Gérard Oury Movies

In this romantic comedy-drama, a couple learns that the relationship between the mind and the body can take many different forms. Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) is a plain and pudgy middle-aged college English professor who shares a house with her mother, Hannah (Lauren Bacall). Rose got the brains in her family, but her sister Claire (Mimi Rogers) got the good looks, and as Claire prepares for her wedding to Alex (Pierce Brosnon), Rose can't help but despair over the blank page that is her love life, especially since she's long had a crush on Alex. Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) teaches mathematics at the same school as Rose, and he has come to the conclusion that sex serves no purpose but to complicate relationships between men and women; after a series of disastrous romantic affairs, Gregory is looking for an intellectual relationship with a woman -- and nothing more. One day, Gregory passes by Rose's lecture hall as she discusses the role of chaste love in literature, and he's intrigued; he takes her out on a date and is impressed by Rose's quick wit and broad range of knowledge. Gregory is so taken with Rose that he proposes marriage, but under the condition that theirs be strictly a meeting of the minds, without sexual relations. While Rose is very much attracted to the handsome mathematician, the prospect of spending the rest of her life either alone or with Hannah seems far worse than a marriage without passion, and she agrees to his proposal. However, Rose's affection for Gregory makes it difficult for her to stop with a handshake, and one night she puts on her best nightgown and attempts to seduce her husband, much to Gregory's annoyance and confusion. Gregory leaves on a lecture tour shortly afterward, and after Hannah reassures a heartbroken Rose that she was beautiful as a child, Rose goes on a crash course in self improvement. She goes on a diet, starts working out, changes her hairstyle, learns a few makeup tricks, and revamps her wardrobe, and by the time Gregory returns, he discovers that there's a very different woman in the twin bed next to his own. The Mirror Has Two Faces, based on the 1958 French comedy Le Miror a Deux Faces, was Barbra Streisand's third project as a director; she also served as co-producer and helped compose the film's theme song, "I Finally Found Someone." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this crime comedy, Urbain (Christian Clavier) only got married because his wife blackmailed him into it: she was a tax fraud investigator. Since she's divorcing him, and will be entitled to a share of his prefabricated housing business, he's been skimming as much money as he can from it. The business will probably be bankrupt when the divorce goes through, but what does he care? He's got oodles of gold stashed in the walls of a model home mounted on a trailer. He and his beloved and similarly avaricious grandmother (Tsilla Chelton) plan to smuggle them in to Switzerland. Meanwhile, his soon-to-be ex-wife (Catherine Jacob) and his former chauffeur (Philippe Khorsand), who have been lovers for a long time, get wind of the scheme and take up the chase. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this comedy, young Moses Levy is a Hassidic Jew who lives a quiet existence, avoiding entanglement with the modern world. However, his job requires that he travel between the diamond capital of Antwerp to Paris to deliver diamond powder to an auto assembly plant. Without his knowledge, a gang of cocaine smugglers stashed some of their similar-looking wares amid his own, so as to make it past customs. When they begin taking drastic actions in order to get their stash back, Moses is forced to call on his worldly brother Albert -- a man who has left the faith -- in order to stay alive. Along the way, he almost becomes romantically entangled with a Muslim girl and has encounters with an undercover cop in drag at a club featuring transvestite performers. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The French/German Ace of Aces stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a dauntless World War One flyboy. Nearly 20 years after cessation of hostilities, Belmondo attends the 1936 Berlin Olympics as manager of the French boxing team. Through a series of plot twists too incredible to relate, Our Hero finds himself shepherding a group of Jewish refugees to safety. Alas, his sense of direction isn't so hot, and the refugees end up at Hitler's mountain retreat! Originally titled L'As De As, Ace of Aces is a black comedy in the Mel Brooks tradition. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While he is visiting his client Marcial (Victor Lanoux) in prison, leftist lawyer Duroc (Pierre Richard) is caught up in a prison riot. When Marcial takes him along during his jailbreak, Duroc is assumed by the authorities to have engineered the escape. The two of them are now both on the run. It is 1968, and a wild revolutionary current makes the streets unsafe for ordinary citizens while providing these two fugitives with many opportunities. Even though Marcial, a cheerfully right-wing murderer, disagrees with Duroc about politics, he is sufficiently fond of him to ensure that he is exonerated from blame for the escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This French historical comedy/farce, loosely based on Victor Hugo's play Ruy Blas, benefits greatly from having Louis De Funes and Yves Montand in the roles of Saluste and Blaze. Saluste is a nobleman who has been exiled from court and sent to collect taxes in the countryside. Blaze is his assistant, who manages to help the overtaxed peasants behind his boss's back. When Saluste decides to resume meddling in the monarch's affairs using Blaze as his henchman, his schemes backfire badly. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this British war comedy, set in WW II, a bomber crew is shot down over Paris during the Nazi occupation. They are helped out of the city by several good-hearted Frenchman. They make it to the steambath where they had an important rendezvous. They then begin the final part of their escape. A cross-eyed German inadvertently helps them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the novel by Irving Wallace, The Prize takes place in Stockholm, where several laureates gather to accept their Nobel Prizes. At first, the film concentrates on iconoclastic novelist Paul Newman, but he is temporarily shunted to the background when physics expert Edward G. Robinson is kidnaped and replaced by his wicked twin brother. The real Robinson is to be spirited behind the Iron Curtain, while the "fake" Robinson is to disrupt the awards ceremony with an anti-American tirade. Newman gets wind of the plot, and with the help of Swedish foreign office functionary Elke Sommer, he endeavors to rescue the real Robinson and expose the phony-who has yet another trick up his sleeve before the film is over. We'll go along with the fantastic plot convolutions of The Prize, provided we don't have to swallow the premise of another man's voice emanating from that familiar Eddie Robinson mug. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

La Menace is not the most suspenseful or convincing crime drama, though its story has potential. Josepha (Marie-Jose Nat) is only eighteen and longs for the companionship of a group of her peers who dabble in activities on the shady side of a legal dividing line. In order to get the semi-delinquent group to accept her, Josepha runs to the police with a tall tale about the local druggist, Savary (Robert Hossein). The police are looking for a sex murderer, and Josepha insists Savary is their man. What she does not know, however, can do her considerable damage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The two romantic leads in this standard but well-acted political drama renew a famous pairing that began with The King and I in 1956. Deborah Kerr is Lady Diana Ashmore, caught at the wrong side of the Hungarian-Austrian border in 1956, and Yul Brynner is Major Surov, a Russian commander who works at the border crossing. With the outbreak of the 1956 rebellion, the Budapest airport is shut down and Diana, along with other international travellers, are forced to reach Vienna by bus. Along for the ride is one of the Hungarian dissenters hunted by the police, Paul (Jason Robards, Jr. in his screen debut). Diana and Paul are in love and she is determined to protect his secret. Major Surov suspects a rebel is hidden on the bus, but he does not know which passenger is the guilty one. As interaction continues at the border, Diana is attracted to the Major and his complex character, even against her will. Their developing relationship and strong personalities carry the story from start to finish. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

When Jacques Decret (Gérard Oury) discovers that his wife Gloria (Jeanne Moreau) has been unfaithful, he devises an all-too-clever scheme of revenge in Edouard Molinaro's Le Dos au Mur (Back to the Wall): he sends her an anonymous blackmail letter. After she ignores the threat, he cranks up the pressure and sends incriminating photographs. While Gloria does send him the money, she and her lover Yves (Philippe Nicaud) try to fight back. But Jacques outsmarts them by turning the lovers against each other. Not surprisingly, the plan spirals out of control, and the results are even more sordid than Jacques had intended. ~ Steve Press, Rovi

This somewhat long documentary chronicles events on the sailing ship Moana, as its crew of four men sailed around the world. Their odyssey took a total of three years to complete and included several adventures as they face high seas and other challenges. Many good shots of underwater diving and fishing literally add another dimension to their experience. There is no director per se for the documentary. It was filmed by the four men, Bernard Gorsky, Pierre Pasquier, Roger Lesage, and Serge Arnoux. The editor is Raymond Lamy and the excellent commentary was written by Paul Guimard. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi