Jean-Pierre Cassel Movies

Lee J. Cobb's last film is in this light romantic comedy starring Roger Moore as Michael Scott, an arms dealer who comes complete with a sophisticated playboy patter for the ladies. During war games, Michael attempts to sell weapons to NATO forces by trying to interest NATO general Steedman (Lee J. Cobb) in his wares. Opposing his sale is feminist reporter Julia Richardson (Susannah York), who is not impressed with either his job or his come-hither endearments. But, as happens to most movie feminists, she ends up putting her values on the back burner and she falls in love with Michael. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Two very different policemen seeking the truth about separate crimes find a terrible common link in this thriller from France. Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno) is a noted French detective assigned to investigate a brutal murder at a prestigious college located high in the Alps; the victim was first disfigured and dismembered, then strangled to death. Niemans soon realizes the murder was not an isolated incident when several similarly mangled corpses are discovered. Meanwhile, in a town 150 miles away, a young police investigator, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel), is called in to investigate when the grave of a ten-year-old girl is dug up and ransacked. While interviewing the mother (Dominique Sanda) of the young girl, he crosses paths with Niemans, whose investigation has led him to the same town, and the two men begin to realize a surprising and troubling link between the crimes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby -- a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound -- first touched the world in Bauby's best-selling autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (aka La Scaphandre et la Papillon), then in Jean-Jacques Beineix's half-hour 1997 documentary of Bauby at work, released under the same title, and, ten years after that, in this Cannes-selected docudrama, helmed by Julian Schnabel (Basquiat) and adapted from the memoir by Ronald Harwood (Cromwell). The Schnabel/Harwood picture follows Bauby's story to the letter -- his instantaneous descent from a wealthy and congenial playboy and the editor of French Elle, to a bed-bound, hospitalized stroke victim with an inactive brain stem that made it impossible for him to speak or move a muscle of his body. This prison, as it were, became a kind of "diving bell" for Bauby -- one with no means of escape. With the editor's mind unaffected, his only solace lay in the "butterfly" of his seemingly depthless fantasies and memories. Because of Bauby's physical restriction, he only possessed one channel for communication with the outside world: ocular activity. By moving his eyes and blinking, he not only began to interact again with the world around him, but -- astonishingly -- authored the said memoir via a code used to signify specific letters of the alphabet. In Schnabel's picture, Mathieu Amalric tackles the difficult role of Bauby; the film co-stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, and Patrick Chesnais. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this hectic farce, Louis Aubinard (Bob Hoskins) is at the bottom of every totem pole he's ever come near, a nebbish and unattractive man who makes a poor living as a photographer of religious tableaux. His sister doesn't respect him and deliberately cooks awful food just to makes his life more miserable. At work, he is in danger of losing his job if he can't find a suitable model for a Christ-on-the-cross photo. One of his friends (Jean-Pierre Cassel) asks him to fill in for him on a movie project, and without knowing what he's being asked to do, Louis agrees to help out. He is astonished to discover that he is to provide the voiced-over cries of orgasmic delight for a porn movie. His fellow dubber is a lovely woman named Sybil (Natasha Richardson), and together, they voice a world-shaking sexual climax for the movie. Sybil then asks the hapless Louis to do a favor for her, and once again, he agrees. He meets the actress' boyfriend (Jeff Goldblum) as he is being released from jail and simultaneously finds his model for the troublesome photo. Things become particularly frenetic when the addle-pated ex-con takes his holy image too much to heart and begins trying to work miracles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

American in Paris star Gene Kelly returned to the City of Light as both star and director of The Happy Road. Kelly and Barbara Laage play single parents with one child each. Gene and Barbara don't know each other at the outset, but are drawn together when their kids run away from their Swiss boarding school. Kelly and Laage realize that the two children wouldn't be so unhappy with their lot if their parents would marry again. The parents, having fallen in love, oblige. The Happy Road tends to bludgeon its audience with whimsy at time; Gene Kelly, as always, is charming, and less affected than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Cassavetes takes a contemporary film noir turn (which he would return to in Gloria) after exploring domestic melodrama in A Woman Under the Influence with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the owner of a sleazy Los Angeles strip joint, who loses $20,000 at a mob gambling club owned by a small time gangster (Seymour Cassel). Since Cosmo doesn't have the $20,000, he is forced to murder a Chinese bookie in order to clear his debt to the mob. What Cosmo doesn't know is he's part of a set-up. The bookie is actually a West Coast mob boss protected around the clock by bodyguards. The mobsters figure that Cosmo will be killed in an impossible hit and they can take over his nightclub. But Cosmo proves luckier than the mobsters think -- he manages to kill his target, and now the mobsters have to track down Cosmo and kill him. Initially, at 133 minutes, the movie was subsequently re-edited by Cassavetes to 109 minutes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of Gaston Leroux's indefatigable "grand guignol" piece The Phantom of the Opera stars British actor Charles Dance as Erik the Phantom. This adaptation by playwright Arthur Kopit soft-pedals the horrific elements of the story to concentrate on the love the tragic Erik bears toward innocent chorus singer Teri Polo. The film boasts a stronger supporting cast than was usual for a TV movie, including Burt Lancaster (as the masked phantom's father), Ian Richardson and Jean-Pierre Cassel. The 1990 Phantom of the Opera reunited director Tony Richardson and composer John Addison, who'd both won Oscar for Tom Jones. Filmed on location in France, Phantom was originally telecast in two two-hour installments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Lester's adaptation of The Three Musketeers was only the latest of many when released in 1974, but it arrived with a spirit all its own, one influenced as much by Lester's '60s work as the Alexandre Dumas classic. Even so, it followed the plot of Dumas' novel fairly closely, its liberties in interpretation taken elsewhere. Coming off the success of Cabaret, Michael York plays D'Artagnan, the provincial, would-be swashbuckler who travels to Paris to make his name. There he encounters the eponymous heroes: cynical Athos (Oliver Reed), dashing Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), and arrogant Porthos (Frank Finlay). The trio introduces him to the world of court intrigue as they work to protect the Queen (Geraldine Chaplin) from the schemes of the villainous Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and his followers, Rochefort (Christopher Lee) and Milady (Faye Dunaway). Lester shot the film in conjunction with its sequel, The Four Musketeers. Originally intended as a single film, the split prompted a lawsuit from the cast demanding payment for both films. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide

Ken Annakin's large-canvas comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is set in 1910. In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. A huge number of hopefuls enter the contest, including the scheming Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), who, with the help of his henchman Courtney (Eric Sykes), attempts to sabotage the other entries. There is also a love triangle featuring Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman) and Richard Mays (James Fox) competing for the heart of Patricia Rawnsley (Sarah Miles). ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all virtue" close to his heart and spends many dreamy days fishing with his wealthy grandfather. But when he has a prophetic dream that the old man will die impoverished, Antoine is motivated to change his life and try to earn his own money. Also starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Marielle, Un monsieur de compagnie was released in the United States in 1966 under the title Male Companion. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

In this charming, semi-autobiographical look at his politicized past, director Gerard Mordillat focuses on the ironic, the wistful, and the sometimes ludicrous events that spin off from the Communist/anarchist upbringing of his main character, Maurice Decques (François Cluzet). Maurice's tendency to swing over to the bourgeosie in his adult career as a caterer to social gatherings of varying stature is also reflected in the woman he marries - a Czech whose family chose Paris over Moscow "because the USSR has concentration camps" as she told her shocked Communist father-in-law. When Maurice is caught in the 1968 student demonstrations in Paris, the officer who hauls him off is soon recognized as an old childhood buddy, and instead of heading to jail, the policeman/friend takes Maurice home. As the police van drives out of view, the two buddies are seen as young kids, sitting on the hood of a car and dreaming about the future. These flashbacks to his childhood occur throughout the film, with Maurice sometimes walking into and out of the scenes, as though there were no gap in time at all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This biographical costume drama from director Franco Zeffirelli covers the early life of Arturo Toscanini and stars C. Thomas Howell as the famous composer. When Arturo lands a job with the orchestra of Claudio Rossi (John Rhys-Davies), he soon finds himself bound for a tour of South America and lands in idyllic Rio. Arturo is given the task of convincing the famed prima donna diva Nadina Bulichoff (Elizabeth Taylor) to rehearse for an upcoming show with the orchestra, but in the process, Toscanini attempts to change the minds of both Nadina and her lover, Brazilian Emperor Don Pedro II (Philippe Noiret) on the issue of slavery. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide