After a guy foolishly trusts his money with a downright evil bank owner(who tricks him out of it with bogus stock tips), he tries to get it back the shortest way: by digging a tunnel from his basement to the vaults. Lucky for him, he lives nearby. Of course this drags a lot of hilarious situations along with it. Well, some I guess. I'm probably used to the other type of comedies that bring gags of the same or lower quality like, every second. Still, this old-timer baffoonery can be appreciated, because De Funes is professional about it. He's better than the material he's given. He's above these types of things,but then again, they suit him brilliantly. This is not a one man show,but it seriously should be. This has more padding than McDonalds-beef. One bothering plot hole: there's no way anybody could think anybody other than them robbed the bank. It's just so obvious, we have scenes in which they ask about security, or in which the kid is ever so curious what the vault looks like, and they have a motive, and they can constantly be seen with massive amounts of shovels or covered with dirt, and they actually ask a guy about digging tunnels. I know, I know, it's just a funny little movie.
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Comedy. I stumbled upon this French comedy purely by accident, then read some reviews, which were already very captivating with the sincerity of emotions and the excellent acting of the comedian Louis de Funes. And I decided to personally check it out - and did not regret this decision, and here is my brief opinion - How to punish a greedy banker. I did not notice the minuses in the picture, although I tried to find them with the zeal of a religious fanatic, so let your humble servant focus your attention on the merits of this comedy. So, here they are: 1. Scenario - Monsieur Garnier, the father of a large family and the owner of the "Hunting and Fishing" store, lived in the world and wanted to invest his savings in a good and "true" business. To do this, he went to the bank opposite his store and, on the advice of the owner of the bank, Monsieur Durand-Marey, invested in a company. As a result, I lost all my money. Driven by righteous anger, well, financial difficulties, he decides to rob, involving the whole family. The picture is a robbery, which means there will be many funny and unusual situations, pleasant humor and charisma of Louis de Funes. Of course, there will be scenario twists and charismatic characters. And the finale will pleasantly surprise you, and make you watch the picture from beginning to end. I myself watched with great pleasure what was happening on the screen. If you love a similar genre of crime comedy: "How to Steal a Million", "Gambit", "Big Jackpot" and so on, then you should not turn away from this comedy! 2. Humor - I must warn you in advance that do not count on wild laughter, but funny situations, funny antics and a lot of palms attached to the head from the bacchanalia taking place on the screen are provided to you. Personally, I hoped to laugh heartily, but I managed to realize this only partially. In the local humor there is no vulgarity, vulgarity, and indeed "dirt", so you can watch the whole family. 3. Music - the famous French composer Paul Mauriat was responsible for it (whose music I just adore and regularly insert into my reviews). Well, here the music is funny, sometimes dramatic, but always light and relaxed, which immerses the viewer in what is happening on the screen. 4. Acting - everyone coped with their roles a little more than completely. It seems to me that the actors not only did their work, but even had time to have fun on the set of this picture. Everyone did a great job and no one raises any complaints. And the characters are quite colorful, although some have nothing in the picture of screen time. A little about the main characters: 1. Victor Garnier, performed by Louis de Funes, is an honest and respected businessman and owner of a small shop who was deceived by his neighbor banker, and now it is time for revenge. Louis de Funes is a cult in France, for and in Russia and the countries of the former USSR too. And if I didn't like the "Gendarme of Saint-Tropez" (for it is boring and not funny), then this is another matter. Almost the whole picture rests on the charisma and antics of Louis. His crazy ideas cause laughter, and their implementation - even more laughter. He perfectly played the role of the father of the family and the leader of the family gang. Bravo Louis! 2. André Durand-Marey performed by Jean-Pierre Mariel - the owner of the bank, who profited from the honesty of Monsieur Garnier and many other people. He does not deny himself anything and boasts of his position and money. Typical "business shark" who rowed everything for himself and only himself. Nevertheless, you will not deny him in mind. Jean-Pierre perfectly played the main villain and scoundrel, whom you despise with all your heart. 3. Philippe Brecy performed by Jean Valmont - a bank employee who fell in love with the daughter of Monsieur Garnier. An honest and humble young man who has a role to play in the upcoming events. Jean was very convincing in this role. This comedy is not a masterpiece, but it deserves a quality four. To while away the evening with her is a great option! As a result, we have a good comedy about a robbery, with a good and strong script, great music, high-quality humor, charismatic characters, and great acting. My rating is 7 out of 10 and my recommendation for viewing!
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myriamlenys15 October 2022The hard-working owner of a shop selling hunting and fishing gear invests a great deal of money in a project recommended by his banker. Sadly enough the project goes "splat !" and so does the money. The shop owner is far from pleased, especially since the banker himself continues to pursue his life of cloudless leisure and luxury...
"Faites sauter la banque !" is both a heist movie and a spoof of the heist movie genre. Instead of the usual crack team of seasoned criminals you get a nice, middle-class, law-abiding family trying to rob the neighborhood bank just across the street, with more determination than know-how. The movie is pretty much dominated by the enemy duo formed by Louis de Funès (as the disgruntled shopkeeper) and Jean-Pierre Marielle (as the glib, self-satisfied banker). The interactions between both men crackle with comic electricity.
I don't know if "Faites sauter la banque !" is a great movie, but it is certainly a funny one, with an original plot, amusing gags, daffy twists and turns, fine performances and some sharp-witted dialogue. I've seen it several times now and each time it made me laugh - what more is to be expected from a comedy ? -
"Let's Rob a Bank" might not be among Louis de Funes' Top 20 comedies (not even by the numbers) but who cares? The film is obviously one of the last steps back before the big dive into stardom, a minor but charming companion piece to "Pouic-Pouic", also directed by Jean Girault, written by Jacques Vilfrid and composed of the same plot elements, mixing family, financial misunderstanding and vaudeville-like misunderstandings. De Funès plays Mr. Victor Garnier, the owner of an equipment store for fishing and hunting who's suffered a big financial loss because he was ill-advised by his banker played by Jean-Pierre Marielle. How does he contemplate vengeance? Simply by digging a tunnel to steal bulions from the safe.
Within its silly premise, the film has a little unpretentious charm of its own. And I suspect it was shot earlier than 1964 and from the little crop of hair remaining on Fufu's head and their shades of black, I guess he still had to age a little physically. Still, he was at the top of his game here, surrounded by a family that feels more like sparring-partners to his eternal tantrums. The cast isn't as memorable as "Pouic Pouic" where he had to act along Jacqueline Maillan, Christian Marin and Mireille Darc. Here the faces are relatively unknown (Yvonne Clech and Anne Doat aren't exactly household names) Doat is cute enough to catch the eyes of the young bank clerk (Jean Valmont) and form the obligatory beta couple. Clech doesn't have the comical timing of Maillan, nor the imperial elegance of Claude Gensac and the son (Michel Tureau) looks too old for the part.
In fact, it's the little nerdy daughter who saves the day and has that precocious quality that reminded me of the little sister in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" she's played by Catherine Demongeot who was little Zazie in Louis Malle's film and she'd grown so much she was almost the same height than her father. In fact, the second big cast member is Jean-Pierre Marielle who's almost totally unrecognizable. The first time I saw the film 25 years ago, I couldn't associate that suave and debonair smooth-talking man in black suit (with hair) to the mustached bald guy who was harassed by Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Hold-Up" although his voice was unmistakable.
Now, there's something about De Funès confronting a man one foot taller that never gets old, and from the way he interacts with them, you could tell he was practicing his last comical quips. There's also a great moment where he confronts a policeman played by George Wilson and that foreshadows the keen eye he will always display with his subordinates or superiors, bluffing his way out of uncomfortable situations.
In fact, the film is mostly memorable for watching Funès interacting, shortening himself even more to get away from tricky moments or 'playing dumb' with people dumber than him like that interesting conversation with Jean Lefebvre. Speaking of Lefebvre (who co-starred the same year in the first "Gendarme") the film is also a little who's-who of all the character actors of that time Jean Droze, Philippe Dumat and Claude Piéplu. Some less inspired parts that can look as obvious fillers such as the unnecessary interventions of Belgian relatives giving the film the appeal of a little sitcom.
Still, Jean Girault makes it a great vehicle for De Funès and Marielle. It's obvious that it was made with a shoestring budget and wasn't meant to be a huge box office but it proved itself to be effective. I guess Girault understood that the 'family man' thing worked but there had to be a little more in the narrative territory to allow De Funès to express his comedic talent to the fullest. That 'little more' came the same year with the first 'Gendarme' film. -
This is a surrealistic comedy, and it doesn't matter that its plot and situational developments are far-fetched. The director here is Jean Girault, who did some of the best De Funès films (and in particular some of the best from the Gendarme series). Fast-paced, brilliantly acted, hilarious... The banker from the start is guilty of insider trading BTW (which the Storyline here does not mention). This is necessary to make us sympathize at least basically with De Funès in his criminal undertaking to right wrong-doing, with the unlikely complicity of his incredible family. All terrific actors BTW.