With free streamers, very often filled with unauthorised content, it's possible to view those films you've heard about but that aren't yet available on the more established services like Amazon Prime, and such was the case with Philippe De Broca's 1964 "That Man From Rio", a film I'd had my eye on for a while having heard that it was a prototype for the much later secret agent / Bond spoof "OSS 117" that similarly stretched to 3 films before the joke started to wear thin and ended what was a commercially successful series of films. My other reason for seeking the film out was to continue a trawl of films starring Jean Paul Belmondo, which in turn introduced me to the films of Philippe De Broca, a director I'd never heard of up to that point and who had a long-standing association with the actor following his break-out roles in Jean Luc Godard's "Breathless" and Jean Pierre-Melville's 1962 film, "Le Doulos", though for De Broca he exhibited his versatility for comedy and range outside of roles that could be described as being influenced by the "film noir" tropes popular with the so-called French New Wave directors, a good example being another recent discovery, a late entry from Francois Truffaut, "Mississipi Mermaid", (1969).
Philippe De Broca's 1964 "The Man From Rio" was a commercial success for both the director and lead actor and also effectively launched the brief (cut tragically short as a result of a car accident) international career of his female co-star, Françoise Dorléac, sister to Catherine Deneuve, the latter also being Belmondo's co-star in Truffaut's "Mississipi Mermaid".
"That Man From Rio" emerged at a time when international air travel was just becoming affordable and as such it makes good use of international locations, ranging from Paris to South America, to spin a very "Indiana Jones" style tale that consciously borrows many plot points from the hugely popular "TinTin" series of comics, with an added element of humour and a lightness of touch.
Indeed, Steven Spielberg has acknowledged the influence of the film on the franchise he co-created with George Lucas, along with the oft-quoted low-budget cliffhanger serials churned out by Hollywood during the pre and post-war period, and also inspired by both the successful James Bond franchise and Hergés TinTin.
The plot of "That Man From Rio" concerns 3 archeological artifacts in the form of identical Mayan idols, one of which is in a Paris museum and is stolen at the start of the film. Belmondo's character, a soldier on leave, becomes embroiled in an intrigue that takes him and Dorleac's character, the daughter of the archeologist who discovers the idol, from Paris to Central America and a climax located in the then partially built brutalist concrete expanses of "Brasilia" and a face-off with the film's villain, played by Italian actor Adolfo Celi - it's great fun and breathlessly paced, allowing Belmondo to exhibit his range as an actor besides an ability to perform some hair-raising physical stunts. Typically, I watched all three of De Broca's loose trilogy - since each film's common thread is the presence of Jean Paul Belmondo' - out of sequence, and next up was "Le Magnifique" (1973) (Amazon Prime) where Belmondo plays a down at heel writer of pulp detective fiction novels in the vein of James Bond, something only revealed later in the film after an absurdly over the top introduction to his fictional alter ego, the "Le Magnifique" of the title, a super spy who has no qualms about massacring hoards of assailants with a sub-machine gun while chomping on a cigar. This narrative conceit is peppered throughout the film as we alternately witness the writer in a grotty Paris apartment and his alter ego's adventures in various exotic and sunny locales. In this film he is paired with the bi-lingual British actress Jacqueline Bisset, who also plays a dual role as a love interest, alternating it between hamming it up with relish as an impossibly beautiful accomplice to "Le Magnifique", and playing a smart academic who occupies the apartment above that of Belmondo's writer. Belmondo plays the role of the writer with a hilarious goofyness, possibly inspired by Walter Mitty, as De Broca aims to subvert the spy film genre that had already pretty much run its course by the 1970's - this was, after all, the era of the more tongue-in-cheek Bond as portrayed by Roger Moore - and you can see how this aspect was mined further in the much later spy-spoof "OSS" films directed by Michel Hazanavicius. The film is very funny though it does test the limits of taste in ways that could make for uncomfortable viewing now, and it marks the end of a commercially successful series of films, perhaps because of that.
The third film I watched featuring Belmondo being dragged into yet another international intrigue is Philippe De Broca's 1965's "Up To His Ears" (French title, borrowed from a Jules Verne novel, is "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine") where he is paired with Ursula Andress. In this film he plays a rather morose heir to a fortune who makes several attempts at his own life due to boredom before going to Hong Kong in the hope of finding a cure. I found that this rather downbeat opening did slightly derail the comedic tone of the rest of the film, where the international locations feature China via India, but once it gets into it's stride it's clear that the film is a continuation of the freewheeling adventure format established in "That Man From Rio". However, in terms of pacing it's not as well constructed and felt overly long, besides sequences set in Nepal that suggest a lack of respect for the local culture. Additionally, Ursula Andress' role, playing a stripper in a seedy Hong Kong nightspot who becomes Belmondo's love interest, is cut short halfway through the film before it is picked up in the third act. I will say that the roles for Belmondo's female co-stars in all three films aren't simply stereotypical James Bond type sexual conquests and all three actresses play characters who are more than a match for Belmondo's in all three films.
End of Part #1 In Part #2 I review Francois Truffaut's 1969 film, "Mississipi Mermaid" that features Jean Paul Belmondo paired with Catherine Deneuve.
"That Man From Rio" Dir: Philippe De Broca, 1964
"Up To His Ears" Dir: Philippe De Broca, 1965
"Le Magnifique" Dir: Philippe De Broca, 1973 - Amazon Prime
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