Well Deserved Praise

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

In a foreword by Georges Lautner, the director of the movie, he explains that he always alternated serious and comedy movies. La Grande Sauterelle is a follow up of Galia a drama which Lautner directed in 1966, the same year as an other comedy, "Ne nous fâchons pas". In 1967 he decided to return to more serious scenario and what makes the charm of the movie is the great sensitivity which surrounds the whole movie and the dialogs especially Francis Blanche which is playing a small part here. The crime aspect of the movie is not important. It's here to show how two very different human beings can suddenly become related to one another to the point to change the course of the life of one of them. Hardy Kruger and Mireille Darc are perfectly matched in the movie, not only because of their handsomeness but also because through their rather limited dialogs they are capable of transmitting to the viewer the emotions and thoughts of a whole generation at a moment when a profound change in the perception of life was going to happen or even was happening. Of course today younger generations cannot perceive what was at stake in those years and the film can only be fully appreciated by people who were reaching their adult life at that time, who were part of those changes. The film is also served by the great dialogs of Lautner's accomplice, Michel Audiard. Only fluent French speaking spectators can really appreciate the movie because those dialogs are untranslatable and no subtitles will ever succeed to give their flavor.

The bottom line of 'La grande sauterelle' (= French for 'the big jumping-girl') is criminality. However, this is never put on heavily, and in fact only & cleverly serves to provide some coherence to this film's main theme: adventure-seeking, chasing unchained freedom, chasing the liberty to do whatever one pleases to do. Which was pretty fashionable in 1967, the year 'La grande sauterelle' was issued.The attraction of the plot is favored considerably by its setting in Lebanon. Now don't go wrong in expecting some hippie adventure: 'La grande sauterelle' is located in expensive Lebanese hotels, tourist resorts and casino's. Pot, drugs and local Arab scenes aren't on the menu.The big jumping girl, who carefully avoids any dullness and routine, is credibly performed by Mireille Darc. However, Darc's male partner, German-looking Hardy Kruger, makes a less happy choice. Kruger surely acts well, but differs too much in character to make a convincing match.