Coup du parapluie, Le (1980)

Director:

Gérard Oury

Writers:

Gérard Oury (writer) &
Danièle Thompson (writer)

Release Date:

8 October 1980 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Role Reversal | Birthday Party | Hitman | Umbrella

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Pierre Richard	...	Grégoire Lecomte
Valérie Mairesse	...	Sylvette dite Bunny
Christine Murillo	...	Josyane Leblanc
Gordon Mitchell	...	Moskovitz
Gérard Jugnot	...	Frédo
Maurice Risch	...	Le producteur de Paris
Dominique Lavanant	...	Mireille
Axelle Abbadie
Yaseen Khan	...	Radj Kahn
Didier Sauvegrain	...	Stanislas Lefort dit 'La Folle'
Mike Marshall	...	Le docteur
Roger Carel	...	Salvatore Bozzoni
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Don Barberini
Gert Fröbe	...	Otto Krampe dit La baleine
Patrick Lecocq	...	Le journaliste télé

Also Known As:

Coup du Parapluie Bulgare, Le (France) (working title)
Umbrella Coup (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:98 min | Argentina:95 min | Germany:95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont

Trivia:

Some of the secondary music (like the theme we hear in the answer-phone, or the one we hear on the radio) are taken from Grand blond avec une chaussure noire, Le (1972).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the latter part of the movie, when the car is leaving the airport car park, there is a van in the background with a poster on it which says "Gerard Oury et Pierre Richard en 'Le coup du parapluie".

Movie Connections:

References City Lights (1931)

Dull

Gérard Oury gave us so many successful films over two decades that it's a bit unusual to see a real flop. I don't know what the proceeds were for this one, but it has a lack of rhythm and loose plotting that suggest failure at the box office.

To begin with, the casting: when you can unite Bourvil and de Funès (La grande vadrouille), or Montand and de Funès (La folie des grandeurs), then Pierre Richard and Gérard Jugnot are going to seem small beer in comparison. And the story, so lacking in real tension and pace: an actor has a meeting with a producer, but goes in the wrong door, ends up working for the mob... Haven't we seen this kind of story before?

It's enough to say that Gordon Mitchell has a splendid granite face as the hit-man, and Christine Murillo is very sexy (what happened to her?).