get on your nerves at time, just like Michael Crawford in "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" but despite this, the spectator has a good time ! The catchy, almost wailing, theme music by François Rauber (played on a whiny accordeon) is typical of many French films from the sixties and seventies and serves as a way of identifying the origin of the film. Given that now both the main protagonists of the film are dead, the sound of this accordéon is particularly nostalgic. The recipe of two character-opposed central characters is often a central tenet of French cinema ( Richard / Depardieu, Depardieu/Reno, De Funes/Carmet, De Funes/Bourvil ...... and Ventura/Brel in this film )and has been used with success to make generations of moviegoers laugh ! Francis Veber had a large had in this film although its director was Edouard Molinaro - is it any surprise then that one of the characters has the name François Pignon. Indeed, BREL is the ORIGINAL François Pignon. The character was subsequently interpreted by Pierre Richard, Jacques Villeret, Daniel Auteuil et alia ............
17 Reviews
Still funny after all these years
bob99818 August 2006
This is one of the last good comedies Molinaro was able to make, before he got stuck in Cage aux folles-robotic entertainment. Pairing Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel was a wonderful idea: one is so dour and methodical, the other so emotional, helpless, a real loser.
The hotel scenes are very well set up; there is a claustrophobic feeling about the layout of the suites. The water seeping through the door into Ventura's suite from Brel's bathroom after the suicide attempt prevents Ventura from concentrating on assembling his rifle--very well handled by Molinaro. The clinic scene, with Ventura ending up in a strait-jacket is a marvelous four-way comic piece with Caroline Cellier and Jean-Pierre Darras joining the two principals.
Now, if someone will bring back La Mandarine (with an impressive Annie Girardot) and L'Homme pressé, two more great Molinaro pictures from the 70's, my happiness will be complete.
The hotel scenes are very well set up; there is a claustrophobic feeling about the layout of the suites. The water seeping through the door into Ventura's suite from Brel's bathroom after the suicide attempt prevents Ventura from concentrating on assembling his rifle--very well handled by Molinaro. The clinic scene, with Ventura ending up in a strait-jacket is a marvelous four-way comic piece with Caroline Cellier and Jean-Pierre Darras joining the two principals.
Now, if someone will bring back La Mandarine (with an impressive Annie Girardot) and L'Homme pressé, two more great Molinaro pictures from the 70's, my happiness will be complete.
The original of Buddy, Buddy
hakapes21 May 2005
Watching movies 'backwards' is an interesting experience. There are so many good titles out there that were shot before I was born or I was grown up enough to have a chance to see them. Buddy, Buddy is one of them. However, looking at the critiques, I discovered that this is again a remake of a great French movie, L'Emmerdeur. Last time I have seen Ture Lies first, than I watched La Totale!, which was quite a disappointment, as the US version was just way much better, more money, better actors, etc. So now, I have decided to watch L'Emmerdeur first and just then Buddy, Buddy.
Although the movie was not fast as a paced action movie, the 80 minutes went by quite fast. I liked the atmosphere of the film, which is typical for French movies of this time: simple setup, small budget, great ideas and great actors. I just loved the funny situations and little jokes throughout.
The other attraction of the movie is the great Belgian singer, Jacques Brel (1929-1978). Although not French, he's a characteristic of French pop music of the 20th. Although he played in a number of movies, he's really not talented for an actor, the only other movie of his that worth a watch is 'L'aventure, c'est l'aventure'. However, as a composer/singer, he was fantastic, just browse to jacquesbrel.be to discover.
In case you're a fan of French movies as I am, this is a must to watch. However, as time has passed, L'Emmerdeur brings enough entertainment only for a Saturday/Sunday afternoon for the big audience, strongly recommended for family watch - 7/10.
Although the movie was not fast as a paced action movie, the 80 minutes went by quite fast. I liked the atmosphere of the film, which is typical for French movies of this time: simple setup, small budget, great ideas and great actors. I just loved the funny situations and little jokes throughout.
The other attraction of the movie is the great Belgian singer, Jacques Brel (1929-1978). Although not French, he's a characteristic of French pop music of the 20th. Although he played in a number of movies, he's really not talented for an actor, the only other movie of his that worth a watch is 'L'aventure, c'est l'aventure'. However, as a composer/singer, he was fantastic, just browse to jacquesbrel.be to discover.
In case you're a fan of French movies as I am, this is a must to watch. However, as time has passed, L'Emmerdeur brings enough entertainment only for a Saturday/Sunday afternoon for the big audience, strongly recommended for family watch - 7/10.
A gentle French comedy of errors
blackmorea12 September 2004
I liked this film, not really belly laugh funny, but the situation comedy that Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel get themselves into, can be very humorous. Ventura plays an assassin who is trying to do a job, however he gets caught up with Brel's annoying and suicidal hypochondriac, foiling his attempts, by trying to commit suicide in the room next door to the room Ventura is in to do the hit. This causes the police to be called to the hotel. When they arrive however, Ventura persuades them that Brel is a friend and he will look after him and get him back on his feet. He decides to get rid of Brel, so that he can continue on his original task, but then ends up helping him to settle the score with his wife, who has left Brel for a rich medical doctor and that is when the real fun starts...!
Like a leech
ulicknormanowen18 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It was the second time Lino Ventura had teamed with famous chanteur Jacques Brel ,after Lelouch's "l'aventure c'est l'aventure".
A professional killer ,on a mission to shoot a burdensome witness ,meets a rep for shirts ,abandoned by his wife , about to take his own life ; aaginst all odds the man whose metier is killing comes to the suicidal man's rescue ; but the survivor does not want to leave his new buddy ,and he's really a pain in the a......( which is what the French title means) ; if it weren't enough , the bell-hop (Nino Castelnuovo ,Catherine Deneuve's squeeze in "les parapluies de Cherbourg")is another kind of pain in the neck.
Close to what the French call "theâtre de boulevard" , the movie ,after a slow beginning ,quickly hits its stride and becomes a spate of gags ,involving a love rivalry , an omnipresent police who are not a good omen for the killer's dirty deed, an insane asylum ; even in jail ,you cannot get rid of a chum who sticks like a leech.
Brel's last movie and his best along with "les risques du métier" ,his debut in the field.
Two remakes : a French one by Francis Weber and an American one ,"buddy buddy" ,the great Billy Wilder's swansong.
A professional killer ,on a mission to shoot a burdensome witness ,meets a rep for shirts ,abandoned by his wife , about to take his own life ; aaginst all odds the man whose metier is killing comes to the suicidal man's rescue ; but the survivor does not want to leave his new buddy ,and he's really a pain in the a......( which is what the French title means) ; if it weren't enough , the bell-hop (Nino Castelnuovo ,Catherine Deneuve's squeeze in "les parapluies de Cherbourg")is another kind of pain in the neck.
Close to what the French call "theâtre de boulevard" , the movie ,after a slow beginning ,quickly hits its stride and becomes a spate of gags ,involving a love rivalry , an omnipresent police who are not a good omen for the killer's dirty deed, an insane asylum ; even in jail ,you cannot get rid of a chum who sticks like a leech.
Brel's last movie and his best along with "les risques du métier" ,his debut in the field.
Two remakes : a French one by Francis Weber and an American one ,"buddy buddy" ,the great Billy Wilder's swansong.
Original French dark comedy is much better than the later American flop
SimonJack21 June 2020
The original title of this 1973 French film is "L'emmerdeur, which translates as "the bother" or "troublemaker." When it made it to the States in 1975, neither of those translations must not have had the box office appeal, so it got the more attention-grabbing title, "A Pain in the Ass."
By whatever name, this French film is a very good dark comedy about a hit-man whose contract killing is constantly foiled by a fumbling salesman. The salesman himself botches an attempt at suicide over his wife leaving him for her analyst. It's worth noting for modern audiences that from about the mid-1960s through the 1970s, it was a big thing for people to have an analyst or psychiatrist. At least, that's what many comedy films portrayed about the wealthy and average skyscraper workers of the Big Apple. This was almost always done with light satire or outright mockery.
The plot, settings and characters in this film with English subtitles are very good. MGM in 1981 remade the film, changing the setting to California and enough of the rest of the plot and characters that it tanked. "Buddy Buddy" starred Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but one could never quite seriously see Matthau as a hit man, where Lino Ventura was convincing in the French original. Lemmon's Victor Clooney came across more as a whining wimp, where Jacques Brel is very good as a good-natured, if somewhat scatter-brained salesman who wants to get his wife back.
Then, the American version had a totally different psychiatric aspect with Klaus Kinski playing Dr Hugo Zuckerbrot who ran a desert sex farm. That totally did in the MGM production. In this film, Jean-Pierre Darras plays Dr. Fuchs who has a bona fide psychiatric institution, which serves to fuel the plot and the antagonists nicely.
The later American film also removed the dark edge, which may have further dimmed any audience consideration of Matthau's character as a hit-man. This original film has early scenes with a car-bomb explosion and then a failed first hit-man being taken out by Ventura's Ralf Milan, who shoots him in the head.
This is a very good and enjoyable comedy. It's not for the whole family, but those who aren't squeamish about a little blood and rough stuff as part of comedy should find this film anything but a pain in the ass. That would have been a much better title for the Lemmon-Matthau remake of 1981.
By whatever name, this French film is a very good dark comedy about a hit-man whose contract killing is constantly foiled by a fumbling salesman. The salesman himself botches an attempt at suicide over his wife leaving him for her analyst. It's worth noting for modern audiences that from about the mid-1960s through the 1970s, it was a big thing for people to have an analyst or psychiatrist. At least, that's what many comedy films portrayed about the wealthy and average skyscraper workers of the Big Apple. This was almost always done with light satire or outright mockery.
The plot, settings and characters in this film with English subtitles are very good. MGM in 1981 remade the film, changing the setting to California and enough of the rest of the plot and characters that it tanked. "Buddy Buddy" starred Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but one could never quite seriously see Matthau as a hit man, where Lino Ventura was convincing in the French original. Lemmon's Victor Clooney came across more as a whining wimp, where Jacques Brel is very good as a good-natured, if somewhat scatter-brained salesman who wants to get his wife back.
Then, the American version had a totally different psychiatric aspect with Klaus Kinski playing Dr Hugo Zuckerbrot who ran a desert sex farm. That totally did in the MGM production. In this film, Jean-Pierre Darras plays Dr. Fuchs who has a bona fide psychiatric institution, which serves to fuel the plot and the antagonists nicely.
The later American film also removed the dark edge, which may have further dimmed any audience consideration of Matthau's character as a hit-man. This original film has early scenes with a car-bomb explosion and then a failed first hit-man being taken out by Ventura's Ralf Milan, who shoots him in the head.
This is a very good and enjoyable comedy. It's not for the whole family, but those who aren't squeamish about a little blood and rough stuff as part of comedy should find this film anything but a pain in the ass. That would have been a much better title for the Lemmon-Matthau remake of 1981.
Monsieur Milan!
michelerealini2 October 2005
"L'Emmerdeur" (1973) is the French movie which originated a US remake directed by Willy Wilder -"Buddy Buddy" (1981), starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It was the last Wilder movie, not bad at all, but this original one is far better.
French star Lino Ventura and Belgian singer Jacques Brel were friends, they shot their first film together with Claude Lelouch "L'aventure c'est l'aventure". They wanted to team again and chose established comedy director Edouard Molinaro for adapting this movie, written by Francis Veber -who later became another master of French comedy...
A gangster named Milan takes a room in a Montpellier hotel, which is located in front of a Tribunal. He has a mission -shooting from his window for killing the key witness of a trial. In the room next to his there's a man, François Pignon, who is desperate instead. he wants to commit suicide because his wife quit him. The meeting of the two originates a series of accidents and misunderstandings...!
The comedy is excellent, with two actors in a really good shape. The highlight is that Brel and Ventura characters are so different and have nothing in common. Each, in his own side, is not funny -one is serious and cold, the other is sad and loser. BUT their combination is absolutely comical. (The way Brel calls Ventura -"Monsieur Milan!"- is irresistible!)
It's a high quality comedy, one of the most famous ever made in France. Edouard Molinaro directed other great comedies -among them two films with Louis De Funès and "La Cage aux folles", the gay comedy starring Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi. Molinaro is at ease in making "L'Emmerdeur", many scenes are also shot by himself carrying a camera on his shoulder...
But the other leading person behind this film is, as already said, Francis Veber. His lines and situations are typical of the comedies he'll direct later -among them "La chèvre" with Depardieu and Pierre Richard, "Le diner des cons" and "Le placard". There's his recognizable style of creating strange situations -Veber likes putting in his films two completely different actors and creating comical situations from that.
Another thing: Jacques Brel's character is called François Pignon. It's the same name Veber uses in his other films for one of the two leading roles -the name itself has become synonym of an awkward, unlucky, naive and a little stupid person...!
French star Lino Ventura and Belgian singer Jacques Brel were friends, they shot their first film together with Claude Lelouch "L'aventure c'est l'aventure". They wanted to team again and chose established comedy director Edouard Molinaro for adapting this movie, written by Francis Veber -who later became another master of French comedy...
A gangster named Milan takes a room in a Montpellier hotel, which is located in front of a Tribunal. He has a mission -shooting from his window for killing the key witness of a trial. In the room next to his there's a man, François Pignon, who is desperate instead. he wants to commit suicide because his wife quit him. The meeting of the two originates a series of accidents and misunderstandings...!
The comedy is excellent, with two actors in a really good shape. The highlight is that Brel and Ventura characters are so different and have nothing in common. Each, in his own side, is not funny -one is serious and cold, the other is sad and loser. BUT their combination is absolutely comical. (The way Brel calls Ventura -"Monsieur Milan!"- is irresistible!)
It's a high quality comedy, one of the most famous ever made in France. Edouard Molinaro directed other great comedies -among them two films with Louis De Funès and "La Cage aux folles", the gay comedy starring Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi. Molinaro is at ease in making "L'Emmerdeur", many scenes are also shot by himself carrying a camera on his shoulder...
But the other leading person behind this film is, as already said, Francis Veber. His lines and situations are typical of the comedies he'll direct later -among them "La chèvre" with Depardieu and Pierre Richard, "Le diner des cons" and "Le placard". There's his recognizable style of creating strange situations -Veber likes putting in his films two completely different actors and creating comical situations from that.
Another thing: Jacques Brel's character is called François Pignon. It's the same name Veber uses in his other films for one of the two leading roles -the name itself has become synonym of an awkward, unlucky, naive and a little stupid person...!
the nice hitman
pierrealix11 April 2001
This Movie came out in France after summer 73 and become quick one of the biggest hit ever in this country.. because it starred Lino ventura ,by far the most beloved french actor (although from Italian origin)in the funny character of a poor hitman who just cant do his job..people were delighted to see this tough guy annoyed by Jacques Brel although no one understood why he didnt strangle him at the third minute...But the incredibly bad acting by singer Brel makes this movie a never-ending bore. Strictly for Ventura Fans.
Classic Black Comedy
Martin-13117 July 1999
This is one of those films that is so funny, it makes you (well me anyway) smile just to remember it.
The essential storyline is of a professional hitman and a guy that he finds he can not get rid of. (The English translation of the title is pain-in-the-behind.)
This is black comedy done to perfection with a brilliant gradual build-up. It starts straight-faced so, if you do not know what you are watching, it could be any old thriller. Gradually the gags come in until it reaches a manic pace.
The two stars are the completely deadpan Lino Ventura and the songwriter Jacques Brel.
It is sadly under-rated and hard-to-find. Seek it out!
The essential storyline is of a professional hitman and a guy that he finds he can not get rid of. (The English translation of the title is pain-in-the-behind.)
This is black comedy done to perfection with a brilliant gradual build-up. It starts straight-faced so, if you do not know what you are watching, it could be any old thriller. Gradually the gags come in until it reaches a manic pace.
The two stars are the completely deadpan Lino Ventura and the songwriter Jacques Brel.
It is sadly under-rated and hard-to-find. Seek it out!
1 + 1 = Laff Riot
writers_reign26 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
At last this standout has been issued on DVD which is promoting it as the film that introduced the world to Francois Pignon. Perhaps not uncoincidentally the DVD appears at a time when screenwriter Francis Veber has adapted his screenplay - he wasn't yet directing - for the stage with Richard Berry as Ralf Milan and Patrick Timsit as the eponymous pain in the ass. In an interview printed in the program for the play Veber speculates on why Billy Wilder's remake, Buddy, Buddy, was so disappointing; Veber suggests that Walter Matthau had such a backlog of outstanding comedy roles behind him that it was difficult to accept him as a dispassionate hit-man. There's probably something in what Veber says because the opposite is true of Lino Ventura who LOOKS dangerous and had an equally impressive backlog as a gangster in French polars. One early scene illustrates this perfectly; driving to his assignment he stops in a diner and inadvertently parks in front of a large camion. When the trucker, a big guy, gets ready to leave he lets out a squawk when he is unable to get out. The counterman taps Ventura as the culprit and suggests he move his car but quick. 'I'm finishing my coffee' he says quietly, the juggernaut jockey springs forward to confront him face to face. 'I'm finishing my coffee' says Ventura just as quietly and just as menacingly and the big guy backs down. It's difficult to imagine Matthau being as effective as that, Lee Marvin, no problem. The plot obeys all the rules of farce in which one person or even a group of people have a deadly serious objective and are single minded in trying to achieve it whilst a chain of unconnected events spin out of control around them preventing the task from being accomplished. Milan has been hired by the mob to take out a witness when he is brought into the court at exactly two.p.m. and he clings to that objective tenaciously despite the chaos surrounding him initiated by Francois Pignon, Jacques Brel. Veber's screenplay is so tightly constructed that it hardly matters that Jacques Brel is to acting what Jim Carrey is to Greek Tragedy. Veber's masterstroke is to delay the revelation that this is a farce by spending a whole reel establishing a polar and only gradually permitting his real intention to become evident. Even after twenty years it still comes up fresh.
The original, and the best !
RealLiveClaude26 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This movie inspired the less successful "Buddy Buddy" which starred the Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon team. However, the original is better for many reasons here.
Hit-man comes to Montpellier, France to recoup a failed assassination attempt of a witness about to tell all about the Mob. However, a depressed businessman who is about to lose his wife gets in the way, and trouble ensues...
Great rendering by the late actor Lino Ventura (who did tough guys role throughout his career and had a fan base in Quebec, shot a couple of movies in Montreal...) and late poet/singer/actor Jacques Brel as the depressed Francois Pignon (who is a staple character to Francis Veber's many scripts, if we can remember "Le Diner De Cons" and other movies).
Well written and real twists along the way. No matter this hit-man called this guy "annoying" (translated from the title in slang French: "L'Emmerdeur"). But this original still prevails from the failed remakes that followed (to all due respect to the original "Odd Couple" of Matthau and Lemmon).
Hit-man comes to Montpellier, France to recoup a failed assassination attempt of a witness about to tell all about the Mob. However, a depressed businessman who is about to lose his wife gets in the way, and trouble ensues...
Great rendering by the late actor Lino Ventura (who did tough guys role throughout his career and had a fan base in Quebec, shot a couple of movies in Montreal...) and late poet/singer/actor Jacques Brel as the depressed Francois Pignon (who is a staple character to Francis Veber's many scripts, if we can remember "Le Diner De Cons" and other movies).
Well written and real twists along the way. No matter this hit-man called this guy "annoying" (translated from the title in slang French: "L'Emmerdeur"). But this original still prevails from the failed remakes that followed (to all due respect to the original "Odd Couple" of Matthau and Lemmon).
Great Comedy
julian-isitt18 April 2020
One of my favourite films. A very funny story made even more so by a brilliantly underplayed performance by Lino Ventura, portraying an hitman sidelined by a very annoying travelling salesperson played not as badly as some critics have suggested by popular songster Jacques Brel. This movie is so laugh-filled one wonders where more recent comedies so have failed. A must-see for film fans.
This film essentially is a study of characters bet...
Jabberwock3 July 1999
This film essentially is a study of characters between a loser (Jacques Brel) and a hit man (Lino Ventura).
This film, like many French comedies, has a Hollywood counterpart, "Buddy Buddy", with Walther Mathau and Jack Lemmon. Although not bad, the remake is nevertheless deceptive, as we were expecting much more from a movie in which the two principal characters are played by such great actors.
This film, like many French comedies, has a Hollywood counterpart, "Buddy Buddy", with Walther Mathau and Jack Lemmon. Although not bad, the remake is nevertheless deceptive, as we were expecting much more from a movie in which the two principal characters are played by such great actors.
The Hitman's Buddy.
morrison-dylan-fan13 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Having a bit of a rubbish week offline,I decided that I would cheer myself up by watching two Comedy films.A fan of him in Noir's,I felt it was the perfect time to see the comedic side of Lino Venture.
View on the film:
Playing up to his tough guy image,Lino Venture gives a fabulous performance as Milan,with Venture's strained, agitated facial expressions being those worthy of a Silent Comedy. Irritating all he comes into contact with, Jacques Brel takes care that this irritation of Pignon does not spread to the viewer, by giving Pignon a misplaced sincerity towards Milan,which causes all situations to go from bad to worse. Breaking his play out of the hotel room, the screenplay by Francis Veber finds hilarity in making Milan and Pignon absolute misfits, with the cold, hard glances of Pignon being smashed by the cliff-edge emotions of Milan.
Gathering the duo in a hotel, Veber smartly spends the opening 30 minutes playing Milan's hit man and Pignon's depression straight, that gives the avalanche of trouble that comes after a feeling of Pignon and Milan having an inability to stop themselves from getting pulled into each other's troubles. Making the physical Comedy look impressively effortless, director Édouard Molinaro & cinematographer Raoul Coutard load up Milan's troubles with slick tracking shots and sped-up car racing that tracks every attempt Milan makes to free himself from the pain of Pignon.
View on the film:
Playing up to his tough guy image,Lino Venture gives a fabulous performance as Milan,with Venture's strained, agitated facial expressions being those worthy of a Silent Comedy. Irritating all he comes into contact with, Jacques Brel takes care that this irritation of Pignon does not spread to the viewer, by giving Pignon a misplaced sincerity towards Milan,which causes all situations to go from bad to worse. Breaking his play out of the hotel room, the screenplay by Francis Veber finds hilarity in making Milan and Pignon absolute misfits, with the cold, hard glances of Pignon being smashed by the cliff-edge emotions of Milan.
Gathering the duo in a hotel, Veber smartly spends the opening 30 minutes playing Milan's hit man and Pignon's depression straight, that gives the avalanche of trouble that comes after a feeling of Pignon and Milan having an inability to stop themselves from getting pulled into each other's troubles. Making the physical Comedy look impressively effortless, director Édouard Molinaro & cinematographer Raoul Coutard load up Milan's troubles with slick tracking shots and sped-up car racing that tracks every attempt Milan makes to free himself from the pain of Pignon.
the killer and the suicidal
dromasca14 January 2024
What a gem is 'L'emmerdeur' (distributed in the Anglophone market as 'A Pain in the Ass'), the 85-minute film made in 1973 by Édouard Molinaro. It is a 'noir' comedy that catches Lino Ventura at the peak of his popularity built mostly on 'tough guy' roles - either gangsters or policemen - and gives the popular singer Jacques Brel the opportunity of his last big screen role (the tenth in only six years of activity as an actor). Both actors discover and use their comic resources to the maximum, in a genre different than the ones audiences know them in, bringing to screen a script full of verve and action written by Francis Veber (based on his own theater play), who would try with much less success a 'remake', 35 years later, in his last film as a director.
The story, which takes place in Montpellier, combines marital melodrama with film noir with paid assassins as heroes. Milan is sent to eliminate a witness who is going to reveal the truth about a gangster network at a trial. He rents a room at a hotel overlooking the entrance of the courthouse where the future victim will get out of the car at 2:00 p.m. His bad luck is that in the adjoing room has just checked-in François Pignon, a traveling salesman who tries in vain to arrange a meeting with his wife who left him for her psychiatrist. The desperate Pignon's suicide attempt may disrupt the assassin's plans, attracting the attention of the police, who are already on alert. Milan must try to convince Pignon not to kill himself and at the same time fulfill his mission. It won't be easy.
The impossible combination of Ventura - Brel works perfectly, to the delight of the spectators. It can be said that Ventura is playing a gangster role as he has played in many other films, but this time he is put in situations where he is very very unlucky. Brel borrows mime and comic gags from beloved comedy actors of the period. Veber's screenplay is written in such a way that the events happen almost in real time. It is one of the post-Nouvelle Vague influences, the other being the free use of the mobile camera, which takes us into hotel rooms, high up on railings and cornices outside the hotel, or in super-fast car chases, as the hero must be at the scene of the future crime at 2:00 p.m., as I said. Cinematographer Raoul Coutard had already worked with Truffaut, Godard and Costa-Gavras. The result of their collaboration is a film that uses in a professional manner the techniques of the cinematographic avant-garde to create a quality 'crowd-pleaser' that passes well the test of half a century that has elapsed since its release.
The story, which takes place in Montpellier, combines marital melodrama with film noir with paid assassins as heroes. Milan is sent to eliminate a witness who is going to reveal the truth about a gangster network at a trial. He rents a room at a hotel overlooking the entrance of the courthouse where the future victim will get out of the car at 2:00 p.m. His bad luck is that in the adjoing room has just checked-in François Pignon, a traveling salesman who tries in vain to arrange a meeting with his wife who left him for her psychiatrist. The desperate Pignon's suicide attempt may disrupt the assassin's plans, attracting the attention of the police, who are already on alert. Milan must try to convince Pignon not to kill himself and at the same time fulfill his mission. It won't be easy.
The impossible combination of Ventura - Brel works perfectly, to the delight of the spectators. It can be said that Ventura is playing a gangster role as he has played in many other films, but this time he is put in situations where he is very very unlucky. Brel borrows mime and comic gags from beloved comedy actors of the period. Veber's screenplay is written in such a way that the events happen almost in real time. It is one of the post-Nouvelle Vague influences, the other being the free use of the mobile camera, which takes us into hotel rooms, high up on railings and cornices outside the hotel, or in super-fast car chases, as the hero must be at the scene of the future crime at 2:00 p.m., as I said. Cinematographer Raoul Coutard had already worked with Truffaut, Godard and Costa-Gavras. The result of their collaboration is a film that uses in a professional manner the techniques of the cinematographic avant-garde to create a quality 'crowd-pleaser' that passes well the test of half a century that has elapsed since its release.
Two o'clock deadline.
brogmiller27 February 2024
Professional hitman Ralf Milan checks into a hotel overlooking a court of law and all he wants is to be left in peace to assassinate a key witness but unbenownst to him there is an amiable idiot named Francois Pignon in the next apartment who is unsuccessfully trying to hang himself........
Written by Francis Véber and directed by Edouard Molinaro whose collaboration was to strike gold with 'La Cage aux Folles', this bizarre opus is a hugely entertaining blend of deadpan humour and laugh-out-loud visual gags and is an absolute must for those who like their comedies 'black'(apologies to the wokerati)
In his second of three films for this director, the casting of Lino Ventura as Milan is a masterstroke for in what at first appears to be a crime thriller he is merely sending up his well established tough guy/mobster image, so much so that his gradual disintegration as his plans are thrown into disarray by the terminally irritating Pignon is wondrous to behold. Ventura is a revelation in this and proves that comedy is at its most effective when played 'straight'.
Belgian singer/songwriter and sometimes actor Jacques Brel, in what was to be his final film, is the first to portray Pignon who has since been reincarnated by Jacques Villaret, Pierre Richard, Patrick Timsit in Véber's own badly received remake and last but not least Daniel Auteuil.
Véber's 'odd coupling' evidently appealed to Billy Wilder but his makeover 'Buddy, Buddy' featuring Messrs. Matthau and Lemmon is, for this viewer at any rate, a huge disappointment.
Written by Francis Véber and directed by Edouard Molinaro whose collaboration was to strike gold with 'La Cage aux Folles', this bizarre opus is a hugely entertaining blend of deadpan humour and laugh-out-loud visual gags and is an absolute must for those who like their comedies 'black'(apologies to the wokerati)
In his second of three films for this director, the casting of Lino Ventura as Milan is a masterstroke for in what at first appears to be a crime thriller he is merely sending up his well established tough guy/mobster image, so much so that his gradual disintegration as his plans are thrown into disarray by the terminally irritating Pignon is wondrous to behold. Ventura is a revelation in this and proves that comedy is at its most effective when played 'straight'.
Belgian singer/songwriter and sometimes actor Jacques Brel, in what was to be his final film, is the first to portray Pignon who has since been reincarnated by Jacques Villaret, Pierre Richard, Patrick Timsit in Véber's own badly received remake and last but not least Daniel Auteuil.
Véber's 'odd coupling' evidently appealed to Billy Wilder but his makeover 'Buddy, Buddy' featuring Messrs. Matthau and Lemmon is, for this viewer at any rate, a huge disappointment.
One of the greatest French comic films
zpostarwars21 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Ralf Milan (Lino Ventura) is a relentless hitman who must carry out his "contract" from a hotel room overlooking the courthouse in the city of Montpellier (France): he must kill a guy Louis Randoni (Xavier Depraz) before he makes compromising revelations during a judicial trial. But Milan's preparations are thwarted by the occupant of the room next door, François Pignon* (Jacques Brel*), a depressed shirt salesman - abandoned by his wife Louise (Caroline Cellier) who has left him for Dr. Fuchs (Jean-Pierre Darras), a renowned psychiatrist -, who tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from the bathroom pipes and causes a flood in Milan's room. In order not to attract the attention of the police, Milan persuades the hotel bellboy not to report the suicide attempt to the authorities, promising to look after the depressed man himself to avoid any recurrence. The hitman then finds himself hopelessly bogged down in the problems of his cumbersome neighbor, to the detriment of his mission. After a thousand adventures where Milan does not manage to get rid of Pignon, the two protagonists find themselves in prison, where the second continues to "annoy" the first.
* Jacques Brel is a famous Belgian actor and singer. He is the first to interpret the character of François Pignon, a favorite character of Francis Veber, who can be found in several comedy films.
* Jacques Brel is a famous Belgian actor and singer. He is the first to interpret the character of François Pignon, a favorite character of Francis Veber, who can be found in several comedy films.
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