The big show-off
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The big show-off |
| Original title | Le grand escogriffe |
| Country of production |
France Italy |
| original language |
French Italian English |
| Publishing year | 1976 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Claude Pinoteau |
| script |
Michel Audiard Jean Herman Claude Pinoteau |
| music | Georges Delerue |
| camera | Jean Collomb |
| cut |
Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte Fedora Zincone |
| occupation | |
| |
The big show-off is a Franco-Italian comedy film by Claude Pinoteau from the year 1976. In the Federal Republic it ran under the title A big and a small crook on television.
action
Ari has withdrawn from the petty crime business for some time and now runs a bus company in Nice with which he offers travel. One month before his probationary period expires, his former partner Morland suddenly appears before him and tries to persuade him to try another coup. Ari tries in vain to flee from Morland, since he doesn't want to be involved in any more crooked business, especially since Morland's plans usually go wrong. At the airport, Morland matches the fugitive and with a little blackmail - Ari had failed to register in Nice, which he has to do as a criminal on probation - to take part in his supposedly last coup. Both of them pick up the young actress Amandine in Genoa, who Morland met some time ago. She is supposed to play a young mother in the coup, while Ari is supposed to represent her husband. Only now do they both find out what Morland is planning: He wants to kidnap the baby of the oil magnate Rifai, Selim, or exchange it for another child. The ransom so planned would make all three rich people.
In order to be able to carry out the plan, the trio borrows the toddler Alberto, who is a model child, from the seedy Tony. It doesn't scream and is extremely clean. Amandine immediately takes Alberto into her heart and moves into a small apartment in Rome with him, Ari and Morland. Although Morland claims that Selim and Alberto look very similar, Selim turns out to be blond-haired when exchanging in the park. Otherwise, he has little in common with the easy-care Alberto and with his screaming fits soon brings the entire trio off the beaten track. After a brief irritation, Rifai is also impressed by Alberto and no longer wants to exchange him for Selim, for whom he has never had a fatherly feeling anyway.
While Morland continues to claim to Ari and Amandine that everything is going according to plan, Ari soon finds out that the trio will not get any money. Ari and Amandine are outraged, especially since Amandine wanted to buy little Alberto from Tony. Morland flees initially, as he always does when his plans go wrong, but then changes his tactics. He goes to Rifai to blackmail him with his lack of fatherhood and the possible reaction of the press to it. Without his knowledge, Amandine manages to take Alberto, who is slipping away from his nanny in the park of Rifai's villa. The loss of Alberto is brought to Rifai in Morland's presence. He believes it is all part of a nifty plan and is now about to pay the ransom. Since Ari, at Amandine's instigation, has Selim brought back to Rifai before Morland disappears with the ransom, this plan also goes wrong and Morland is happy to have got away with his life in the end. He still sees the good thing about his plan: He brought Ari and Amandine together. Both also bought the orphan Alberto, who now has parents. While Ari and Amandine travel back to Nice, Morland strolls through Rome with the last of his money and soon meets disoriented Texans whom he wants to take for their money next.
production
The big show-off is based on the novel Der Schnapp by Rennie Airth . The film was shot in Rome, among other places. It was released in French cinemas on December 1, 1976 and was seen by 708,219 visitors. The big show-off was shown in GDR cinemas on September 12, 1980 and was shown on GDR 1 on April 27, 1983 on GDR television. In the Federal Republic he was first seen on October 9, 1982 on ZDF.
criticism
For the film service , Der große Angeber was “an amusing comedy with outstanding performance, staged with playful ease in the style of a modern commedia dell'arte ”. “Not a big thing, but played lively,” said Cinema .
Awards
In 1977, Claude Brasseur was awarded a César for Best Supporting Actor for The Great Show-Off and An Elephant Is Wrong . Georges Delerue received a César nomination in the category of best film music .
Web links
- The big show-off in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The big show-off in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Le grand escogriffe on allocine.fr
- ↑ The great show-off. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ See award 1977 on academie-cinema.org