Bourvil, Louis de Funиs, Claudio Brook, Andrйa Parisy, Colette Brosset, Mike Marshall, Mary Marquet, Pierre Bertin, Benno Sterzenbach, Marie Dubois,...
An allied bomberplane is shot down over Paris by the Germans. Its crew (Terry Thomas as a flight captain) land there by parachute. With the help of some French civilians (Louis de Funиs in the role of a conductor and Bourvil as a house painter) they try to escape over the demarcation line into the southern part of France, still not occupied by the Germans.
AMAZON.COM REVIEWS FOR GRANDE VADROUILLE, LA (1966): Louis De Funиs, Terry-Thomas, Bourvil--if these names don'tmean anything to you, your credentials as a cosmopolitan might beextremely suspect. Three of the biggest figures in the history ofEuropean filmed comedy signed on to Gйrard Oury's La GrandeVadrouille (The Big Stroll) , and the resulting alchemybrought forth box-office gold: $17.2 million in ticket sales, a Frenchnational record which stood for 30 years until Titanic, the verysymbol of the ugly American film industry if there ever was one,knocked it from its perch. Terry-Thomas sparkles as an English pilotlost in occupied France during the Second World War; Bourvil and LouisDe Funиs play Parisians who somewhat involuntarily aid the ubiquitousResistance by smuggling a British major across German lines. De Funиs,best known for his portrayal of the wacky French police officer in thehighly popular series of Gendarme films, is a manic, elasticcomic genius, a proto-Rowan Atkinson with a rubbery face and a knackfor physical humor. Here, his portrayal of conductor Stanislas LeFortremains alert, witty and moving--even when he's spazzing out. Theantic script, cowritten by the intelligent and able Daniиle Thompson(Cousin, Cousine), plays more like Hogan's Heroes thanany war movie really ought to--the stodgy, autocratic Germans areperpetually undermined by those scruffy, resourceful Frenchscalawags--but humor is Vadrouille's, and Oury's, justification, andalmost all of the jokes work. It would be another few years beforeFrench cinema could muster up the courage to treat the Vichy period,and France's wartime complicity, with anything like genuine honesty.Released in America as Don't Look Now ... We're Being ShotAt. -- Miles Bethany
AWARDS FOR GRANDE VADROUILLE, LA (1966):
- Golden Screen, Germany
1977
Won
Golden Screen
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