Pierre "magic" Tchernia was a kind director who shot light and fun movies, "la Belle Américaine", "le Viager", "la Gueule de l'Autre", "Bonjour l'Angoisse". He also did so much entertaining works for television, like "Monsieur Cinema", a must helping people to love cinema. He was a nice entertainer.
"les Gaspards" is one of my favorite french movies, with a theme that is still current : the destruction of old picturesque districts (castles, mansions) to build awful towers or buildings. I just love Michel Serrault and Philippe Noiret characters living in the past, fighting against the destruction of french patrimoine which is more current nowadays than ever. At the time of "les Gaspards", the wheelers-dealers destructed old stations from XIXth century, castles, mansions to build a concrete jungle. Philippe Noiret's Gaspard lives in an incredible underworld and anarchic city struggling against nasty urban delopment, and it is a constant visual pleasure all through the movie. And what a casting, from Charles Denner (terrific as the nasty Minister of Public Works) to Jean Carmet and Gérard Depardieu (yet drinking red wine together).
