The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
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| The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the US release |
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| Directed by | Gérard Oury |
| Produced by | Bertrand Javal |
| Starring | Louis de Funès (Victor Pivert) Suzy Delair (Germaine Pivert) Marcel Dalio (Rabbi Jacob) Claude Giraud Claude Piéplu Renzo Montagnani Henri Guybet Miou-Miou |
| Music by | Vladimir Cosma |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
| Editing by | Albert Jurgenson |
| Release date(s) | October 18, 1973 (France) |
| Running time | 100 min 91 min (Spain) |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob) is an acclaimed French comedy movie directed by Gérard Oury in 1973, starring Louis de Funès and Claude Giraud.
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[edit] Plot
Everything begins on a Friday afternoon and ends on Saturday afternoon.
Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) is one of the most loved rabbis of New York. One day, the French side of his family, the Schmolls, invite him to celebrate the bar mitzvah of the young David. On Friday, Rabbi Jacob boards a plane to leave America for his birthland of France after more than 30 years of American life. His young friend Rabbi Samuel comes with him.
In Normandy, the rich businessman Victor Pivert (Louis de Funès) is also on his way; his daughter (Miou-Miou) will be married the next day. Pivert is a dreadful man--bad-tempered, rude and a bigot, with a well-honed racism against blacks, Jews, Belgians and Englishmen. He and his driver, Salomon (Henri Guybet), have a hilarious car accident in which Pivert's car (carrying a speed boat) flips upside-down into a lake. When Salomon, who is Jewish, refuses to help because Shabbat has just begun, Pivert fires him, much to Salomon's content.
Arab revolutionist leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) is kidnapped by killers who are working for his country's government. The team, lead by Colonel Farès, takes him by night to an empty bubble gum factory... the same place where Victor Pivert goes to find assistance. Pivert involuntarily helps Slimane to flee, leaving two killers' corpses behind them. The police, alerted by Salomon, find the bodies and accuse Pivert of the crime.
The next day, Slimane forces Pivert to go to Orly airport to catch a plane to Slimane's country (if the revolution succeeds, he will become Prime Minister). However, they're followed by a number of people--the jealous Germaine, Pivert's wife, who thinks her husband is going to leave her for another woman; Farès and the killers; and the police commissioner Andréani (Claude Piéplu), a zealous and stupid cop who imagines that Pivert is the new Al Capone.
Trying to conceal his and Pivert's identities, Slimane attacks two rabbis in the toilets, stealing their clothes, their beards and their payot. The disguises are perfect, and they are mistaken for Rabbi Jacob and Rabbi Samuel by the Schmoll family. The only one who recognizes Pivert (and Slimane) behind the disguise is Salomon, his former driver, who just happens to be a Schmoll nephew. But due to hilarious improvising by Pivert and Slimane, they are able to keep their identity secret and even manage to hold a sermon in Hebrew, thanks to the polylingual Slimane (who is deeply gutted, of course).
After a few misunderstandings, Commissioner Andréani and his two inspectors are mistaken by the Jews for terrorists, attempting to kill Rabbi Jacob. The real Rabbi Jacob arrives at Roissy, where no one is waiting for him any more. He is mistaken for Victor Pivert by the police, then by Farès and his killers (both times in a painful way for his long beard).
There is a chaotic, but sweeping happy ending:
- the revolution is a success, and Slimane becomes President of the Republic
- Pivert's daughter falls in love with Slimane and escapes her lame fiance near the altar to go with him
- Pivert learns tolerance towards other religions and cultures, and also Salomon and Slimane make peace with their respective Arab and Jewish colleagues
- the Schmolls finally find the real Rabbi Jacob
- the Piverts and the Schmolls go together feasting and celebrating
[edit] Reception
The film is widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of French comedy, and has become a cult film. It is also seen as one of the best socially-aware films, as the topic of the film (racism) is actually very serious. It contains funny (but clever) musings about a multicultural society and also delivers a powerful statement in favor of tolerance and understanding. The handshake between Slimane and Salomon at the end of the movie (despite their differences, the Jew helped the Muslim) is a beautiful mark of understanding, full of reason.
[edit] Notable scenes
- The way Pivert drives his car (with his terrified driver in the passenger's seat). His purposeful stalling of traffic over a crowded highway is probably the most clever scene in the film.
- His racist (and hilariously hypocritical) comments on anyone who is not French.
- The whole bubble-gum factory scene, in which Pivert (covered in ultra-sticky green bubble gum goo) evades capture by standing almost horizontally... only to see his shoes rip apart.
- Pivert's way to explain his own name (in French, "pivert" or "Pic vert" is the usual name of the green woodpecker).
- Pivert (held hostage by Slimane) attracts the attention of two policemen by making outrageous faces.
- The Hasidim dance.
[edit] Facts
- Claude Giraud, who plays Slimane, is known for dubbing voices in English-language movies into French. He was the first French voice of Indiana Jones, in the French version of Raiders of the Lost Ark (the next two movies were dubbed by other actors).
- This is one of the first movies where acclaimed actress Miou-Miou appears.
- Claude Piéplu (the infamous and stupid commissioner Andréani) is known for his dubbing of the animated series Les Shadoks.
- It was another huge success for the duet Gérard Oury (director) and Louis de Funès (actor) after Le Corniaud, La Grande Vadrouille and La Folie des Grandeurs.
[edit] External links
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