Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Writers:

Fred Freeman (written by) and
Lawrence J. Cohen (written by)

Release Date:

14 August 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | History

Plot:

Two mismatched sets of identical twins - one aristocrat, one peasant - mistakenly exchange identities on the eve of the French Revolution.

Plot Keywords:

Twins | French Revolution | Sensuality | Surrealism | Nudity

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gene Wilder	...	Claude / Philippe
Donald Sutherland	...	Charles / Pierre
Hugh Griffith	...	King Louis
Jack MacGowran	...	Jacques
Billie Whitelaw	...	Queen Marie
Victor Spinetti	...	Duke d'Escargot
Ewa Aulin	...	Christina
Helen Fraser	...	Mimi
Rosalind Knight	...	Helene de Sisi
Harry Fowler	...	Marcel
Murray Melvin	...	Blind Man
Ken Parry	...	Dr. Boileau
Maxwell Shaw	...	Duke de Sisi
Jacques Maury	...	Lt. Sorel
Graham Stark	...	Andre Coupe

Also Known As:

Louis, There's a Crowd Downstairs! (USA) (working title)
Two Times Two

Runtime:

90 min | Spain:98 min (alternate version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | USA:Approved (No.22144) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Sweden:11 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Seine-et-Marne, France

Company:

NorBud Productions

Trivia:

The movie was originally intended to be shot in Czechoslovakia, but the Russian invasion of that country in 1968 forced a change in plans.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Twentieth century buses visible on a bridge in background of swordfight.

Quotes:

The Narrator: Paris, France, 1789. Thirty years later, under the reign of Louis XVI, longstanding grievances between aristocrat and peasant were about to boil over. The pot in which these troubles boiled was kindled with the firewood of oppression and injustice and heated by the flames that sucked the air from gasping peasants. Would the pot cool off, would it merely simmer, or would it boil over in the kitchen of France-- to stain the floor of history forever?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dallas: Start the Revolution with Me (#4.14)" (1981)

the art of dead pan comedy by the masters

Just thinking of the "bits" in this masterpiece, sends me into hysterics. The dead hawk on Gene Wilder's arm; (before or after M. Python's dead parrot bit?), the "it's a pleasure doing business with you" bit; when they open a dungeon door to release a prisoner who has been chained to a wall for twenty years, and his first words to the jailer is, "That's a nice suit. Did you just buy it?" (It's eighteenth century France). All done in low key, straight faced, English style. It looks like the only advice Bud Yorkin the director gave this great cast was, "Forget this is a comedy. Act like it's a regular Louis VXI historical presentation. It worked like a charm. The Duke d'Escargot is played by Victor Spinetti, one of my favorite comedians, who for some reason did not reach the international fame I think he deserved. I start laughing even before he says something, and you know when he does say something it will be a piece of nonsense that you'll end up believing, because he says it with such sincerity you just gotta believe the guy. And the rest of the cast.Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Billie Whitelaw, Hugh Griffith, Murray Melvin. Even I could be a Fellini with these "heavy hitters".