Rémy Julienne

(On TV, April 2020) I’ve waited thirty years to see the end of La grande vadrouille. True story—As a boy, Radio Canada ran a weekly marathon of Louis de Funès movies for a few months, and if my memory is correct, La grande vadrouille hit around Christmastime. This meant that I could keep watching as long as I wanted to…, which ended up not being enough to get to the end of this fairly long film. I distinctly remember the “hopping on chairs” sequence, and then nothing, as I was tired enough to go to sleep. Well, here goes one full viewing of this big-budget epic comedy. Two leading French comics of the time, Bourvil and Louis de Funès (not one of parents’ favourite comic actors back then — “too annoying,” they said, which is perfectly understandable in hindsight), co-star as WW2 French civilians who find themselves helping an RAF aviator get back to safe territory. (Terry-Thomas also stars as one of the British aviators.) La grande vadrouille was designed as a blockbuster and succeeded as such: For thirty years, the film remained the French box office’s most successful film. The difference in characters and comic style between the two leads is interesting (the film does get to play on a number of comic registers, which varies the comedy), and it seldom stops moving until the end. In order to make the WW2 material approachable, the film is entirely bloodless—even the Germans are only slightly threatening and nothing more. Fortunately, director Gérard Oury knows how to handle the comic talents involved—this was his second film with this lead duo, and there’s a feeling that everyone involved knows what they’re doing. Of special note are the car stunts, all handled (of course) by Rémy Julienne’s team. Slick, dynamic, immensely detailed and crowd-pleasing to the utmost, La grande vadrouille definitely was worth my three-decade wait to see the end.