La classe américaine

He's name is George Abitbol (John Wayne). He's the man "le plus classe du monde", got an award of having the best class (so it is the reason of the titles : la classe américaine). But someone seems to have assassinate him. 3 journalists are charged to explain his last words : "Monde de merde" ("shit world", that's my translation but maybe there is another sentence which is better) : Dave (Paul Newman), Peter (Dustin Hoffman), Steven (Robert Redford). They will interview every friends or enemies of George until...

A must-see, if you find it keep it as long as you can!

This movie has been made under the license of Warner Bros., it was broadcasted 2 or 3 times on french TV in 1993. Warner Bros. probably scared of being sued by the actors of the film didn't allow the movie to be broadcasted anymore, it is for now only available on the net...

This movie could be considered as the lost "Les Nuls" movie, for they dubbed some of the characters. Also, it contains the same humour as in their own movie, "La Cité de la Peur". It's a remake of Citizen Kane, but more comedy-like (much more!) This film gathers the most famous casting ever. But they didn't play in this movie, it's just a french-dubbed archive footage, and French viewers will recognize the official voices of all actors.

The plot appears to be nonsense : George dies because of an accident caused by a storm, but apparently someone tried to kill him ; Orson Welles interrupts the story to complain about plagiarism then get shot. But it doesn't really matter : You just have to enjoy the funny scenes one after another. The very humour of this film comes from the french script. Could you imagine Henry Fonda say "it's easy to call people gay because two men live together in a ranch and they wear leather trousers"? Well, it happened.

The montage of this movie is so perfect it should be serve as a reference for any cinema student. I can't imagine how long it took to the directors to write the script, select the scenes, rewrite the script, reselect the scenes again and again...The dubbing work is just amazing too. I showed the movie to some Spanish friends, and even though they do not speak a French word, they were nearly as much dumbstruck as I was! Obviously, it's no surprise acting is nearly perfect given the prestigious cast (the best ever?).

Oh, and don't forget to watch the movie several times. They are a lot of funny and subtle tricks in there.

For French people and well-understanding French speaking people an absolute must see !

As said in the comment's title, I wonder why it's not well/better known...

Why not, really ?

It's hilarious, delirious, and with some quiet inoffensive slang...

So that any grown-up person who is a movies lover could almost laugh all along the movie.

The French dialogue fits completely to the expressive attitude of the actors,

with even the lips movements which could make us think it is not an invented one, but the real original English lines...

With plenty ironic light trashy permutations of the original English dialogues and meaning of the scenes.

Without knowing the movies in which the different parts have been taken and assembled,

for sure the fun can't be the same... :-(

I define myself as a wide-open movie lover, from classic to martial arts (except horror :-),

and especially comedies but I never heard about this fantastic one before yesterday,

as someone mentioned it on a computer info's sharing site, to my great surprise.

Read straight afterward the excellent reviews here on the site...

Could find it and watched it in the evening...

What a pleasure ! So many laughs ! Just perfect !

For comedy lovers : a must see !!!

Unfortunately and for once the Anglo-American speaking audience will miss this one... :-)

*** a film is never really good unless the camera is an eyes in the head of a poet Orson Welles ***

This movie is just too funny. If you speak French, watch it. The story is not important, don't pay attention to it. You've got to listen carefully to the dialogue, and you will understand what comedy is.

"On va manger des chips!!!"