Hold-Up (1985)

Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the police with his strange behavior, he calmly ... See full summary »

Director:

Alexandre Arcady

Writers:

Alexandre Arcady, Jay Cronley (novel)

Stars:

Jean-Paul Belmondo, Kim Cattrall, Guy Marchand

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Grimm
Kim Cattrall	...	Lise
Guy Marchand	...	Georges
Jean-Pierre Marielle	...	Simon Labrosse
Jacques Villeret	...	Jeremie (Chauffeur de Taxi)
Jean-Claude de Goros	...	Inspecteur Fox
Tex Konig	...	Lasky
Raymond Aquilon	...	Frankie (Le Gardien)
Georges Carrère	...	Directeur de Banque
Yvan Ponton	...	Tremplin
Guy Provost	...	Le Maire
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge	...	Enfant au Lapin
Richard Niquette	...	Otage (4 Enfants)
Yves Jacques	...	Otage 400 S
Sophie Stanke	...	Infirmiere

Storyline

Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the police with his strange behavior, he calmly manages to rid the bank of a fortune. But then an unsatisfied companion arouses trouble...

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Plot Keywords:

bank robbery | ex convict | female hostage | hostage | clown | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Details

Country:

France Canada

Language:

English French

Release Date:

23 October 1985 (France)

Also Known As:

Bezva finta

Filming Locations:

Place d'Youville, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cerito Films, Cinévidéo, Les Films Ariane

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 100 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

16th highest grossing movie of its year in France.

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Goofs

The airline operating the flight from Montreal to Paris is first shown as the fictional "TA" airline, as seen on the ticket folders or air sickness bag held by some characters and on the display board above the gate (which shows the flight number as "TA 403"). However, a P.A. announcement repeatedly refers to the same flight as "Air Canada flight 403". The airport scene concludes with the captain's announcement welcoming passengers aboard Air Canada followed by shots of an Air Canada Boeing 747 taking off.

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Connections

References La Strada (1954)

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Soundtracks

Motel Blues
Written and Performed by Serge Franklin Et Son Ensemble

User Reviews

HOLD-UP (Alexandre Arcady, 1985) **1/2

This is an earlier French film version of Bill Murray's QUICK CHANGE (1988) which was here adapted by distinguished screenwriter Francis Veber (its American appeal extends to the attractive Montreal locations and a title song in English!). Jean-Paul Belmondo, at 52, is pretty wacky as the bank robber-dressed-as-clown. The supporting cast is not very well-known but the main characters (Belmondo's meek partner, his police nemesis and his disgruntled ex-cellmate) are all played with gusto; also featured in the film as the love interest (of sorts) is future Hollywood starlet Kim Cattrall.

Having only read a negative review of it on the "Films De France" website, I found the film to be quite engaging overall with a surprisingly consistent first half; it does peter out eventually but is enlivened again in its latter stages by the appearance of the fat cab driver (Jacques Villeret). Alexandre Arcady is a new name for me but his half-hour interview on the R2 DVD supplements is fairly interesting (albeit if only in French) as he says that Belmondo violently bumped his head while performing one of the film's stunts himself; also worth watching was the featurette seeing celebrated stunt co-ordinator Remy Julienne rehearsing the scene in which Belmondo's car breaks into another bank through the front glass facade.