Les Morfalous (1984)

Les Morfalous is a French war film first released in 1984, directed by Henri Verneuil.  The film is based on a novel by Pierre Siniac and stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacques Villeret, Michel Constantin, Michel Creton and Matthias Habich.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


In 1943, during the Second World War, a battalion of the French Foreign Legion is tasked with the mission of removing a fortune in gold bullion from the vault of a bank in a North African town, before it falls into the hands of the Germany army.  The Legionnaires arrives just in time to be all but wiped out by the German soldiers who surround the town.  Only three of them survive: Sergeant Augagneur, Adjutant Mahuzard and Boissier.  With the help of a cowardly artillery man, Béral, the Legionnaires manage to defeat the Germans, but instead of fulfilling their mission as planned, Augagneur has other plans for the gold bullion…

Les Morfalous marks the end of a twenty-five year association between two pre-eminent figures in French cinema from the 1960s – director Henri Verneuil and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo.  It was their eighth collaboration, and yet another attempt at a blockbuster in the unashamedly American style.   Whilst the film does have some good jokes (some however in very, very bad taste), and the action stunts are impressive (albeit more Grand Guignol than realistic), the script is weak and the grey-haired Belmondo not too convincing as an action hero.  The moral ambiguity of Belmondo’s character is also unsatisfying and it is next to impossible to find anything to like in his portrayal of a crude, self-serving Legionnaire.  Jacques Villeret and Michel Constantin come off far better, both having sympathetic roles and a decent share of the best jokes.  Verneuil makes the best of the material he has at his disposal and, whilst clearly not his best film, it does just about pass for entertainment.

© James Travers 2005

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