Yves Allégret was once a very good director :"manèges " ranks among the best French films noirs of all time ; "Dédée D'Anvers " "nez de cuir" " les orgueilleux" and "une si jolie petite plage " are fifties gems. In the sixties,all his talent had melt away .For instance ,his "germinal " did not do Zola justice .
A spoof on the gangsters movies of the sixties, its follow_up , "Johnny Banco", completely falls flat ; no Audiard is at hand to write lines which hit home ; the cast is absurd : in spîte of their undeniable talent , Horst Buchholz and Elisabeth Wiener are not comic thespians ;as for Sylva Koscina,she contents herself with changing wigs every five minutes. Poor screenplay.
