Pierre Tornade Movies

For those unfamiliar with Asterix, a popular character in European cartoons and comic books, he is a courageous but humorous-looking warrior of the Gauls in Roman times, and often single-handedly fights off the encroachments of the Romans. In this feature-length cartoon, the Romans have conquered everything except the village where Asterix lives. This has survived because the town druid has a special potion which confers incredible strength. However, at the time of the film, the druid has been knocked on the head and has lost his memory, which is inconvenient, to say the least. Asterix and his villagers must search far and wide for something which can help them either with the druid's memory, or with reconstructing his potion. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Asterix, the popular French cartoon character, comes back to the big screen in this second feature-length animated film by Pino Van Lamsweerde. Helped (and occasionally hindered) by his muscular sidekick Obelix and his faithful pooch Idefix ("fixed idea"), Asterix must go to Britain to come to the rescue of his cousin. The Roman legions are about to run roughshod over his cousin's village and must be stopped. Saddled with the task of getting a huge barrel through the city of Londinium, Asterix meets with unexpected circumstances. The end result is a new brew made of tea leaves and a whole new custom. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In spite of spending three hours developing the story of French peasant Charles Saganne (Gérard Depardieu), the sweep of this epic skims over the qualities that transformed Saganne from an ordinary officer to a great military leader. Saganne was first sent to a garrison town in North Africa before Colonel Dubreuilh (Philippe Noiret) assigned him to other missions, finally giving him a chance to exercise his innate ability to lead men. After a tragic hiatus in Paris where he fails to promote the colonialist cause, he returns to the Sahara and outshines his past accomplishments, leading a ragtag band of Arab dissidents in some brilliant military maneuvers -- for which he won the French Legion of Honor. His newfound recognition also attracted a society maven who became his wife, and after his tour of duty has ended Saganne moves with her to the village where he was born. But the year is 1914 and Saganne's peaceful village idyll was not meant to endure -- he is again called off to war, and to his destiny. Even though the costuming, landscape, battles, and charisma of Depardieu as Saganne and Noiret as Colonel Dubreuilh are outstanding, and several subsidiary characters deliver emotionally compelling vignettes, the protagonists as an ensemble have not been scripted with much depth of character -- making the three-hour epic seem a bit too long in the end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In truth, there are two French Detectives in this European crime melodrama. Lino Ventura plays an aging, been-around gumshoe, while Patrick Dewaere is his young, callow and cynical associate. The two detectives don't like each other much at first, but this will change. Their current assignment: getting the goods on a corrupt politician. Occasionally more violent than it needs to be, The French Detective has the twin advantages of authenticity and sincerity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A boisterous, cheerful and lusty man, Lajoie (Jean Carmet) meets his friends every year at a family campsite. During the whole vacation, Lajoie has been eyeing his teenage son's nubile girlfriend. During an occasion which puts them alone together, he attempts to rape her. When she fights back, he attempts to subdue her with a punch, and accidentally kills her. Frightened, he dumps her body near an Arab neighborhood, and then incites a lynch mob after spreading rumors that the girl was murdered by Arabs. For a while, it looks like this all-too common man will get away with his crime. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Director Robert Dhery stars in this slight comedy about a man whose brother-in-law is making an amateur film for a regional television contest. He objects when the brother-in-law tries to make the film racier than he feels is appropriate. Before the film is over, he has won control of the brother-in-law's business, among other things. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Eric (Robert Dhery) is the beleaguered husband of a harridan wife who works as a writer of advertising slogans. When he develops an uncanny ability to select the winner of the daily horse races, local gamblers take a sudden interest. Eric is cornered by the gamblers who find it hard to believe he does not use his unusual talent to place bets for himself. He eventually wins over the hard bitten thugs with good humor in this comedy taken from the play by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This comedy concerns an inventor (Robert Dhery) of a boat who is fired by his violent, irascible boss when the project is completed. The boat, christened Le Petit Baigneur, is wanted by the Boss (Louis De Funes), who pulls out all the stops to possess the coveted craft. Author-actor-director Dhery wrote this story especially for the comedic styling of De Funes, one of Frances most popular comedians at the time of the feature's release. His "slow burn" is reminiscent of American actor James Finlayson, who perfected the technique in the silent-film era and continued his success in countless films, usually being tormented by the antics of Laurel and Hardy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide