L'emmerdeur (1973)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Edouard Molinaro

Writer:

Francis Veber (play)

Release Date:

31 July 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Ralf Milan, a hitman, arrives in Montpellier to kill an important witness. He checks in a hotel without...

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Neurotic | Hitman | 1970s | Assassination Attempt

Cast

Lino Ventura	...	Ralf Milan
Jacques Brel	...	François Pignon
Caroline Cellier	...	Louise Pignon
Jean-Pierre Darras	...	Fuchs
Nino Castelnuovo	...	Bellhop
Angela Cardile	...	La future maman
Michele Gammino
Xavier Depraz	...	Louis Randoni
François Dyrek
Jean-Louis Tristan	...	L'inspecteur de l'hôtel
André Valardy	...	L'auto-stoppeur
Jean Franval	...	Le routier
Pierre Collet	...	Le boucher
Arlette Balkis	...	La patiente
Jacques Galland	...	Maître Chamfort

Also Known As:

A Pain in the A...
Il rompiballe (Italy)

Runtime:

85 min | France:80 min | Spain:90 min | Spain:81 min (DVD edition)

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:13 | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Castries, Hérault, France

Company:

Les Films Ariane

Trivia:

The Director, Edouard Molinaro plays the barman of the coffee shop. And there's a moment that he's got a vinyl disc of Jacques Brel in his hands.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nino Castelnuovo, le groom de l'Hôtel du Palais (2005) (V)

Side-splitting

One of the many great comedies from France from the 1970's, and a commodity which is seriously lacking nowadays in that country ! It is now available in France ( March 2007 ) on DVD, and please note that the DVD has English Subtitles if required. Ventura was a great actor and Brel, though hopeless as an actor, occupied a part which didn't need a great actor. Brel in this film can get on your nerves at time, just like Michael Crawford in "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" but despite this, the spectator has a good time ! The catchy, almost wailing, theme music by François Rauber (played on a whiny accordeon) is typical of many French films from the sixties and seventies and serves as a way of identifying the origin of the film. Given that now both the main protagonists of the film are dead, the sound of this accordéon is particularly nostalgic. The recipe of two character-opposed central characters is often a central tenet of French cinema ( Richard / Depardieu, Depardieu/Reno, De Funes/Carmet, De Funes/Bourvil ...... and Ventura/Brel in this film )and has been used with success to make generations of moviegoers laugh ! Francis Veber had a large had in this film although its director was Edouard Molinaro - is it any surprise then that one of the characters has the name François Pignon. Indeed, BREL is the ORIGINAL François Pignon. The character was subsequently interpreted by Pierre Richard, Jacques Villeret, Daniel Auteuil et alia ............