Bernard Blier Movies
Born in Argentina to French parents, Bernard Blier studied acting at the Paris conservatory. After a short theatrical career, Blier made his movie bow in 1937's Trois-Six-Neuf. Following World War II service, the prematurely balding Blier became established as something of a "new Raimu", distinguishing himself in an exhausting variety of major character roles. He was awarded an honorary Cesar (the French Oscar) in 1989 for lifetime achievement. Bernard Blier was the father of director Bertrand Blier, and he co-starred in his son's black comedy Buffet Froid (1979) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1965
Marcello Mastroianni portrays the handsome lover Casanova pitted against a thoroughly modern woman. This is a legendary hero often depicted in movies, but this time he is portrayed with a slightly different problem - the only time he's "in the mood" is when he feels that he is in danger. His job as NATO officer offers plenty of opportunity for his sexual arousal problems to be assuaged. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Michele Mercier, (more)
- 1964
The attempts of four secret agents to get a scientist's widow to share her husbands secrets form the basis of this comedy. The rival spies come from France, Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. The woman presents a real challenge as she is a retired stripper (her husband died in a brothel). All of the spies attempt to seduce her. More merriment ensues when the CIA and the Chinese Communists get involved. Finally the suave Frenchman succeeds. Afterwards he gets in trouble with his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1964
In this romantic drama, a middle-aged gambler tells a casino croupier her life story. The story is told in flashback and chronicles the woman's romantic exploits with men. Though she was involved with many men, only one really touched her heart. He was a bartender who was tragically shot and killed during an attempted robbery. She later marries and has a daughter. Unfortunately she alienates herself from her daughter when she has an affair with her daughter's fiance. Her remorse is short lived. The film jumps back to the present with the woman leaving the casino on the arm of a handsome millionaire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Bell, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1964
And Suddenly It's Murder! is a regulation Dino De Laurentiis concoction: Big stars, lavish production values, muddleheaded plot. Three Italian couples go on separate vacations to Monte Carlo. When they open their suitcases, a body tumbles out of one of the grips. The rest of the film is a macabre variation of La Ronde, with the body being transferred from room to room and the innocent being implicated along with the guilty. Among the discomfited tourists are Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, and Silvana Mangano. Originally released in Italy in 1959 as Crimen, And Suddenly It's Murder! didn't make it to the States until 1964; some English-language prints bear the title Criminals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvana Mangano, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1964
In this French comedy from director Edouard Molinaro, a young Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Fernand, a groom-to-be who is dissuaded from stepping up to the altar by his two friends after they terrify him with their personal marriage horror stories. Antoine immediately ditches his bride and heads for Greece, but not before giving his friend Antoine (Jean-Claude Brialy) his honeymoon cruise tickets. Aboard the boat, Antoine meets and falls in love. Meanwhile, Fernand falls in love with a swindler and becomes determined to marry her. Also featuring a 21-year-old Catherine Deneuve, La Chasse A L'Homme was released in the United States in 1965 under the title Male Hunt. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1963
Etienne (Jean Sorel) is a young man who seeks work in the coal mines of South France. After experiencing the harsh working conditions, he becomes a labor activist and tries to organize a strike to improve wages and conditions. He is tormented by the mine owner, whose promiscuous wife steps out on him at will. Etienne falls in love with the daughter of a fellow miner, but her loyalty to her father and fear for the loss of his job makes her initially unresponsive to his romantic leanings. The film version of the novel by Emile Zola loses much of the poignant political commentary of the original text. Although the strike is not entirely successful, it paves the way for new considerations of worker's rights. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Sorel, Berthe Grandval, (more)
- 1963
Based on a Jules Verne tale about a make-believe, 19th-century country in the throes of revolution, this routine costume drama by Georges Lampin has a slight storyline about Mathias (Louis Jourdan), a noble count whose innate sensibilities lead him to side with the rebelling masses and intellectuals in the nation. His problem is that his daughter has fallen in love with the leader of the military regime, causing an understandable split in the family. Mathias is then betrayed by some supposed friends, and his situation as well as that of the revolution reach a crisis point. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1963
- NR
Before Greed in the Sun was released to the States by way of MGM, this French/Italian co-production had made the European rounds under the titles 100,000 Dollars au Soleil and Centomilia Dollare al Sol. As any good linguist can gather, the catalyst for this action melodrama is 100,000 dollars---actually 100,000 dollars worth of guns and ammunition, unknowingly transported to African insurrectionists by truck driver Reginald Kernan. Fellow trucker Jean-Paul Belmondo teams with his girlfriend Andrea Parisy to hijack the shipment. Gert Frobe, head of the trucking company, offers Kernan a large reward for the return of the truck and its contents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, (more)
- 1963
The Organizer (I Compagni) takes a gritty, near-documentary approach to its subject matter: the exploitation of Italian laborers in the 19th century. Shorn of all his studio-imposed glamour, Marcello Mastrioanni plays a Genoan political refugee visiting a friend in Turin. Appalled by the horrible working conditions in the town's textile mill, Mastrioanni stays on to organize the workers in a strike. Though he is nearly killed several times, Mastrioanni survives to set an example for the workers, who rally together into a powerful union. The fact that Marcello Mastrioanni was bearded and bespectacled in the manner of a Bolshevist radical was enough for The Organizer to be condemned by certain extreme anti-Communist elements in Hollywood--to no avail, since the film was nominated for an American Oscar, and even given a commendation by the ultraconservative National Board of Review. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, (more)
- 1963
This light comedy finds a pretty teenage girl stealing jewelry for fun rather than dating boys. Agents from the insurance company catch up with the felonious female on the Riviera. She returns the loot and parlays the experience into a job at the company. Eventually, her attention turns to boys as she leaves behind her life of crime. Partial nudity marks the film as an exploitation item abroad. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-France Pisier, Michel Subor, (more)
- 1963
This crime comedy finds ex-gangster Fernand (Lino Ventura) receiving a call from a dying friend, a mob boss nicknamed "The Mexican" (Jacques Dumesnil). The doomed mobster talks Fernand into taking care of some criminal business and looking after his soon-to-be-married daughter (Sabine Sinjen). When a longtime mobster heavy, Volfoni (Bernard Blier) takes exception to Fernand for being an outsider, they come after Fernand who is equal to the task. He defends himself in a series of comical killings from the onslaught of the mob. Writer Albert Simonin adapted this comedy from his book Grisby or Not Grisby, with sharp dialogue written by Michel Audiard. Both Simonin and Audiard would later work on director Georges Lautner's Les Barbouzes/The Great Spy Chase which, along with Les Tontons Flingueurs, would again feature actors Francis Blanche, Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1962
In this crime drama, an amiable, popular middle-age man (Bernard Blier) abruptly changes when he heads out for a nice picnic, sees a half-naked girl, makes a pass at her, gets rejected, and kills her. No one is the wiser and her lover ends up taking the rap. During the ensuing trial, the real killer finds himself on the jury. As he listens, his conscience begins to bother him and he helps get the defendant acquitted but the town community refuses to accept it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Danièle Delorme, (more)
- 1961
Director Georges Lautner and screenwriter Jacques Robert worked on a series of "Monocle" films together, starting with this tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller. Paul Meurisse launched his career with this film, as Dromard, the French secret agent with the black monocle. In this story, a somewhat wacko nobleman is anxiously sitting out the expected arrival of the former leader of the Nazi youth corps. The word gets out to the international spy ring, and soon German and Russian agents are snooping around, hoping to be there when the man arrives. But in the end, they might as well be waiting for Godot. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Meurisse, Elga Andersen, (more)
- 1961
Georges Lautner, a popular French director of comedies and romantic dramas, tries his hand at a war film in this routine tale set in a small French town during the German Occupation. A microcosm of the country as a whole, the town is divided between the resistance fighters and those who turn a blind eye to the occupying forces. The mayor (Bernard Blier) at first appears to be just a leisurely yet effective, middle-aged man who is willing to help people out when the need arises. But as circumstances take a more serious turn, the mayor shows that he is also capable of heroic action. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Lucille Saint-Simon, (more)
- 1961
This is a ribald though talkative look at the life and loves, mainly loves, of Henri IV, France's lecherous, 17th-century king. Henri (Francis Claude) has the misfortune of being married to a sharp-tongued woman but the good fortune of being king. That position nets him plenty of mistresses and an increasing number of illegitimate children. When the older king takes an interest in Charlotte (Daniele Gaubert) a teen forty years his junior, he opts to marry her off to a disinterested son (Jean Sorel) in order to have her nearby. These exploits occupy most of the two-hour running time of this standard costume drama, seasoned here and there with a dash of humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniele Gaubert, Jean Sorel, (more)
- 1961
This somewhat verbose, standard comic thriller involves one sharp gangster nicknamed Le Dabe (Jean Gabin) pitted against three others as they work on a counterfeiting operation. Le Dabe has just been cooling his heels in the hot tropics and has now resurfaced in France where he hooks up with the counterfeiting trio. Together, they print out millions in fake Dutch guilders, but along the way, the three friends scheme to double-cross Le Dabe as soon as their operation is completed. They obviously underestimate the man. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Martine Carol, (more)
- 1961
Jean Gabin carries this conventional political drama set in pre-World War II France. He is Emile, a retired politico with a long memory, a curmudgeon who is not yet prepared to stand on the sidelines and watch others wield power. Flashbacks fill in the details about his earlier career -- and why he wants to block the new cabinet proposed by a politician he knew in his former days of government service. A bit long at almost two hours, director Henri Verneuil worked often enough with Gabin in his films to elicit a strong portrayal. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1960
This historical war drama follows the command of 16th-century artist Benvenuto Cellini as he and his troops defend Rome against the attack of Charles V and his armies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
His successor's death prompts the retaliation of this top agent against the murderers. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1960
This drama, loosely based on the legend of the "Hunchback," is set in Rome, 1944. The story begins as the Hunchback, a leader of the Resistance rapes a Nazi collaborator's daughter. Later he falls in love with her. As he is trying to steal arms from a Nazi arsenal, the Germans shoot the Hunchback. He ends up hiding in her house where he kills her father. He is soon captured and tortured by the Fascists. Meanwhile, the hapless girl miscarries her child and becomes a prostitute. Later the Hunchback and his 150 Resistance fighters take over a Roman suburb and attempt to liberate the town whores from a life of prostitution. His attempts fail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Blain, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1959
Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi don ill-fitting military uniforms in this anecdotal Italian service comedy. They play a couple of World War I soldiers, adept at sidestepping duty and responsibility, but courageous to the core when in a pinch. The film strives for the boisterous feel of What Price Glory, but at 118 minutes the material wears rather thin. Still, the reputation of director Mario Monicelli helped this uneven production win a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Originally released in Italy in 1959 as La Grande Guerra, The Great War was distributed in the U.S. two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi, (more)
