Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez (1964)

Director:

Jean Girault

Writers:

Richard Balducci (original story)
Jacques Vilfrid (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

9 September 1964 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Beguiling BATHING BEAUTIES will give you a load of laughs!

Plot:

The ambitious police officer Cruchot is transferred to St. Tropez. He's struggling with persistent nude swimmers...

Plot Keywords:

Yacht | Police | Cote D'azur | Nun | Cult Comedy

Cast

Louis de Funès	...	Maréchal des logis-chef Ludovic Cruchot
Geneviève Grad	...	Nicole Cruchot
Michel Galabru	...	Adjudant Jérôme Gerber
Daniel Cauchy	...	Richard
Madeleine Delavaivre	...	Une estivante / woman on holiday
Maria Pacôme	...	Mme Lareine Leroy
Claude Piéplu	...	Boisselier (as Claude Pieplu)
Gabriele Tinti	...	Gangster chauffeur (as Gabriele Tini)
Michelle Wargnier		(as Michele Wargnier)
Christian Marin	...	Maréchal des Logis Albert Merlot
Jean Lefebvre	...	Maréchal des Logis Lucien Fougasse
Jean-Pierre Bertrand	...	Eddie
Sylvie Bréal	...	Jessica (as Sylvie Breal)
Martine de Breteuil	...	La duchesse d'Armantière
Evelyne Céry		(as Evelyne Cery)
Jean Droze	...	Lucas - le matelot du yacht
Norma Dugo
Jacques Famery	...	Prince
Patrice Laffont	...	Jean-Luc
Guy Grosso	...	Maréchal des Logis Tricard
Maurice Jacquin
Claudia Lebail
Michel Modo	...	Maréchal des Logis Berlicot
Giuseppe Porelli	...	Harper aka Ferguson
Nicole Vervil	...	Mme Gerber
Franck Vilcour	...	Christophe Boisselier (as Frank Vilcour)
Fernand Sardou	...	Le paysan
France Rumilly	...	Soeur Clotilde
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Henri Arius	...	(uncredited)
André Badin	...	(uncredited)
Pierre Barouh	...	Un gitan / gypsy (uncredited)
Paul Bisciglia	...	Le conseiller du prince (uncredited)
Sacha Briquet	...	Le marchand de vêtements sur le port de Saint-Tropez (uncredited)
Louis Massis	...	(uncredited)
Jean Panisse	...	Le cafetier (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Girault

Writing credits
Richard Balducci		(original story)
Jacques Vilfrid		(screenplay) &
Jean Girault		(screenplay)
Jacques Vilfrid		(adaptation) &
Jean Girault		(adaptation)
Jacques Vilfrid		(dialogue)

Produced by
Gérard Beytout	....	producer
René Pignières	....	producer (as René Pigneres)

Original Music by
Raymond Lefevre		(as Raymond Lefebvre)

Cinematography by
Marc Fossard

Film Editing by
Jean-Michel Gautier
Jean Feyte		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Sydney Bettex

Makeup Department
Anatole Paris	....	makeup artist
Marie-Madeleine Paris	....	assistant makeup artist (as Marie Madeleine Paris)

Production Management
Pierre Cottance	....	production manager
Rudy Jean Le Roy	....	unit manager (as Rudy Le Roy)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean Mylonas	....	assistant director
Marc Simenon	....	assistant director

Art Department
Clément Hurel	....	poster artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bernard Bourgoin	....	sound editor
Jacques Gallois	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Roger Delpuech	....	camera operator
Marcel Dolé	....	still photographer (as Marcel Dole)
René Schneider	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Françoise Bac	....	assistant editor
Annie Vital	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Christiane Vilfrid	....	script girl
Fanchette Brie	....	production secretary (uncredited)
Jean-François Laley	....	dubbing voice: Harper alias Ferguson (uncredited)
Pierre Trabaud	....	dubbing voice: Le gangster chauffeur (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC)
• Franca Films

Distributors

• Manga Films (2000) (Spain) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (as "De Gendarme van St. Tropez")

Other Companies

• Vachon  costumes

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Argentina:92 min | France:90 min | Germany:89 min | Germany:95 min (DVD version)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Spain:T | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Studios de la Victorine - 16 avenue Edoard Grinda, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Louis de Funès ou Le pouvoir de faire rire (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Douliou, douliou Saint-Tropez

Ludovic Cruchot and Jacques Clouseau

The first "Pink Panther" movie, directed by Blake Edwards, with Peter Sellers in the main role, came out in 1963. As practically everybody knows, it was a wonderful spoof of the French police as seen through British eyes. Although the exact relationships between the Pink Panther movies on the one side and the totally 6 "Le Gendarme De Saint-Tropez"-movies, directed by Jean Girault, has, as far as I know, never been revealed or scrutinized, the latter ones, starting in 1964, can surely be seen as an answer to make fun of the French provincial police by some people from Paris.

A short comparison between Sellers (who has been considered widely as the best comedian of all times) and De Funes (who never got really famous in the US despite the release of such movies like "Rabbi Jacob" and the VHS release of "La Grande Vadrouille"), De Funes' comic is devastatingly different from the one of Sellers. De Funes, who was a trained pantomimic, used this special capacity of his in most of his films, his being-a-comedian has elements of vaudeville - yet not in the sense of the Marx brothers, of slapstick - yet not in the sense of the early American silent movies, - of horseplay, yet without striving tastelessness or primitiveness. However, his comic is never intellectual, Funes could never have played Dr. Strangelove - as Seller could never have been Balduin or Oskar.

Nevertheless, the characters of Cruchot and Cluseau are closer than one would expect, yet still radically different in their basics. While Clouzeau never seems to be ridiculous when he hunts criminals, Cruchot does, because he is more interested in chicken-stealing than in felonies. How Cruchot treats his caught thieves, reveals that he is not to much different from them. On the other side, Clouseau is different from everybody, he would be too clumsy to associate with his "victims". Clouzeau is much more the French guy as he is seen by foreigners than Cruchot: Quiet, with a tendency to be elegant, womanizing, polite. But now quite the opposite is Cruchot: He walks around with his uniform even at home, he is loud, rude, slaps and hits and beats his "subservients", has mostly a daughter (in later "Gendarm"-sequels a wife), but does not come in flirting contact with any other women. He uses politeness and respect strictly to get to his purpose - as he uses otherwise rudeness and disrespect. However, both Cluseau and Cruchot are behaving strictly against police rules, but in their "anticyclic" behavior they reach the goal where probably everyone else would fail.

Louis De Funes has often being criticized for having played the allegedly primitive, but funny "Gendarm"-movies, after having been for decades a revered, but outside of France completely unnoticed stage actor. It is true that especially his work that he did with Gerard Oury belongs probably to the best that French comedy of the 60ies and 70ies had to offer, but without the "Gendarm"-movies he possibly would never have reached his enormous popularity. It is time that these 6 movies are edited for the international audience, too.