Georges Dancigers Movies

In another typical Jean-Paul Belmondo vehicle, the French action hero plays a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord (Henry Silva) who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal. Stunts (performed by Belmondo) and chase scenes on land and water enliven the story, but the scenes with Belmondo's love interest are rather marginal themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is a minimalist interrogation drama about a wealthy, influential attorney (Michel Serrault) in a small French town falls under suspicion in a double rape/murder case. The police bring the lawyer in for questioning; at first politely, and then less so, the interrogation team (Lino Venture, Guy Marchand) chips away at the suspect's alibi. An expertly wrought surprise ending makes up for the clumsiness of the English-language dubbing. This French film was based on the British novel Brainwash, by John Wainwright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joss Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a French spy given the assignment of killing an African dictator, and when he arrives in Africa to do so, he is captured and put in prison. The political winds had changed - the dictator is now an ally - and the best way to handle the agent is to keep him in jail. Naturally at odds now with his former bosses and with an ax to grind for his own incarceration, the agent escapes after two years in prison and heads back to Paris where he announces that he is going to finish his assassination job during the coming diplomatic visit of the African leader. Once aware of his intent, the French government sets up one trap after another, but to no avail - the agent remains free and there is no doubt that he has the full capacity to do exactly what he says. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This sequel to Dear Detective suffers from the same trouble as most sequels in that it does not live up to the original film. Police director Lise Tanquerelle (Annie Girardot) marries Antoine Lemercier (Philippe Noiret), an expert in Greek history. While honeymooning in Greece, they are approached by Pochet (Francis Perrin), a young archaeologist who discloses his latest discovery to the couple. He has uncovered the buttocks of Venus Heroclitus. Agnes (Catherine Alric) is Pochet's disgruntled wife who allows the statue to be stolen by a Greek sailor. When the sailor is found dead, Antoine and Porchet are indicted for murder. The two escape in order to track down the real culprit in this crime comedy adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The lightly mocking title Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez Vos Mouchoirs) sets the tone for this Bertrand Blier-directed amalgam of the sentimental and sardonic. Gérard Depardieu plays an at-wit's-end husband, Raoul, who'll go to any lengths to sexually satisfy his wife, Solange (Carole Laure). Raoul decides that the best thing to cure Solange's boredom would be if she took a lover; thus, he chooses Stéphane (Patrick Dewaere) for the "job." But Stéphane isn't any more successful in arousing Solange than her husband had been. Eventually, it is a 13-year-old boy who quenches Solange's erotic yearnings. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar as well as a French César award for Best Score (by Georges Delerue). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Claude Lelouch's Another Man, Another Chance is set in 1870. Fleeing from the Franco-Prussian war, Jeanne (Genevieve Bujold) and boyfriend Francis (Francis Huster) escape to the American west. Their course does not run smooth, and soon Jeanne is left alone to care for her baby. Meanwhile, American veterinaran Jimmy (James Caan), an absolute stranger to Bujold, endures his share of woes, not least of which is the rape and murder of his wife by desperadoes. Inevitably, Caan and Bujold meet and fall in love. Having already suffered the death of Huster, Jeanne tries to dissuade Jimmy from his single-minded pursuit of his wife's murderers. This character conflict determines the outcome of the film's final scenes. Another Man, Another Chance was distributed in the US by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

Proof of the success of French filmmaker Edouard Molinaro is the fact that several of his home-grown hits have been remade as American films. The most recent example of this is 1996's The Birdcage, a highly profitable reworking of Molinaro's La Cage aux Folles (1978). The director's 1973 comedy A Pain in the A... also went the Cage aux Folles route of enjoying worldwide popularity, then undergoing an Americanization process. In the Molinaro original, Lino Ventura plays a friendless hit man who holes up in an Italian hotel room, awaiting the opportunity to knock off his target, a mob witness. No sooner has Ventura drawn a bead on his would-be victim than he is interrupted by the comically suicidal Jacques Brel, who wants to jump from the open window in the assassin's room. The banter and byplay between Ventura and Brel is priceless, especially when veering towards the "sick" humor that Molinaro handles so well. Based on a play by Francis Veber, Pain in the A... was remade by Billy Wilder as Buddy Buddy (1978), with Walter Matthau as the hit man and Jack Lemmon as his unexpected guest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this French romance, Louise (Jeanne Moreau) lives alone and seems to like it that way. She has been through a divorce and the recent death of her mother. Recently, she has moved to Annecy, a moderate-sized city, to take work as a schoolteacher. She encounters a much younger man, Luigi (Julian Negulesco), an Italian who is down on his luck. Though he moved to France to find work, he was robbed of his money and papers and is stranded. When he helps her bury her dogs, which her neighbor has poisoned for barking, their relationship grows to a new level. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The title Life Love Death (originally La Vie, L'amour, la Mort) pretty much runs the gamut of the subject matter which normally appeals to French filmmaker Claude Lelouch. Awaiting execution for murder, Souad Amidou reflects on the events leading up to this sorry contingency. It seems that Amidou can only cohabit with prostitutes, thus he seeks out satisfaction in all the side streets of Europe. Disturbed by a whore's insults when he was unable to perform, Amidou goes completely off the deep end and begins cutting a swath of death from one end of Spain to another. Lelouch's principal stylistic decision in Life Love and Death is to draw as many parallels as possible between sex and bullfighting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The harsh life of a troubled young man provides the basis of this grim French tragedy that begins when the fellow stops into a shop to buy a pack of the title cigarettes. There he meets a pretty shop girl with whom he falls in love and eventually marries. It was a foolish choice, for the two cannot get along and constantly fight. Things get worse when the husband resumes his criminal activities and gets caught. The two are about to divorce when the woman gets pregnant. The time comes for their baby to be born and while sitting in the waiting room, the husband reflects upon his past activities, which are revealed via flashback. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Arthur Lempereur (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Breathless) is a globe-hopping millionaire, engaged to Alice (Valérie Lagrange), a beautiful young woman. As the film opens, Arthur has cut the break line on his fine automobile and proceeds to drive it off a cliff. This, we learn, is his ninth suicide attempt in the past week. Arthur is bored with his easy life. Even learning from his accountant, Biscotton (Darry Cowl), that he's ruined doesn't perk him up. On a cruise to Hong Kong, his friend Mr. Goh (Valéry Inkijinoff) comes up with a solution to Arthur's woes: "Adversity carries the chance for happiness," he explains to the despondent young man. Goh convinces Arthur to take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy, with Goh and Alice as the beneficiaries. The policy will expire in one month. Goh then tells Arthur that his life is in danger. He may be killed at any moment. Arthur soon realizes that he's being followed. He's not so eager to be murdered. Arthur and his valet, Leon (Jean Rochefort of The Hairdresser's Husband), frantically search for Goh to ask him to call off the hit. At one point, Arthur ducks into a nightclub to dodge his pursuers, and instantly falls for Alexandrine (Ursula Andress), the stripper on-stage. Alexandrine is fascinated by the ways men try to manipulate women and assumes that Arthur's story about hired killers is a bizarre ruse. All the more determined to survive the month, the bumbling Arthur engages in a fierce battle for his life. Up to His Ears is both a loose adaptation of a Jules Verne story (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) and a hyped-up return to the form of director Philippe de Broca's previous action comedy, That Man from Rio, which also starred Belmondo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Jean-Paul Belmondo romps his way through the role of 18th century French bandit chief Cartouche. At first robbing from everyone in sight (he has to -- he's head man of a Parisian crime syndicate) Cartouche is rechanneled into becoming a Gallic Robin Hood by beauteous gypsy Venus (Claudia Cardinale). In Highwayman fashion, Venus eventually sacrifices her own life to save Cartouche from harm. He vows to continue his activities to avenge her death, but still manages to have a riproaring good time doing so. Hilarious without being condescending, Cartouche was reissued under the completely inappropriate title Swords of Blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide