As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the death of the French actor, La Dépêche offers its readers a short selection of his films which have marked several generations of French people.
On January 27, 1983, the movie theater French has lost one of the figures who will have marked the French culture of the 20th century. That day was fading away Louis de Funes, a major actor who has played in more than 150 films, some of which have marked the French forever. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death, La Dépêche du Midi offers you a short and very subjective selection of his most outstanding feature films (Yes, some essentials are missing…). An emphasis on his film production which does not sum up the entire career of the brilliant actor, who was also a talented theater actor.
The most viewed film: “La Grande Vadrouille” (1966)
It took 32 years, and Titanic in 1998, for Gérard Oury’s film to lose its title of “most seen film at the cinema in France” with 17 million admissions from 1966 to 1975. L’Odyssée de Bourvil et Louis de Funès through occupied France in 1942 made the French laugh and continues to make the French laugh on each television broadcast.
The most risky film: “Rabbi Jacob” (1973)
The film where Rabbi Jacob plays a Jewish rabbi was released on October 18, 1973 … barely a week following the start of the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab States. Pro-Palestinian Danielle Cravenne, wife of the film’s promoter Georges Cravenne, goes so far as to hijack a Boeing 727 the day of its release and threatens to destroy it if the film is not banned. She was finally shot down when landing in Marignane.
The film with the most sequels: “The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez” (1964)
“The Gendarme in New York”, “The Gendarme gets married”, “The Gendarme on a walk”, “The Gendarme and the Extraterrestrials”, “The Gendarme and the Gendarmettes”… By playing in The Gendarme in Saint- Tropez in 1964, Louis de Funès probably did not expect to launch a franchise with five sequels. the Constable Cinematic Universe will end at the same time as the actor’s career with “Le Gendarme et les Gendarmettes”, released 4 months before the death of Louis de Funès. A film that remains one of his most “nanars”.
The whistleblower film: “The Wing or the Thigh” (1976)
Louis de Funès attacks, always with humour, a then emerging problem: junk food. The character of the industrialist Jacques Tricatel, once morest whom the gastronome played by Louis de Funès fights, is an unofficial parody of Jacques Borel, who introduced hamburgers and roadhouses in France.
The most Soviet film: “Fantômas” (1964)
If the actor has never had success in Anglo-Saxon countries, except with Rabbi Jacob, Fantômas has had great success abroad, in… the USSR, with 45 million admissions, ten times more just in France. A renewed triumph in the country of the Soviets for its two sequels and made possible by the fact that the film parodies bourgeois society.
As a gift, here is the trailer for Fantômas unleashed (1965) with the Russian dubbing:
The most classic film: “Madness of Grandeur” (1971)
This free adaptation of “Ruy Blas”, a play by Victor Hugo, takes place in 17th century Spain. Gérard Oury intends to bring together de Funès and Bourvil once more. Except that the latter died before filming in 1970. On the advice of Simone Signoret, the director chose Yves Montand to replace his missing friend. Everything seems to oppose de Funès and Montand, but the alchemy works. And the filming, which takes place in almost inaccessible places in the still Francoist Spain, is as studious as it is festive. The film convinced both the public and the critics when it was released in 1971. The scene of “Il est l’or monseignor” remains in the annals of French comedies.
The most “cinéphile” film: “La Traversée de Paris” (1956)
One of Louis de Funès’ regrets is not having played tragic characters, leaving only the memory of a comic actor, even caricature. “The crossing of Paris”, even if he occupies the second role of the grocer Jambier, is nevertheless a dramatic comedy. In this film adored by many cinephiles, directed in 1956 by Claude Autant-Lara, de Funès exposes his comic genius, and cynical, and his role and the scene of the vociferations of Jean Gabin in the cellar of the grocery store remains in all the memoirs.
