Films francais
     
 
Le Coup du parapluie
1980 Comedy / Crime
 
Credits
  • Director: Gérard Oury
  • Script: Gérard Oury, Danièle Thompson
  • Photo: Henri Decaë
  • Music: Vladimir Cosma
  • Cast: Pierre Richard (Grégoire Lecomte), Valérie Mairesse (Sylvette dite Bunny), Christine Murillo (Josyane Leblanc), Gordon Mitchell (Moskovitz), Gérard Jugnot (Frédo), Gert Fröbe (Otto Krampe dit 'La baleine'), Maurice Risch (Le producteur de Paris), Dominique Lavanant (Mireille), Axelle Abbadie, Yaseen Khan (Radj Kahn), Didier Sauvegrain (Stanislas Lefort dit 'La Folle'), Mike Marshall (Le docteur), Roger Carel (Salvatore Bozzoni), Vittorio Caprioli (Don Barberini), Patrick Lecocq (Le journaliste télé), Tiberio Murgia (Lorenzo), Philippe Lamendin, Philippe Bruneau (Didier)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 95 min
  • Aka: Umbrella Coup
 
 
 
Summary
Small-time actor Grégoire Lecomte thinks he has landed a starring role in a film, in which he is to play a hired killer.  In fact there has been a slight misunderstanding.  Wandering into the wrong office, he was given a “contract” – not by a film producer, but by a mafia chief.  Whilst Grégoire heads off for the South of France, to “execute” his mission, accompanied by his latest amorous conquest, Bunny, the real hired assassin is hot on his heels.  Grégoire doesn’t realise that the umbrella he has been given “for his role” is the assassination weapon – it is tipped with a poison-injecting syringe.  Nor does he realise that Josyane, his previous girlfriend, has checked into his hotel, and is intent on revenge.  It’s going to be a high body count before Grégoire finally realises what is really going on…

Review
Le Coup de parapluie reunites Gérard Oury – the director responsible for some of the best-loved comic films made in France – and Pierre Richard – arguably the funniest French comic film actor – with predictably hilarious results.  It is the second time the two men worked together; previously they collaborated on La Carapate (1978).  This second Oury-Richard extravaganza is a hilarious, and well-constructed parody of a spy thriller, complete with gangster hitmen  (who all come to a very sticky end), stunning set-piece action sequences and a real Bond villain: Gert Froebe (better known as "Goldfinger"). Whilst the spoof isn’t overly original, and the plot is a tad complicated, the comedy barely flags for a moment.  With so many brilliant visual jokes, excruciatingly funny one-liners and a tour-de-force comic performance from Pierre Richard, this has to be one of Oury’s most exuberant and entertaining films.

© James Travers 2006


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