Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Kirpianuscus
a lot of gags and humor of situation. parody of a popular genre. and a couple who gives memorable mark to a film not real different by many others from the French cinematography of ''60's. Louis de Funes and Bourvil. a Cadillac. and a ruined plan. and many hilarious situations who mix ingenuity and neurosis, fights and revenges, stupid characters and insignificant small man who reimpose justice. and the end is a gem. clichés of crime films are exploited with great art. the love has its slice. the tension is not ignored. and few Italian/French classic landscapes are the perfect spices. a popular comedy, off course. special for the art of two great comedians. and for the freshness of irony about lifestyle's aspects from the period, not different by present.
writers_reign
Outstanding location shooting in two of Europe's most photogenic countries (Italy and France), a comic 'caper' plot with guns that don't really kill plus two of the greatest comedians in French cinema - Louis de Funes and Bourvil - has to be an unbeatable parlay and in fact the following year they did it again - or something very, very similar in Le Grande Vadrouille in which the director of both films, ex-actor Gerard Oury, brought his daughter, Danielle Thompson, on board as co-scriptwriter. It was also a nice touch to name the Louis de Funes character after the Armenian-American writer William Saroyan, now largely forgotten but once hugely popular whose schtick was humorous whimsey. The plot won't really stand scrutiny under a harsh light; Bourvil's 2CV is totally written off by the roller of de Funes even before he has left Paris on his proposed driving holiday in Italy. Knowing a rube when he sees one de Funes makes Bourvil an offer he can't refuse; the 'loan' of a Cadillac which needs to be driven from Naples to Bordeaux plus a ticket to Naples and spending money. What Bourvil doesn't know, of course, is that the car is bristling with gold, heroin and diamonds and how unwittingly he gets rid of these en route is half the fun. Perhaps a tad dated forty years on but still one of the best 'feelgoods' around.
botkin-id
This was playing on French TV when I was on a recent trip to France. I laughed often during this marvelous old film. Even though my understanding of the language is minimal, I enjoyed this movie very much.It has some wonderful physical comedy and the vintage cars and clothes are a treat to watch. The main character, who remains oblivious throughout the story, is a lovable clueless man. The crooks are appropriately stupid.The camp shower scene is a classic. Even my husband laughed out loud during that ... a rare occurrence.I wish I knew where to buy this film with English subtitles to watch it on a dreary winter night! It would a fun one to share with others to raise serotonin levels for all.
Nicholas Rhodes
One of the classics of French Comedy from the 1960's, Le Corniaud appears regularly on French TV, and is available on DVD and VHS. The film features 2 of France's greatest comedians, both now dead, Louis de Funes and Bourvil ( real name André Raimbourg ). De Funès manic gesticulations coupled with Bourvil's apparent naiveness in a sombre affaire of driving a car loaded with contraband across the Italian border and into France provide a never-ending series of hilarious situations against the 1960's backcloth of carefree life on the Mediterranean. As they say " they just don't make 'em like that any more ". This film together with " La Grande Vadrouille " which features the same stars constitute milestones in the history of popular French comic cinema.
