Philippe Castelli Movies
- Starring:
- Evelyne Dassas, Popeck, (more)
In France Jerry Lewis is hailed the "King of Crazy," and revered as an icon of hilarity rivaled only by Charlie Chaplin. After his career in the states fell to ruin, Lewis crossed the Atlantic to make a few Gallic comedies. This is the second one he made. He plays a private detective who becomes friends with the philandering husband he was hired to investigate. The husband is definitely a reprobate and when he gets caught stealing he and Lewis beat feet to Tunisia. Unfortunately things don't get better for the hapless duo as they find themselves in the midst of a battle between two giant international chains of fast-food restaurants. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Philippe Clair, (more)
In a comedy that is dead-in-the-water, a disconnected series of events serves as a framework for Jerry Lewis to put on his stock-in-trade mugging act. He plays a Las Vegas policeman visiting his ex-wife in France, only to be caught up in the shenanigans of a group of art thieves. His ex-wife has remarried and her husband is undercover among the art thieves, carrying out an assignment given him by his superiors in the police force. Inevitably, the current husband and the ex-husband are bound to clash. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Michel Blanc, (more)
Director Jacques Richard tried to emulate a silent movie in all its aspects when he filmed Rebelote. Originally screened with a live string orchestra, the silent black-and-white film has inter-titles and tongue-in-cheek, melodramatic acting and a "soap opera" type plot. Unfortunately, the tale of a sad delinquent trying to overcome his miserable childhood to find success at love and life is not a cleverly acted or staged parody, and so the idea falls short of the standards of excellence of bygone, silent screen days. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Christophe Bazzini, (more)
Alain Delon produced, directed, co-wrote, and starred in this story about a solitary thief, jailed for a jewel robbery and the murder of the jeweler, and set free after serving his prison term. His objective is to get his hands on the stolen jewels before a crowd of gangsters reaches them and/or kills him, and before the police can catch up with him again. The hero-thief-murderer manages to romance an attractive woman in the meantime, suggesting his future might be rosier than his past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, François Perier, (more)
- Starring:
- Aldo Maccione, Philippe Clair, (more)
This standard comedy thriller is more a vehicle to show off Jean-Paul Belmondo's stunts than to convey a suspenseful tale to a hoodwinked audience. Belmondo plays a conman who gets tangled in a complex series of hassles that involve some well-placed kicks to straighten out. Everyone is after a microfilm he has, and when he is not hanging from a helicopter to escape his enemies he is bedding down one woman or another. Life, after awhile, seems fairly predictable as he goes from being airborne to bedridden or vice-versa. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Galabru, (more)
- Starring:
- Bernard Haller, Jean-Pierre Darras, (more)
A discontented concert pianist causes all sorts of heartbreak with his egotistical and womanizing antics, and all the people in his life attempt to force him to grow up in this French comedy/drama (with English subtitles). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Nicole Garcia, (more)
A pair of elderly men, friends for 40 years, find their relationship stressed when they set up housekeeping together in order to save money. Exploring similar ground to that covered in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple, which spawned a movie and a television series, Ce Cher Victor explores the tragic and dramatic aspects of the story. The two friends, meek, sensitive Anselme (Bernard Blier) and blustering Victor (Jacques Dufilho) are swiftly driven apart by circumstances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Jacques Dufilho, (more)
Chut is an exclamation in French, rather stronger than "darn." It is the sort of thing one might say on being caught in a lie, or after hitting one's finger with a hammer. Unlike similar terms in English, this one carries a certain sense of self-mockery. In this French comedy, Fritz (Jacques Dufiho) is a con-man who has reason to say "chut," when he discovers that his phony corporation is being investigated by the police. He hopes to recover the phony stock certificates from his victims and return their money without their getting wise. His partners in the venture have other ideas, as do the police, so the chase is on. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
In this strange drama, Galia prevents another desperate woman from jumping into the Seine to kill herself. The woman tells Galia that she wanted to die because she could no longer endure her husband's cruelty. Galia decides to get revenge upon the husband by leaving the suicide note where his wife placed it. She hides nearby to see the husband's reaction, but instead ends up meeting the husband and falling in love with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mireille Darc, Venantino Venantini, (more)
The eponymous French corporal, played by Jean-Pierre Cassel, is ensconced in a German POW camp. Cassel plots with his friends Claude Brasseur and Claude Rich to escape, but all three are recaptured. When the corporal plans another getaway, he finds that one of his chums isn't interested anymore. After a brief liaison with the daughter of a German dentist, Cassel once more tries to break out...and once more...and once more. Finally free from his captors, Cassel joins the resistance with his loyal pal Brasseur. The Elusive Corporal was a return to the themes of freedom and personal dignity inherent in Jean Renoir's earlier La Grande Illusion (1938); alas, Renoir had very little control over the final cut of the later film, and tended to dismiss the whole project as a mere "entertainment" in his declining years, though he remained proud of his closing panorama shot of Paris, which wordlessly expressed the euphoria of freedom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur, (more)










