Les Bidasses s’en vont en guerre (1974) - film review

Gérard, Phil, Jean and Jean-Guy soon realise that they are not cut out for military service.  Their lack of discipline and unerring aptitude for mucking things up lands them in the military prison, where it looks as if they will stay until they are released back into civilian life.  When a lorry crashes into their cell, they decide to take a holiday and head for the countryside.  They end up on a remote farm which, unbeknown to them, is about to become the target of a military operation....

The popular comedy musicians Les Charlots hit the highpoint of their brief (and largely forgettable) film career with this laugh-a-minute “life-in-the-army” romp, proving conclusively that even military service has its lighter side.  Stuffed with visual jokes – most of which are original and work rather well – this film has retained both its naive charm and its capacity to entertain.  The sequence in which the famous four drag an oil pipe through a house and end up giving their commanding officer (the excellent Jacques Seiler) a skin colour change remains one of the funniest things in French film comedy ever.

© James Travers 2004

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