René Lefèvre Movies

This routine film should have been called the "rock singer's husband" because it is about the life of a baseball player affected by his love for a singer. Darryl Palmer (Michael O'Keefe) plays for the Atlanta Braves, and when he walks into a nightclub and sees an attractive woman singing (Rebecca DeMornay), he pulls up to home plate and is anxious to meet her. From then on, his persistence in courting her is unstoppable in spite of several unhappy setbacks, and finally their romance makes it to first base when she realizes she loves him too, and they are married. From that point onward, his career starts to soar, while her career begins to slide in the opposite direction. In fact, she has given up her job to go live with him on his home turf, and the sacrifice, in the end, proves to be too much. A separation is inevitable, and while he still has his teammates (Randy Quaid, Cleavant Derricks), he would rather have his wife back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Francois (Jean-Paul Belmondo) was framed as a drug-trafficker by none other than the head trafficker himself and spent seven years in prison for his supposed crimes. Now an ex-con, the vengeful Francois carefully arranges things so that the kingpin's own henchmen murder him, as they believe that they are also about to fall victim to the mobster's ruthless schemes. Flashbacks show that Francois had a rewarding, though tumultuous life before his imprisonment. Now he has a new girlfriend, and a new life, in this movie based on a book by Marceau. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Lino Ventura stars in this French espionager as a secret agent known only as "The Gorilla". While it's never fully explained how our hero earned this simian nickname, it is perfectly clear that The Gorilla is much sought after by the police and the criminal underworld. The cops suspect that the Gorilla is himself a crook, while the bad guys simply want to remove him from the face of the Earth. The main plot involves stolen plans for a new guided missile; in trying to retrieve these plans, the Gorilla runs afoul of counterfeiters and drug dealers, in addition to his usual enemies. Le Gorille vous Salue Bien (The Gorilla Greets You) was the first in a profitable series of spy flicks starring Lino Ventura as the title character. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sois Belle et Tais Toi is more popularly known by its American-release title Be Beautiful but Shut Up. Mylene Demongeot plays a birdbrained young lady who gets mixed up with a gang of juvenile-delinquent smugglers. The crooks use the heroine as their go-between, intending to leave her holding the bag if and when the cops show up. Fortunately, a handsome police inspector (Henri Vidal) catches on to their scheme. One of the screenwriters for Sois Belle et Tais Toi was no less Roger Vadim. When the film was first released, its direction was often erroniously credited to Marc Allegret. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The short stories of Guy de Maupassant enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1950s, thanks in great part to the Max Ophuls production Le Plaisir. In Trois Femmes, three De Maupassant stories are dramatized, each conveying the central theme of women falling in love. In the first, a black female carnival entertainer causes an uproar when she falls in love with a white soldier. In the second, a young bride is pressured into having a baby to collect a huge inheritance. And in the final episode, a pregnant girl is "adopted" and protected by a small circle of friends. In standard De Maupassant fashion, each of the three stories in Trois Femmes is capped by a surprise twist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Veteran French filmmaker Louis Daquin was the recipient of worldwide plaudits for his realistically detailed drama Le Point du Jour. Shot on location in a mining town, the film relates the story of a young miner named Larzac (Rene Lefevre). Unlike his elders, Larzac is terrified at the prospect of going deep into the bowels of the earth to earn his keep. After several dramatic complications related to his plight, Larzac overcomes his fear and gains pride of place. Le Point du Jour might make a fascinating double feature with John Ford's How Green Was My Valley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This French WW II film chronicles the invasion of France by scores of English paratroopers who have come to bedevil the Nazi troops before D-Day. Much of the story centers on the preparation of the troops and upon the planning of the invasion. The rest follows the paratroopers as they team-up with French fighters and fulfill their missions. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi