Jo (1971)

A man wasn't sure to takes a famous chair, because he affects resulting to English soldier and who tried to rape her.

Director:

Jean Girault

Writers:

Alec Coppel (play), Myra Coppel (play)

Stars:

Louis de Funès, Claude Gensac, Michel Galabru

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Louis de Funès	...	Antoine Brisebard
Claude Gensac	...	Sylvie Brisebard
Michel Galabru	...	Tonelotti l'entrepreneur
Bernard Blier	...	Inspecteur Ducros
Guy Tréjan	...	Maître Adrien Colas
Ferdy Mayne	...	Mister Grunder
Yvonne Clech	...	Cécile Grunder
Florence Blot	...	Madame Cramusel
Micheline Luccioni	...	Françoise
Christiane Muller	...	Mathilde la bonne
Paul Préboist	...	L'adjudant de gendarmerie
Jacques Marin	...	Andrieux
Jean Valmence	...	Le représentant
Carlo Nell	...	Plumerel
Dominique Zardi	...	Le Duc

Storyline

Antoine Brisebard, a famous comedy playwright, is struggling with financial difficulties and is preparing to sell his country villa to an English couple. What no one knows, however, is that Brisebard is actually a victim of blackmail since his wife Sylvie, a famous actress, is the daughter of a notorious robber-murderer. His extortionist is a malevolent criminal only known as Jo, who visits him often to pick up his hush money. But faced with certain ruin, Brisebard is preparing to do away with Jo once and for all, planning his deed under the guise of him trying to write the script for a crime play and consulting his friend, attorney Colas, for ideas of how to efficiently get rid of the body. He finally takes up the offer of one Tonelotti to erect a garden pavillon, whose foundation would provide the ideal hiding place for the corpse. On the night Jo is scheduled to arrive for his next payment, Brisebard awaits the arrival with a gun but is not able to pull the trigger, drops the gun ...

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Plot Keywords:

couple | corpse | blackmail | hidden corpse | excuse | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

1 September 1971 (France)

Also Known As:

Jo

Company Credits

Production Co:

Trianon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 79 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second adaptation of the play by Alec Coppel and Myra Coppel.

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Connections

Remake of The Gazebo (1959)

User Reviews

A rare masterpiece absolutely unavailable on VHS or DVD

This screwball comedy of the early seventies has everything you might expect of a Louis de Funès movie: over-the-top acting (no wonder Louis had cardiac problems later on...). It can be described in one sentence by Inspecteur Ducros (Bernard Blier): "Is this a train station?". In fact, people are coming from all places, run through the house, frantically doing something like putting up a garden gazebo, demonstrating a (non-working) fire-extinguisher, doing police investigations, having a matrimonial crisis, laughing like a mad dog (the maid), doing the real-estate business and so on.

Inludes appearances by Ferdie Mayne (Mister Grunder), the notorious Count von Krolock in Roman Polanski's 1967 Dracula spoof "The Fearless Vampire Killers".

"Jo" is definitely a movie for de Funès fans as much as for those who just love to watch a fast-paced thriller-comedy. It is a shame that this gem is not yet available on DVD or VHS tape, not even in France. Since MGM seems to hold the rights one might ask why so.