Biyograficim
Eğlenceli Günler

Le Gendarme en balade

Movie · 1970 · 3 people

Jean Girault directed the French-Italian crime comedy Le Gendarme en balade (shown in Turkey as Eğlenceli Günler, and in English also as The Gendarme Takes Off). It first opened in France on 28 October 1970. It is the fourth film in the Gendarme of Saint-Tropez series, in which Louis de Funès plays Ludovic Cruchot, and two more films would follow. It runs about 100 minutes.

Cruchot and the Saint-Tropez brigade are pushed into early retirement against their will. They put their old uniforms back on, illegally, and revisit the scenes of their past adventures to jog the memory of their amnesiac colleague Fougasse. Michel Galabru plays Gerber, the brigade's senior man; Jean Lefebvre, Christian Marin and the double act Grosso and Modo play the rest of the squad, and Claude Gensac is Cruchot's wife Josépha. France Rumilly turns up again as a nun.

It is the last film in which the brigade appears in this line-up. Despite poor reviews it sold about 4.8 million tickets in France, well below its predecessors. De Funès won the Courteline Prize for this film and L'Homme orchestre. The series resumed with Le Gendarme et les extra-terrestres in 1979 and ended with Le Gendarme et les gendarmettes in 1982.

DirectorJean Girault

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Michel Galabru Michel Galabru Film actor · died at 93 Dominique Zardi Actor · died at 79 Henri Attal Henri Attal Actor · died at 67

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Through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

Louis de Funès as gendarme Cruchot has always been a safe pick for family viewing. In this fourth film the squad is pushed into early retirement, puts its old uniforms back on and tries to help Fougasse, their friend who has lost his memory. The premise is innocent, and kids will get the jokes easily. It runs about 100 minutes. If you liked the earlier ones you'll enjoy this too; newcomers may be better off starting with the first film.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

It's billed as a crime comedy, but to me the crime part is thin. The squad gets forced into early retirement and illegally puts the uniforms back on, which is a fun idea. Most of the story, though, is about revisiting the places where their old adventures happened, so don't expect a serious threat or an exciting chase. What keeps the pace going is De Funès's energy. If you're not already a fan of the series, it may feel a bit slow.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The fourth instalment of the Gendarme of Saint-Tropez series runs Jean Girault's familiar formula once more: Louis de Funès's explosive expressions and scenes built on the squad's collective blunders. Retirement and memory loss are a good starting point that could have let the series look back on its own past; instead the film mostly turns it into a string of sketches. That it still sold about 4.8 million tickets in France, despite poor reviews and trailing its predecessors, shows both the fatigue and the audience's loyalty. The superior-and-subordinate dynamic between Michel Galabru's Gerber and De Funès still works. As the last film to show the brigade in this line-up, it holds a place of its own in the series.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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