Georges Beller Movies
With embarrassing dialogue and a theatrical style, this feature-length comedy is based on cartoon characters and is equally two-dimensional. After some misguided attempts at mixing with the riff-raff, the young rich heiress Paulette (Jeanne Marine) decides to start giving her money away to anyone who sounds like they really need it. Considering this to be an act of insanity, her greedy and crooked estate administrator gets her institutionalized. In retaliation, Paulette escapes with a fellow inmate, and after several misadventures (some nudity here) she finds herself nearly drowned and still no closer to regaining her estate. She is saved by some bargemen who decide to help her out -- and the adventure continues. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Rego, Catherine Leprince, (more)
Following a trend that may have begun with the first Blondie movie in 1938, this is an acted interpretation of a popular comic strip by the acerbic cartoonist Jean-Marc Reiser, who wrote the dialog for Vive Les Femmes but died before shooting was completed. Reiser's comic strip emphasized the lowest common denominator in intimate relationships, where physically flawed examples of both sexes go after each other with unbridled enthusiasm. Roland Giraud plays a womanizer, and Maurice Risch an unhappy loner whose manners will undoubtedly keep him that way, in this disconnected series of uneven skits that play to no unifying theme. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Risch, Roland Giraud, (more)
- Starring:
- Jean Lefebvre, Bernadette Lafont, (more)
- Starring:
- Sabine Azéma, Pierre Vernier, (more)
In this adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1955 novel, James Bond (Roger Moore) must thwart Sir Hugo Drax (Michel Lonsdale), who plans to wipe out all of humankind and replace it with a super race that he has cultivated in a massive space station. The girl in the case is American secret agent Holly Goodhead, intelligently played by Lois Chiles. "Jaws," the steel-mouthed henchman played by Richard Kiel in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), makes a return appearance in Moonraker, turning good guy (complete with a girlfriend of his own) in the process. Bernard Lee makes his last appearance as "M" in this most costly of James Bond's 1970s escapades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, (more)
Je Te Tiens Tu Me Tiens Par La Barbichette refers to a French children's game, where two children hold one another's chins and stare at one another. The one who laughs first, loses. In this satire, a police detective (played by Jean Yanne) is investigating the disappearance and kidnapping of the host of a television dance show (played by Jean-Pierre Cassel). However, instead of finding his man, he is trapped into becoming a contestant on a children's quiz show. What's worse is that he becomes a very successful contestant. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Yanne, Micheline Presle, (more)
Based on a novel by Joan Hemingway and Paul Bonnecarrere, Rosebud opens with five young women vacationing aboard a luxurious yacht called the Rosebud. All five of the women are the daughters of wealthy and powerful men; one of them is the daughter of an influential American senator. Their vacation is shortlived, however, as the Rosebud has been targeted by a group of Middle Eastern terrorists who kidnap the girls and hold them as hostages until their demands are met. Quickly alerted to the situation is reporter Larry Martin (Peter O'Toole), who it turns out is really an agent for the CIA. Martin enlists the aid of agents from Israel and West Germany, as well as a strange Islamic Englishman who, as he is working to destroy Israel, would seem to be on the side of the terrorists. Martin has his work cut out for him, as he must rescue the hostages quickly and with no injury coming to any of them. Adapted by Eric Lee Preminger for his father, director Otto Preminger, Rosebud was initially set to star Robert Mitchum, who left or was fired after experiencing one of the director's customary heated confrontations. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Richard Attenborough, (more)
In this madcap comedy, a completely unavailable girl is the object of the fantasies of three guys who have been pals for years. They eventually follow her (literally) to heaven and hell, but satisfaction does not attend their efforts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Didier Kaminka, Philippe Ogouz, (more)
English Paul and French Michelle come together again in this sequel to the 1971 film Friends. Several years have passed since they had their adolescent adventure in baby-making. Paul has just finished his fancy British school while Michelle, her baby and an American live together in France. Paul returns to France to find Michelle and take up where they left off. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as planned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this French satire, a meek little bank (Jean-Louis Trintignant) clerk finds fame and fortune when he begins getting lessons from an impoverished novelist (Jean-Pierre Cassel) . Soon the clerk is wowing the Parisians with his ability to make the women swoon, and for his talent at attracting money. The film is also known as The French Way Is. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Romy Schneider, (more)
Set in the City of Light, this crime melodrama chronicles the attempts of a US drug agent to stop a major drug-lord. Though the agent realizes his three predecessors have been assassinated, and that the French government doesn't necessarily approve of the Yank's harassment of a French citizen, he is determined to succeed. Then a Parisian cop quietly suggests that Anthony Quinn himself hire an assassin to kill the drug lord. He thinks about it long and hard, before agreeing to it. Later he is shocked to learn that the assassin is an old war buddy. The hit man then works overtime to cozy up to the criminal and earn his trust. While he is doing that, the agent learns that events have changed and he must capture the drug lord alive. Unfortunately, he must first find a way to call off the professional killer before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Michael Caine, (more)
Imagine, for a moment, that a town in the American Old West was founded by and for French people, and that two of the sexiest women in modern times were rivals for control of that town. In Les Petroleuses, Frenchy (Brigitte Bardot) and Maria (Claudia Cardinale) are at war over an oil lease. Maria and her gang of train-robbing brothers got a poor haul on their last robbery. The only thing they found was one measly case with a geological map indicating that a nearby farm was a likely oil-drilling site. It's too bad for Maria that Frenchy has the deed to the farm. While the two of them feud over this and other issues, the bumbling local sheriff is desperately trying to learn French, so that he can woo one of these extraordinary dames. This film sounds as though it was intended as a comedy, but it was made as a perfectly straightforward, serious Western. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
In rural Arkansas, strippers are using a bikini bottom made of stolen jewels. Two brothers, one a moonshiner who also uses moonshine as a tannery chemical, and the other a less-countrified lad, try to outwit both the police and the original thieves and steal the bikini for themselves. As it is constantly in use, this is easier said than done. However, they get to hang out in the strip joint and talk to naked and nearly naked girls a lot. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Jean Yanne, (more)














