Film Review
Director Jean Girault put his name to many classic French comedies, the most
successful of these being the ones that featured the comedy legend Louis
de Funès - notably the multiple offerings in the
Gendarme series.
Les Gorilles comes near the start of Girault's filmmaking career (released
in 1964, the same year as
Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez)
and is a typical run-around comedy of this era, pairing two other celebrated
stalwarts of French film comedy - Darry Cowl and Francis Blanche. Had
a little more thought gone into the script,
Les Gorilles might have
stood the test of time a little better. As it is, jam-packed with poor
gags and comedy sketches that mostly fall flat, the film struggles to keep
going and would be pretty tiresome were it not for the valiant attempts by
its indefatigable lead performers to keep the thing going.
To put it mildly, Darry Cowl is something of an acquired taste. His
persona and brand of comedy are certainly pretty unique, but not in the sense
that is likely to make you laugh out loud. In his day, Cowl was one
of the most popular French comic actors, although by the 1970s he was massively
eclipsed by far more substantial talents, including Louis de Funès
and Bourvil. In the right context, with a good script behind him, he
can be amusing, if not out-right hilarious. In
Les Gorilles,
where everything appears to be against him, he just appears ridiculous and
sometimes unbearably tiresome.
Francis Blanche, a far more intelligent and capable comedy performer, makes
a more convincing go of things and in some scenes he is irresistibly funny,
although for the most part even he struggles to extract more than a grudging
smile from his audience. Overall,
Les Gorilles is a massive
let down, a foretaste of the misfires that would blight Girault's later career.
There's some fun to be had when a familiar face shows up from time to time,
Michel Galabru, Michel Constantin, Jean Carmet and Robert Dalban are welcome
additions to a surprisingly showy cast-list, but their combined contributions
cannot make up for the sheer idiocy of the plot and the dearth of decent
gags. A dreary, stumbling and mostly humourless comedy,
Les Gorilles
outstays its welcome by the midpoint and thereafter becomes a laborious crawl
to a far from amusing conclusion.
© James Travers 2019
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Next Jean Girault film:
Le Gendarme à New York (1965)
Film Synopsis
Édouard and Félix have been friends for many years. Once
gainfully employed as bodyguards, they have since come down in the world
somewhat and now earn their crust as lowly baggage handlers at Orly Airport.
It's hardly the most demanding of jobs but it does have one perk - it allows
our friends ample opportunity for flirting with air hostesses. One
day, a suitcase goes missing and its owner, a seemingly respectable diamond
merchant, is understandably furious. To rectify a potentially calamitous
situation, Édouard and Félix do their utmost to try to recover
the missing suitcase, convinced that it is filled with a fortune in precious
jewels, Realising that the case must have been mistakenly picked up
by another passenger, the two men set out on a manic chase across the capital
and on the way they allow themselves to get caught up in the most improbable
of situations. It is a quest that takes them all over Paris and ends
not quite as they had imagined...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.