Jean Herman Movies

If the hunt that lends dramatic action to this fast-paced story could be notched up into a more harrowing adventure, then the fates of escaped thief Ned (Lambert Wilson) and Lilly (Myriem Roussel) the wife of his pursuer, would engage viewers' attention all the more. The half-psychotic cop Franck (Tcheky Karyo) captures Ned during a robbery but instead of taking him directly to the station, he handcuffs him to a pipe in his bathroom at home. Meanwhile, Franck's wife Lilly is in the process of dumping him for good and after an argument, Franck gets knocked unconscious. Lilly and a friend uncuff Ned, and the three take off. Franck is after them big-time, and sure enough, the hunted make a few unforgivable errors that only help the demented cop in his search. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Dog Day was originally distributed in France as Canicule. In one of his last film appearances, Lee Marvin portrays a gunman on the lam with girlfriend Tina Louise. He briefly takes refuge with a farm family whose idiotic excesses make Marvin's former criminal associates seem like choirboys. The wife of the household (Miou-Miou) falls in love with Marvin, to the extent of planning his escape when the law catches up with him. Also craving Marvin's sexual attentions is the wife's sister-in-law (Bernadette Lafont), the craziest and most pathetic of the bunch. Dog Day was based on Herman, a novel by Jean Vautrin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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 standard comedy thriller is more a vehicle to show off Jean-Paul Belmondo's stunts than to convey a suspenseful tale to a hoodwinked audience. Belmondo plays a conman who gets tangled in a complex series of hassles that involve some well-placed kicks to straighten out. Everyone is after a microfilm he has, and when he is not hanging from a helicopter to escape his enemies he is bedding down one woman or another. Life, after awhile, seems fairly predictable as he goes from being airborne to bedridden or vice-versa. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

When the local police inspector was found dead in a prostitute's house, police division commissioner Stan Borowitz (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is sent to investigate the situation. Posing as the prostitute's long-lost brother "Antonio Cerruti," he discovers a mare's nest of police corruption. In fact, in this comedy thriller the whole town is corrupt. If they were closely examined, Stan's methods for pursuing this investigation might embarrass the police. For instance, he drives into a criminal's house in a fancy, expensive race car. In another incident, he callously blows up a casino owned by Musard (Georges Geret), one of the town's crime bosses. On that occasion, he first forces Musard to remove his clothes, and the poor criminal watches his casino explode from across the square while standing naked in a phone booth. Meanwhile, Stan seduces the lovely Edmonde (Marie Laforet). This box-office smash was the first of four wildly successful collaborations between Belmondo and director Georges Lautner. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Claudia Cardinale is Popsy, who double-crosses her older partner Silva (Stanley Baker). Silva has arranged to divert diamonds from a large corporate-run diamond mine in the South American jungle, and Popsy does her "pop" wrong as they are both pursued by police. This French-language underworld adventure film has a screenplay by Henri Charriere (who also acts in the film), better-known for his screenplay for Papillion. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Seven accomplished directors being their unique visions of Giovanni Boccaccio's medieval allegorical work to the screen by placing the erotically charged tales in a contemporary setting. Bernard Clarens, Jean Desuilles, Serge Korber, Jean Herman, Louis Grospierre, Francois Reichenbach, and Miklos Jansco each take the helm to direct segments featuring Dick Brown, Pamela Walbart, Grace Moran, and Tom Heaton. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Julia Danielle Darrieux is a woman who marries a younger man in this pre-World War II drama. The newlyweds settle down and run a store inherited by the bride. With storm clouds of war on the horizon, the woman's brother-in-law makes a small fortune dealing in guns and ammunition, and when war finally breaks out, Julia is left alone when her husband answers the nation's call to build up the military. She has a premonition about her husband's death as others only think of how they too can profit from the human misery of war. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide