Jo (1971)

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... See full summary »

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:

pavilion | police inspector | couple | corpse | blackmail | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Quotes

Inspecteur Ducros: What's wrong?
Antoine Brisebard: I'm going to be a daddy!
Inspecteur Ducros: When is it due?
Antoine Brisebard: I don't know, 6 months, 12 months... we're not in a hurry.

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Connections

Remake of The Gazebo (1959)

User Reviews

Great fun in the first half and boring mess by the end

Among other movies with de Funes, this might be the funniest. However, it has one drawback, typical for many french comedies. Very intensive from the very beginning, the fun and humor reach the highest point at about the middle of the movie, and after the 2/3 of it you suddenly realize that you're fed up with it, the rest seems rather stupid than funny. One woman appears every fifteen minutes with a glass of wine in her hand, another one appears every 20 minutes, laughing like a peacock. But de Funes, I have to say, never becomes boring thanks to his great talent.

In points, 8. Although the first half might get 10.

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