Jean Richard Movies
- 1963
Bebert (Martin Lartigue) is a five-year-old boy who gets separated from his older brother on a train. Comedy ensues as the precocious moppet observes the less-than-grown-up activities of the adults as he seeks to be reunited with his family. Panic-stricken adults continue the search for the missing boy in this delightful comedy directed by Yves Robert. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Higelin, Blanchette Brunoy, (more)
- 1952
Belle Mentalle (Wonderful Mentality) stars Jean Richard as Honore, a valet blessed with the inability to tell a lie. In addition to his honesty, Honore is also supremely logical, a character trait that comes in handy for his master, lawyer Maitre (Jean Martinelli). The valet not only saves Maitre's business, but his marriage. Alas, Honore's candor and wisdom does good for everyone but himself--until the film's twist ending. The film's effectiveness rests almost solely in the comedy prowess of star Jean Richard, who does wonders with the thinnish material at hand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Richard, Mich_le Philippe, (more)
- 1968
This comedy-tinged crime drama finds the detective San Antonio (Gerald Barray) and his sidekick Beru (Jean Richard) hot on the trail of some thugs who have stolen some morphine. They trace the thief to a house, but the prime suspect is found murdered. The house is full of hookers, much to the delight of the two detectives, but the drugs are gone. The crooks raid another home thinking they have found the morphine, but they mistakenly grab some small bottles that contain a virus. San Antonio and Beru go after the thugs before the virus can be unleashed on an unsuspecting public. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Richard, Gérard Barray, (more)
- 1960
Jean-Pierre Cassel is ideally cast as the hopelessly optimistic Candide in this noir updating of Voltaire's classic 18th-century social satire. Candide has been assured by his ivory-tower professor (Pierre Brasseur) that whatever fate befalls him, he will be all the better for it. Armed with the confidence of the ignorant, Candide is abused by practically everyone he comes across (he has a particularly rough time in a German POW camp), but somehow emerges with his faith in humanity unscathed. His picaresque adventures take him all the way to the Americas, both North and South. Just as in most stage versions of Candide, some of the supporting actors play double and triple roles: Robert Manuel, for example, portrays all the German officers Candide meets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Michel Simon, (more)
- 1954
Originally a character in a Gaston Leroux novel, Cheri-Bibi was transformed into a popular French comic-strip character in the 1930s. The character was also featured in two films, the second of which was in 1955. Jean Richard plays the title character, a born loser who undergoes plastic surgery in order to resemble his rival for the hand of Lea Padovini. Once he emerges from the bandages, Cheri-Bibi is plunged into a series of melodramatic misadventures. Though never "camp" in its tone, Cheri-Bibi is engagingly tongue-in-cheek, having fun with its source material rather than poking fun at it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Richard, Raymond Bussières, (more)
- 1956
Fernand Gravey and Jacques Duby star as a pair of slick race track touts in need of some quick cash. Targetting rural rube Jean Richard as a patsy, the two sharpsters con him into putting up his hard-earned cash on a few sure things. Within what seems like seconds, Richard becomes wealthy by using his instincts, while the "clever" Gravey and Duby come a-cropper by playing the odds. If it's possible for a French film to be Runyonesque, then Courte Tete is that film. Though the title's "official" translation is By a Nose, Courte Tete was released to American TV as Photo Finish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernand Gravey, Micheline Dax, (more)
- 1962
The friendship between two rival soldiers provides the basis of this comedy. The tale is set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The soldiers meet while swimming in the same place. They become friends. When they get out of the water, they accidentally trade uniforms. Together they go to a farmhouse. There they meet an old farmer and his pretty granddaughter. They engage in friendly rivalry for the girl, go for another swim and get their proper uniforms back. They then bid each other adieu and return to their troops. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Director Jacques Baratier's Sweet and Sour is an independently produced project with a surprising amount of European movie-industry input. Guy Bedos, a Brando wannabe, plays one of several young French cineastes who take to the streets to make improvisational movies. The "cinema verite" quality of the film is somewhat undercut by the presence of major stars: Anna Karina, Simone Signoret, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Monica Vitti, Claude Brasseur, and many others. After several "spontaneous" vignettes -- a street tennis game, a striptease lesson, a West Side Story style gang rumble -- Guy Bedos announces he will go to Hollywood to film the life of Voltaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Bedos, Sophie Daumier, (more)
- 1963
Ruthless and for some viewers, also vulgar and unpleasant, this uneven comedy by Marcel Carne has a madhouse of characters of dubious morals going through equally questionable antics. Their objectives are primarily self-serving. A former gangster (Paul Meurisse) is interested only in keeping birds -- and his take from his last heist to help him go straight. In the same house is Lucie (Dany Saval) who is supporting her Italian lover by sleeping with the butcher. Meanwhile, the butcher's wife has her own lover -- his assistant. Then there is the female custodian who is helping out an old biddy only with the intentions of getting her hands on the woman's rumored stash of cash. A few other seamy characters wander in and out of cheap bars and brothels as the lives of all these people suddenly come together when the police show up to arrest the ex-gangster. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dany Saval, Paul Meurisse, (more)
- 1956
In the 1950s, French films were considered the ne plus ultra in naughtiness by certain impressionable filmgoers. It was to these movie fans that the American distributor of Jean Renoir's Elena et les Hommes (Elena and the Men) catered when it provocatively retitled the picture Paris Does Strange Things As further grist to the mill for American publicity hacks, the film starred Ingrid Bergman, who had recently returned to Hollywood after her career was nearly ruined by a marital scandal. Actually there was nothing overtly erotic about Paris Does Strange Things. The film was a sweet romantic comedy wherein Bergman plays a poverty-stricken Polish princess, who is wooed by eligible admirers Mel Ferrer and Jean Marais. Will she marry for love, or merely to restore her wealth? The suspense is bearable. Inexpertly cut to 86 minutes for its American showings, Paris Does Strange Things was restored to its full 98 minutes in 1986 and its title reverted to Elena et les Hommes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, (more)
- 1961
In this French variation on Mark Twain's Man with a Million story, a man's life is completely changed by the acquisition of a new car. Marcel, a Chaplainesque factory worker, sets out to buy an old motorcycle and ends up getting a new Cadillac convertible (the "beautiful American" of the title) for $100. He loses his job and suffers other misadventures, but is then amazed at how people treat him when they learn he owns the prestigious vehicle. Amusing little farce makes a few telling points about the pretensions of the very rich. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1960
This innovative though uneven comedy by Yves Robert, known for his droll sense of humor, is based on a late 19th-early 20th-century illustrated book about a zany, provincial French family. The Fenouillards (Sophie Desmarets and Jean Richard are the parents, Annie Sinigalia and Marie-José Ruíz are the daughters) are shopkeepers with higher aspirations. The Monsieur wants to run for mayor of their town, but the family acknowledges he has little experience of the real world -- and so they all take off to experience it together. After starting out by getting lost, the family goes through an odyssey that takes them to Brazil, the Antarctic, and Japan in a series of episodic adventures. Director Yves Robert has tried to evoke the ambiance of the silents with slightly speeded-up action and slapstick humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Desmarets, Jean Richard, (more)
- 1962
In this gentle anti-war comedy, a class of French schoolboys divides into two factions who begin to battle each other, with the victors claiming the buttons off the clothes of the vanquished. One day, some of the boys pull a strategic coup by running into battle naked, therefore leaving their enemies nothing to steal. However, after this stunning victory, one of their number turns traitor to the other side, helping them plot a secret attack that leaves the recent champions in defeat. The informer is eventually found out and punished for his crimes, so he takes the matter to a higher authority and tells his parents he's been beaten up by bullies. Soon Mom and Dad are making trouble for their son's schoolmates, with the culprits facing a stay in juvenile hall. La Guerre des Boutons was written and directed by Yves Robert, who had a distinguished career both in front of and behind the camera in the French cinema. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Richard, Jacques Dufilho, (more)
