An adventure action movie written by prestigious Michael Audiard, being heavily influenced by the American Warfare films, including thrills , explosion , entertainment and a lot of fun . A successful French film that was the fifth highest grossing movie of the year 1984 . April 5, 1943 : a battalion of the Foreign Legion commanded by a Brigade (Michel Constantine) arrives in El Ksour, Tunisia , to escort a fortune in gold bars to the home front. Thanks to roguish but brave Sergeant Augagneur (Jean Paul Belmondo who produced too) and other Legionnaires successfully counter attack against a German ambush and they take shelter at a bank. Later on, there appears the bank manager (Francois Perriot) and his seductive wife (Marie Laforet) , and so does a German lieutenant (Matthias Habich) , whom the French arrest . Then, Sergeant Augagneur wants to rob the gold, while warrant officer Mahuzard wishes to go on his line of military duty . Meantime , the team dwindles little by little , and eventually the gold heads south toward Betahoua.
A funny and amusing WWII satire set in 1943 in Tunisia, in which an unit of the French Foreign Legion fights the Germans over possession of a bank treasure in gold bars , being shot in similar plot to Brian G. Hutton's ¨Kelly's heroes¨ style . Along the way , a series of twists and turns take place with alliances form and break apart . Fun farce film packing noisy action , entertainment , and lots of humor with tongue in cheek . A hectic , extravagant warlike action movie with plenty of blow-up , betrayals , adventure, tanks and hilarious situations . The picture benefis itself from the two main actors , the always sympathetic Jean Paul Belmondo and the gorgeous though mature Marie Laforet . Here Jean Paul Belmondo is an out-of-luck Sergeant legionnaire who chases women and covets the bank's treasury . While Marie Laforet is a wealthy wife with ambition and damsel in distress, at times . And other secondaries giving agreeable and likeable interpretations, such as : Jacques Villeret, Michel Constantin , Francois Perriot, Michel Creton, and the German Matthias Habich.
The picture contains an attractive score by maestro Georges Delerue. As well sd colorful and evocative cinematography by Edmund Secham, shot on location in Tunisia and Paris studios, France. The motion picture was professionally directed by Henry Verneuil. He was a Turkish director working in France from the 40s. Although not a director of great reputation among the critics , his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market . Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan (68)¨ also with Gabin and Delon , ¨The burglars (1971)¨ with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨and ¨The 25th hour¨and only one Western : "Guns of San Sebastian (68)¨. He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : "Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable . A must see for Jean Paul Belmondo fans .
