La Course à l’échalote (1975)

La Course à l’échalote is a French film comedy first released in 1975, directed by Claude Zidi.  The film stars Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Michel Aumont, Marc Doelnitz and Amadeus August.  It has also been released under the title: The Wild Goose Chase.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


With his boss away on holiday, Pierre Vidal finds himself elevated to the highest position in the bank where he works.   Anxious to ensure that nothing goes wrong whilst he is in charge, Pierre rules with an iron grip, even going so far as to stage a fake hold-up to test his staff’s reactions.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t prevent someone stealing documents from a safe deposit box in the bank’s vault.  Having just one weekend before the documents are due to be collected by their owner, Pierre sets out to recover them.  He discovers that the thief belongs to a troupe of drag artistes, who are about to leave Paris on a train bound for Brighton, England.  Believing that Pierre has left her to spend the weekend with another woman, his girlfriend Janet is close on his heels.  Before they know it, Pierre and Janet are caught up in a series of life-and-death escapades that culminate in a showdown on Brighton Pier...

Following their hugely successful pairing in La Moutarde me monte au nez (1974), Pierre Richard and Jane Birkin and reunited for a second helping of madcap comedy, adding a new meaning to the phrase Entente Cordiale.  The plot is something of a convoluted mess but the jokes come so thick and fast that you hardly notice.  Claude Zidi’s comedies are renowned for their original visual gags, and this one includes some of the director’s best: Pierre Richard walking around with a leg stuck in a toilet pedestal, Jane Birkin receiving a little present from an English seagull, and both actors emerging from a first floor bath in the incinerated skeleton of an old house.  Not only is this one of Pierre Richard’s silliest films, it is also one of his most entertaining, and his coupling with Jane Birkin (Britain’s answer to Brigitte Bardot?) makes it an irresistible treat that you can watch again and again.

© James Travers 2008

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