Le magnifique (1973)

Director:

Philippe de Broca

Writers:

Philippe de Broca (writer)
Vittorio Caprioli (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

23 November 1973 (France)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

Francois Merlin is an espionnage-book writer. He likes to mix every-day character he can met in his book...

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Shot In The Head | Novel | Black Humor | Beach

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Bob Saint-Clair / François Merlin
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Tatiana / Christine
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Karpof / Charron
Hans Meyer	...	Colonel Collins
Monique Tarbès	...	Mrs. Berger
Mario David
Bruno Garcin	...	Pilu
Raymond Gérôme	...	General Pontaubert
Jean Lefebvre	...	The electrician
Fabrizio Moresco
André Weber	...	The plumber
Hubert Deschamps	...	Le vendeur
Bernard Musson	...	Interpreter
Thalie Frugès	...	Publishing House Hostess
René Barrera	...	The Chinese / The Bride
Rodrigo Puebla	...	Benson (as Rodrigo A. Puebla)
Jean-Pierre Rambal	...	The Lecturer
Gaëtan Noël	...	Doctor
Micha Bayard
Roger Muni
Victor Jarson
Caline Bautte
Claude Salino
Jean-Paul Jarre
Max Desrau
Robert Berri		(as Robert Berry)
Lucienne Legrand
Guy Simonnet
Sébastien Floche
Laure Moutoussamy	...	Une amie de Charron
Michel Thomass	...	Le faux pope
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pierre Assena	...	Jean (uncredited)
Maurice Auzel	...	Mécanicien aéroport (uncredited)
Jack Berard	...	Interpreter (uncredited)
Philippe de Broca	...	Un plombier (uncredited)
Henry Czarniak	...	(uncredited)
Raoul Guylad	...	The Albanian (uncredited)
Charly Koubesserian	...	Guard (uncredited)
Louis Navarre	...	Intrepreter (uncredited)
Jacques Wajsmark	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Philippe de Broca

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Philippe de Broca		writer
Vittorio Caprioli		writer
Jean-Paul Rappeneau		writer
Francis Veber		uncredited

Produced by
Robert Amon	....	associate producer
Georges Dancigers	....	producer
Alexandre Mnouchkine	....	producer

Original Music by
Claude Bolling

Cinematography by
René Mathelin

Film Editing by
Henri Lanoë

Art Direction by
François de Lamothe

Set Decoration by
Robert Christidès

Makeup Department
Marc Blanchard	....	key hair stylist
Charly Koubesserian	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Alain Belmondo	....	production manager
Alain Pancrazi	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tony Aboyantz	....	assistant director
Claude Gorsky	....	assistant director
Jesús Marín	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jacques Brizzio	....	assistant decorator (as Jack Brizio)
Pierre Duquesne	....	assistant decorator

Sound Department
Jean Labussière	....	sound engineer
Jean Nény	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Georges Iaconelli	....	special effects
León Ortega	....	special effects
André Pierdel	....	special effects

Stunts
Dan Vieru	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Philippe Bordas	....	assistant camera
Maurice Chapiron	....	still photographer
Jean-Paul Cornu	....	assistant camera
Jean-Paul Schwartz	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Monique André	....	assistant editor
Catherine Dubeau	....	assistant editor

Other crew
René Chateau	....	press attache
Suzanne Durrenberger	....	script supervisor
Elisabeth Manet-Schwatz	....	production secretary
Janine Ruault	....	administrator
Armando Solís	....	administrator
Louis Trinoner	....	administrator
Georges Aminel	....	voice dubbing: Karpof/Charron/Colonel Collins (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Les Films Ariane (Paris)
• Mondex Films (Paris)
• Cerito Films (Paris)
• Oceania Produzioni Internazionali Cinematografiche (Rome) (as Oceania Films S.p.a.)
• Rizzoli Film (Rome) (as Rizzoli Film S.p.a)

Distributors

• G.E.F. (1973) (France) (theatrical) (as G.E.F./C.C.F.C.)
• Compagnie Commerciale Française Cinématographique (CCFC) (1973) (France) (theatrical) (as G.E.F./C.C.F.C.)
• Rizzoli Film (1973) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Studio Canal (2000) (France) (DVD)
• Cine III (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Image Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Come si distrugge la reputazione del più grande agente segreto del mondo" - Italy
"How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent..." - UK
"The Magnificient Secret Agent" - Philippines (English title)
"A káprázatos" - Hungary
"Agenten som ikke ku' knaldes" - Denmark (imdb display title)
"Ahtypitos erastis, trellos tyhodioktis" - Greece (reissue title)
"Belmondo - Der Teufelskerl" - West Germany (TV title)
"Cómo destruir al más famoso agente secreto del mundo" - Spain
"Enas yperohos kataskopos" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Le och låtsas dö" - Sweden
"Muz z Acapulca" - Czechoslovakia (Czech title)
"Najwspanialszy" - Poland (imdb display title)
"O yperkataskopos me ta hilia prosopa" - Greece (reissue title)
"Sahane serseri" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Suurin ja kaunein" - Finland

Runtime:

95 min | France:93 min | Germany:94 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

Albanian | French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

17 Rue des Tournelles, Paris 4, Paris, France

Company:

Les Films Ariane

Trivia:

7th highest grossing movie in France for its year.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In Tatiana's bungalow, Bob Sinclar watches a movie screen displaying the shark attack of the opening scene. The cigarette smoke disappears behind the screen, showing that the film with the shark was added after the scene was shot.

Quotes:

Bob Saint-Clair:Ah, betrayed!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Ally McBeal: Love Is All Around: Part 1 (#5.16)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

Cucurrucucu Paloma

french tickler

Anachronistic meets anarchic. This things still got some shelf life, although I do think its potency is somewhat diluted by time. And also perhaps by translation, I would bet there's some clever wordplay going on in parts that were lost upon me. I remember wondering what modern French audiences would think if they ran across "Airplane." Not a fair comparison, but not far off the mark...

The dual performance of Jean-Paul Belmondo is definitely a couple of cuts above what you would expect for a film that's basically a laugh lark. I mean the guy is often called upon to take splashy pratfalls, but has to play both virile playboy and nebbish nancy-boy. Yet if you take a still from any scene in the film you could immediately discern which one was on screen.

As Bob St. Clair, his overly self-satisfied smile would crack me up, something about its goofy gallantry reminded me of a sadly departed friend. Ken Hamilton, RIP. You shoulda met him...

Anyways back to the film...

I did enjoy the surreal slips between the film itself and then the book being created within the film. The first one I think was on a beach as the housecleaner blithely waltzes through soldiers storming the sands, vacuuming only to enter a door and voila. Additionally latter battles between the author and his protagonist and/or protagonista mostly worked for me. Though they dipped in shtick.

Afterwards, I watched some of it over with my young (3-year old) twin boys, and they liked it, I mean come on those mariachis with the mobile theme music, they were worth the rental alone. And um yeah, Jacqueline Bisset is beauty personified in this...

Not a lost classic in my book, nor auteur action...but le funny, certainmont.

6/10