That was an excellent one.

Simply Perfect

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The first "Pink Panther" movie, directed by Blake Edwards, with Peter Sellers in the main role, came out in 1963. As practically everybody knows, it was a wonderful spoof of the French police as seen through British eyes. Although the exact relationships between the Pink Panther movies on the one side and the totally 6 "Le Gendarme De Saint-Tropez"-movies, directed by Jean Girault, has, as far as I know, never been revealed or scrutinized, the latter ones, starting in 1964, can surely be seen as an answer to make fun of the French provincial police by some people from Paris.A short comparison between Sellers (who has been considered widely as the best comedian of all times) and De Funes (who never got really famous in the US despite the release of such movies like "Rabbi Jacob" and the VHS release of "La Grande Vadrouille"), De Funes' comic is devastatingly different from the one of Sellers. De Funes, who was a trained pantomimic, used this special capacity of his in most of his films, his being-a-comedian has elements of vaudeville - yet not in the sense of the Marx brothers, of slapstick - yet not in the sense of the early American silent movies, - of horseplay, yet without striving tastelessness or primitiveness. However, his comic is never intellectual, Funes could never have played Dr. Strangelove - as Seller could never have been Balduin or Oskar.Nevertheless, the characters of Cruchot and Cluseau are closer than one would expect, yet still radically different in their basics. While Clouzeau never seems to be ridiculous when he hunts criminals, Cruchot does, because he is more interested in chicken-stealing than in felonies. How Cruchot treats his caught thieves, reveals that he is not to much different from them. On the other side, Clouseau is different from everybody, he would be too clumsy to associate with his "victims". Clouzeau is much more the French guy as he is seen by foreigners than Cruchot: Quiet, with a tendency to be elegant, womanizing, polite. But now quite the opposite is Cruchot: He walks around with his uniform even at home, he is loud, rude, slaps and hits and beats his "subservients", has mostly a daughter (in later "Gendarm"-sequels a wife), but does not come in flirting contact with any other women. He uses politeness and respect strictly to get to his purpose - as he uses otherwise rudeness and disrespect. However, both Cluseau and Cruchot are behaving strictly against police rules, but in their "anticyclic" behavior they reach the goal where probably everyone else would fail.Louis De Funes has often being criticized for having played the allegedly primitive, but funny "Gendarm"-movies, after having been for decades a revered, but outside of France completely unnoticed stage actor. It is true that especially his work that he did with Gerard Oury belongs probably to the best that French comedy of the 60ies and 70ies had to offer, but without the "Gendarm"-movies he possibly would never have reached his enormous popularity. It is time that these 6 movies are edited for the international audience, too.

This is a pretty amusing entry on Marechal Luudovic Cruchot(Louis De Funes)Gendarmes stories. Starts with a prologue in black and white where Cruchot is a corporal at a village .He's suddenly been promoted to sergeant in Sainz Tropez and undertakes the changeling. There he goes along with his beautiful daughter Nicole (Genevieve Grad).At the Nationale Gendarmerie finds four Marechals(Jean Lefevre,Michael Modo,Grosso) and chef adjutant Jerome(Michael Galabru).Meanwhile a mobs have robbed a Rembrant painting titled the 'girl of the tulip' and the Gendarmes must to find it. Besides happen several adventures, with highlights such as the chase of nudists whom Cruchot ask them documentation, when Lucien(Jean Lefevre)is obligated to nude himself for close nudists, and the ordinary nun driving rapidly in the Citroen, among others.This agreeable French comedy about the sympathetic Gendarmes contains slapstick,slapdash, simple humor and lots of entertainment and fun . Louis De Funes, as usual, steals the show, the puts paces, grimace,and overacting by means of excessive mimic gesticulation. Marvelous, wonderful Genevieve Grad as festive daughter, she starred various sword and sandals movies.It's a co-production French-Italian , for that reason appears Gabriele Tinti as a gangster, he's customary actor of co-productions during the 60 and 70s. However doesn't appear Claude Gensac who collaborated five movies as Funes'spouse, because in the next installment 'Gendarme get married' she'll become into wife. Glimmer local cinematography in luminous sun under Saint Tropez'blue sky. Enjoyable musical score by Raymond Lefevre including musical background leitmotif and catching disco song titled, of course, St Tropez. Habitual final parade with Cruchot greeted like a hero. If you like Funes' overacting, you'll enjoy this one. The flick is lively written and amusingly directed by Jean Girault, who followed film-making the series: Gendarmes and creatures of outer space,Gendarme in balade, Gendarme at New York, and Gendarme and the Gendarmettes.

Of all the genres, comedy is the one which gets more easily dated. That's because the conventions for each moment in time (and for each culture) are very volatile, they change quickly. And, for some reason, we don't "pile" new notions over old ones, which is to say, with humor, once we have new conventions, we reject old ones (unlike, for instance, the detective film). This means that what makes people laugh now, won't work in a very short time. I'm still young, and i've seen that happen, with films i saw as a teen. But than we have another aspect to be reckoned: the fact that, though audiences adapt to new conventions regardless of their age (as long as they keep seeing new films and live active social lives), they still gain a cinematic memory. So, many times, people "know" that they will re-watch a film which "is" funny, they remember they laughed out loud when they saw it the first time.I saw this film with my mother, and i registered this effect on her. To me, this was something i had seen 10 years ago, to her, it was a memory from childhood, when these gendarme films were fresh.Now they aren't fresh. Social criticisms here are totally out of date for European societies, even for the Portuguese!, so that's a card out of the deck.The kind of gimmick Funés uses are also no longer so watchable. Physical acting has evolved to play with the body as an object (Jim Carey type) more than with the placing of the characters in a funny situation, like here (Chaplin made both things).I do sympathize with his unlikable character. The witty policeman, despicable, over-protective about his girl (that's social commentary as well), caring for appearances. It's a matter of attitude, and Louis de Funés was a valuable performer.One thing is remarkable about this film and its context: St.Tropez. What is remarkable, besides beautiful beaches, and pleasant lifestyle, is how cinema was an important, even fundamental, piece of the publicity machinery the french created to promote the place. It starts with 'Et dieu crea la femme', and it goes through a number of other films, including this one. Here we even have a song about the village, obviously made to promote both the film and the place. So here (as with 'and god...') we have the key elements that were important to highlight: beach, sand, summer-mood, boats, high life, open-minded relaxed living youth, attractive girls. The story exists to show off these elements. Well, you go today to St Tropez and compare it to what we have here in this film (and specially in 'and god..') and you have to admit they were successful in their campaign.My opinion: 3/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

What makes ,at least to these eyes,the first episodes of the gendarme saga worthwhile is the presence of his daughter ,played by the mischievous Geneviève Grad.When she left,after the third sequel,the other movies failed to excite me.Cruchot has been to transferred to Saint-Tropez and his daughter is overjoyed.She was probably sick and tired of singing canticles in the church of her one-horse town.In France it was ,like in the rest of the world the yeah yeah girls and the twistin' time.And Grad ,who was not a singer,is twisting and shouting a tune called "Saint-Tropez twist" and it goes like like that:"choobidoobidoobidoo Saint Tropez !Choobidoobidoobidoo Saint-Tropez!" But she wants to be part of the golden youth ,of the rich kids whose parents own yachts and desirable mansions on the Cöte d'Azur .It's not easy when you are a gendarme's daughter.And daddy will be led to adventures which will endanger his career because of his daughter's pretensions.All the elements which would make the series a blockbuster are present including the nun and her Deux-Chevaux .she probably has A Mickey mouse driving license.