Claude Renoir Movies

A predictable melodrama, Le Toubib is based on a novel by Jean Freustie about an unhappy surgeon and the tragedy of war. Jean-Marie (Alain Delon) has a successful practice in Paris when his marriage crumbles and he is sent to operate in a field hospital in an unspecified war zone in Europe. He is driven up the wall by Harmony (Veronique Jannot) an attractive assistant whose sunny disposition grates on the surgeon's nerves, or at least, on the one he has left. Then he discovers that Harmony is suffering from an incurable disease and the pathos begins. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This disturbing French drama comments upon the effects of excessive television violence on children. It's set within a seaside villa, where under the care of a nanny, a group of children spend most of their days watching violent television shows. One day they all go to the beach. The nanny dozes while they frolic. For a joke, they load the snoozing servant into a rubber raft and set her out to sea. She panics when she wakes up and ends up drowning. The kids do try to save her, but when they fail they decide to run wild instead of reporting the incident. The death means nothing to them until a threatening stranger appears and tells them he witnessed it all. He then proceeds to terrify them with his predictions about what the authorities will do with such killers. The children turn around and get their own kind of revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though not Ian Fleming's most famous James Bond novel, 1962's The Spy Who Loved Me was distinguished by the unique device of telling the story from the heroine's point of view; in fact, Bond doesn't make an appearance until the book is two-thirds over. This would hardly work in the film world's Bond franchise, so the original austere plotline of the novel was eschewed altogether in favor of a labyrinthine story involving outer-space extortion. The leading lady, a "hard-luck kid" in the original, is now sexy Russian secret agent Barbara Bach, who joins forces with Bond (Roger Moore, making his third appearance as 007) to foil yet another megalomaniac villain (Curt Jurgens), who plans to threaten New York City with nuclear weaponry. Beyond the eye-popping opening ski-jump sequence, the film's best scenes involve seven-foot-two Richard Kiel as steel-toothed henchman Jaws. Fifteen scriptwriters worked on The Spy Who Loved Me; only two were credited, including Bond-film veteran Richard Maibaum. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this modern retelling of the classic Dangerous Liaisons, a virtuous young woman becomes the target of the schemes of an amoral womanizer who is in the habit of wooing women and killing their lovers and husbands in duels. When she finally succumbs to him, she discovers his true nature, and her newly awakened joy in passion turns to dust. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This sequel to the Oscar-winning The French Connection picks up almost exactly where the earlier film leaves off. Still on the trail of drug kingpin Frog One (Fernando Rey), narcotics officer "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) leaves his Manhattan stomping grounds and heads for Marseilles. There, Popeye is captured by Frog One's minions, who pump him full of drugs in hopes of turning the cop into a hopeless junkie. After a grueling "cold turkey" treatment, Popeye is up and about and chasing after the villains, determined to mete out justice. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a young Englishwoman (Mimsy Farmer) crosses the paths of an annual hunting party, two of the hunters rape and try to kill her. She manages to shoot one of them and escape. The rest of them decide to hunt her down. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this convoluted spy thriller, a Russian ambassador places his life on the line when he steals classified documents and defects to the U.S. The papers he carries could rock the free world. Unfortunately, the C.I.A. must first prove that they are real. The film is also known as The Serpent. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Despite his best efforts, Julian (Bruo Bradei) cannot resist goading his younger brother Fabrice (Didier Haudepin) into doing something dumb. They are returning together to their mother's country home for a holiday break. Julian fought in Indochina when it was still French, and the war still haunts him. His brother isn't out of school yet and has yet to bed his first woman. These two make poor company for their mother, who is about to lose her heart over yet another man. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This film is a French period comic romance, set in the time just surrounding the French Revolution (1789). "Year Two," of the French title refers to the second year following the revolution. Those who guided the French Revolution renamed the days of the week, the months of the year, and much more. They also began their calendar from the time of the revolution. In this film, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the husband of a vivacious, two-timing, and socially ambitious young woman (Marlene Jobert). After he kills one of her aristocratic lovers, the husband flees to the New World (the Americas). He returns to France after the revolution, finds that he has been divorced, and then works hard to woo his ex-wife away from all the important men and outlaw aristocrats she is spending time with. Happiness reigns anew as, remarried, they both attain aristocratic status in Napolean's regime. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Based on Harold Robbins' bestseller, The Adventurers stars Yugoslav heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu as Porfirio Rubirosa clone Dax Xenos. Having suffered mightily as a child in a fictional South American country due to the political activities of his parents, Xenos grows up to become a sleazy, sexually manipulative playboy. He romances middle-aged widow Olivia de Havilland, then dumps her after he's run through her fortune. He then takes up with heiress Candice Bergen, who bears his child. When the kid is killed and Xenos turns his back on her, Bergen finds solace in lesbianism. All the while, Xenos is fomenting revolutions aimed at toppling the Trujillo-like despot (Alan Badel) responsible for the death of his father. The Adventurers received a lot of magazine coverage due to a poolside nude scene and the "guess who this is supposed to be?" nature of the cast of characters. But it failed to establish Bekim Fehmiu as an international star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director John Frankenheimer, extrapolating from his earlier films The Gypsy Moths and Grand Prix, examines machismo and how men test themselves to the limits of endurance in The Horsemen. The film takes place in modern day Afghanistan. Uraz (Omar Sharif), the son of Tursen (Jack Palance), the stable master for a feudal lord, is a master horseman who lives by a primitive code of honor. Uruz's family honor is damaged when he breaks his leg playing the game which is the Afghani equivalent of polo. His father, who lost a lot of money betting on his son, will barely speak to him. To regain the family honor (and wealth) he must somehow re-learn how to ride -- after his injuries cost him his leg below the knee. In the face of great obstacles, and despite the derision and treachery of others, he gains the chance to play in the games given by the king of Afghanistan. The footage of the horsemanship in these dangerous and anarchic games is one of the real highlights of this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A voluptuous outer space agent travels to another galaxy in search of a missing inventor in this science fiction send-up. Barbarella (Jane Fonda), an interstellar representative of the united Earth government in the 41st century, is dispatched to locate scientist Durand Durand, whose positronic ray, if not recovered, could signal the end of humanity. Outfitted in an array of stunning Star Trek/Bond girl outfits and cruising around in a plush, psychedelic spaceship, Barbarella travels to the Tau Seti system and promptly crash-lands. She then spends the rest of the film discovering the joys of interstellar sex with a keeper of feral children (Ugo Tognazzi), a blind, beatific angel (John Phillip Law), and an inept revolutionary named Dildano (David Hemmings). Slowly but surely, she also finds her way to Durand Durand by moving from one exotic, Wizard of Oz-style locale to another. Along the way, she meets the kindly Professor Ping (a surprisingly verbal Marcel Marceau), a Eurotrash dominatrix named the Great Tyrant (Rolling Stones gal pal Anita Pallenberg), and the Concierge (Milo O'Shea), a strangely familiar lackey of the Great Tyrant who tries to destroy Barbarella with his great big organ of love. Jean-Claude Forest, who created the character Barbarella in 1962 for V-Magazine, served as visual advisor on the adaptation. The film's missing scientist character famously inspired the band name of '80s pop stars Duran Duran (who altered the spelling slightly). Almost two decades later, the film also inspired electronic act Matmos, which was named after the aqueous personification of evil unleashed by the Concierge at the movie's climax. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi