Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Fantastic!

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Rarely have I ever seen a movie with such horrendous captioning--making it a real chore to bother sticking with the film. Here are just a few examples of why the captioning completely sucked and why the captioner was an incompetent jerk: There are no contractions. Apostrophes are simply not present. I could live with this one--but shouldn't have to.Words are often mistranslated due to typos. At one point you see the word 'chi1dren' and later 'guy' is translated as 'gay' (wow...some mistake). Typos abound throughout.Often, sentences and whole chunks of dialog are simply not translated at all--often at VERY important portions of the movie. This made me wonder if what WAS translated was correct as well! It's obvious the person doing this job just didn't care and the problem got progressively worse as the film progressed.This is a real shame, as this was the last film Jean Gabin made, as he died soon after completing the movie. He was a fine actor and the English-speaking audience deserve better. Plus, what I was able to understand (due to the crappy captioning) was very good--and I wanted to see it in as complete a version as I could. May the translator be stuck in a small hot room with a continuous stream of "Gilligan's Island" re-runs for all eternity for doing such an incompetent and uncaring job.Jean Gabin plays a criminal who's in prison for pulling a very, very big heist. But, the money was never recovered and he's kept this a secret all the time he's been incarcerated. However, he eventually did tell his bunkmate--a prisoner who is very good at escapes. Together, they both manage to break out and head to Roma, as the money is hidden someplace around the Vatican. And to make it easier to get there, they disguise themselves as priests. However, their plan is totally thrown in the garbage when the plane they are on is hijacked! How will they manage to complete their plan...or will they? "Holy Year" is a rather clever film--a bit of a comedy and a bit of a drama. As always, I enjoyed Gabin's performance and his older, slower and more laid-back character was quite captivating. In fact, he IS the film--and it made for a nice final film. Clever, well-written and unusual--try to find another DVD if it exists in English, as the one from Vanguard Cinema is just dreadful. If you speak French, then you are in luck! While my French is very, very, very poor, I've seen enough French films and understood enough to figure out what happened to the loot at the end of the film. However, given the god-awful captions, many English-speakers will be totally lost! By the way, the ambush scene was HORRIBLY done in the film. First, how could the shooters not hit anyone--especially when they had time to set up and have snipers ready? Second, when the shooting is taking place, how could NO ONE on the plane not bother to shut the door to keep the hijackers from re-entering the plane?! This makes zero sense...zero. It just came off as sloppy.

This is a charming delightful comedy about 2 escaped convicts posing as Priests aboard a hi-jacked airliner.Now this is a 1976 film & plane hi-jacking's were more prevalent..What makes this film a must see is the cast.A few months after this was released the immortal actor Jean Gabin passed away. He was a major actor of French Cinema & stage for over 40 years. Check a few of his films out & you will see why he still is so remembered.Like Spencer Tracy of American film fame he was able to express every possible emotion.Jean-Claude Briely (also one of France's most beloved actors co-stars.The luminous, beautiful Danielle Darrieux is also featured., She just had her 92 nd birthday & is still active in film & Television, She only has been active since the early 1930's.What an actress, What a career.There are some production problems in the film, The acting by this fine cast & the clever plotting over come its faults.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 89 points (out of 100) IMDb 8 (out of 10)

Max (the fabulous Jean Gabin in his last film), a master thief, is spending some time behind bars, having been captured by a determined and crafty police officer. He has hidden a sizable amount of gold in Italy and is patiently waiting to get out so he can retrieve it. His prison companion wants to get out now and get the gold. So they escape, dress as priests and fly off for Italy. Unfortunately, their plane is hijacked, but the terrorists are no match for Max who gets the better of them, but the delay in getting to Rome allows the police time to track him down. What will he do now?These old heist/escape films make crime seem fun. It becomes a cat and mouse game where each side tries to outwit the other and respects the brilliant moves each side makes. No one gets hurt, robbers have honor as do the police and all have a jolly time staying one step ahead of the other. Of course, this isn't true to life and we now have movies like Training Day and shows like The Shield where the bad guys are scum of the earth and the cops aren't much better, but the old good-time cop games are fun to watchThis movie is like day old funfetti cake. It is light, doesn't take itself seriously, sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but a little past its prime, not moist and tender, but still edible and enjoyable. It's fluff and it knows it, but still prides itself on being tasty. 6/10http://blog.myspace.com/locoformovies

Gabin appeared in more French masterpieces than any other actor I can think of.From the thirties' golden hour when Duvivier,Carné and Renoir made him the biggest star of all time in France to the underrated fifties where his career was still interesting and full of gems waiting to be rediscovered,what a career! From the beginning of the sixties onwards ,his -artistic- ambitions began to wane.There is not a single movie in the fifteen last years that deserves to be remembered whereas virtually all (or almost all) he made in the 1934-1939 era was prodigious ."L'année sainte" is a poor swansong ;barely entertaining ,it casts Gabin and Brialy as villains disguised as priests .Most of the action takes place on a plane where Gabin meets again "Duchesse" ,one of his former lovers.Danielle Darrieux's character is almost unbearable ,her trendy slang gets on your nerves even if ,like me,you appreciate the actress (still working as the wonderful "8 Femmes" testifies).But anyway ,farewell,Monsieur Gabin,and thank you for everything!