Le Grand restaurant
1966 Comedy / Thriller
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Summary
Monsieur Septime is the pompous manager of a chic Parisian restaurant on the Champs-Elysées,
feared by his staff but loathed by his temperamental head chef. When a South
American president is kidnapped one evening during a dinner at his restaurant, Septime’s
life takes a dramatic turn. The police concoct a scheme to draw the kidnappers out
into the open, using Septime as bait. Unfortunately, the terrorists who had planned
the kidnap are just as oblivious to the president’s whereabouts and see Septime as their
enemy. Pursued by ruthless terrorists and scheming police, Septime's days look well
and truly numbered...
Review
Le Grand restaurant is an entertaining and lively action comedy starring popular
French comic actor Louis de Funès. The film comes from de Funès’ “golden
period”, which includes La Grande Vadrouille (1966) and the Fantômas
and Gendarme series. Although the plot and dialogue are less satisfactory
than some of de Funès’ other films, the great comic actor is on fine form and gives
one of his most enjoyable performances. Here, he stars with Bernard Blier, another
great actor who is renowned for playing the tough straight man in a vast range of comic
films.
The film begins as a typical French burlesque comedy and ends as a shameless parody of the action thriller. The action stunts in the latter half of the film are well realised, with a mad-cap car chase in the Alps which even James Bond would find hard to out-do. The film’s most memorable sequence, however, is the side-splitting scene where de Funès attempts to instil some poise and discipline into his team of waiters – a dainty drawing room ballet which ends in a frenzied Russian dance. © James Travers 2002 Write a review for this film... |
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