Boulevard du rhum (1971)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Robert Enrico

Writers:

Robert Enrico (writer)
Jacques Pecheral (novel)

Release Date:

April 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

In the prohibition years, the 'rumrunners' travel through the Caribbean Sea with the forbidden liquor barely escaping the ship patrols...

Plot Keywords:

Bootlegger | Beautiful Woman | 1920s | Based On Novel

Cast

Lino Ventura	...	Cornelius von Zeelinga
Brigitte Bardot	...	Linda Larue
Bill Travers	...	Sanderson
Clive Revill	...	Lord Hammond
La Polaca	...	Catharina
Jess Hahn	...	Piet aka "Big Dutch"
Antonio Casas	...	Wilkinson
Andréas Voutsinas	...	Alvarez
Guy Marchand	...	Ronald / The Actor
Jack Betts	...	Renner (as Hunt Powers)
Roger Jacquet	...	Loisel
Marc Eyraud	...	Le toubib
Stéphane Fey	...	Searle
Joe Turner	...	Mac Allistair
Robert Lombard	...	Remus

Also Known As:

El bulevar del ron (Spain)
La via del rhum (Italy)
Rum Runners (USA)

Runtime:

135 min | France:120 min | Spain:120 min

Country:

France | Italy | Spain

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Films Internacionales (FISA)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Avanti! (1972)

An entertaining movie with some beautifully evocative scenes

"Boulevard du Rhum" is the pleasant, entertaining story of Captain Cornelius (Lino Ventura), a rum-smuggler of the Caribbean Sea during the prohibition in the States. Along his many adventures, he falls in love with the silent-movie actress Linda Larue (Brigitte Bardot), just seeing her on the screen. Afterwards he meets her in flesh. A turbulent love-story follows...

Lino Ventura is a great actor in every role. Brigitte Bardot is gorgeous and tremendously sexy, as always. She can act, too, but that's not so relevant. Unfortunately, she has her eyebrows shaven, an awful fashion of the 60's, which partially affected BB's beauty along the second part of her career.

The photography is good and the sceneries of the Gulf of Mexico are magnificent, as expected. To show pieces of the silent movies interpreted by Linda Larue is by far the best idea in "Boulevard du Rhum". These funny silent flicks all share a delightful sexy aura, gently mocking the erotic taste of that epoch. You know, Linda Larue has always the role of a half-naked sort-of-queen of some savage tribe. And she is last-minute-rescued when, bounded in chains, she is going to be sacrificed to some ferocious beast...

However, it is to be pointed out that the film is definitely too long, and some episodes are just boring or clumsy, in particular the stuff concerned with the English Lord.

But in any case one must wait for the final scene. With the accompaniment of the song "Desir d'amour", it is incredibly romantic, evocative and poignant, without leaving off a touch of gentle sense of humour. This single scene might be enough to recommend to see "Boulevard du Rhum" (don't forget Brigitte's sex-appeal, though).