Highly Overrated But Still Good

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I first saw this movie in 1971. My brother and I liked it so much that we saw it twice (we still use lines from it in conversation). Wish it would be issued on DVD. When I saw it again after a lapse of over 30 years, I was delighted to see skits I had forgotten about. This movie is stuffed full of hilarious moments. I have a badly scratched VHS version (a former rental), but it's still a lot of fun to watch. Bourvil (Anatole) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Arthur) have some memorable bits of dialog and wonderful on-screen rapport. David Niven (Colonel Matthews) is the dashing villain with the brain, and he delivers his usual polished performance. I was never much of a fan of Eli Wallach's movies, but he's pretty good here as a gangster guarding his sister's virginity.

Ah, the characters: David Niven as a British Officer/Master thief, played with his usual ironic assurance and poise, Eli Wallach as a frantic and choleric mafioso (he is a contender for Louis des Funés as the most explosive screen presence ever) and the delicious duo of Belmondo as an ambitious and inventive but somewhat hapless small time crook with Bourvil as his more cautious straight man and partner in crime. A movie with great dialogue, fantastic pace, a swinging soundtrack and an incredible mix of physical, situational and verbal comedy - laugh-out-loud funny throughout. If "The Brain" should really not be available on DVD this would just be further proof of how little brain these entertainment-industry executives have.

Occasionally seen on TV in France, this film has now been issued on a double DVD in France with French subtitles only. Picture quality is superb ( THX Standard ). The film is extremely entertaining, to say the least, quite normal as the directer is the great Gérard Oury and on a par with such films as Le Corniaud or La Grande Vadrouille. I'm sure it's well known across the world, even if people don't know its title, if only because of David Niven's head that slants to one side because his brain's too heavy. There's a mixture of actors here, some French, some foreign and it has that light hearted happy-go-lucky-swinging-sixties look as typified by the Italian Job and other similar films. Knowing the perverse nature of things, now that this commentary has been written, the film will probably turn up on DVD in the coming months !! Let's hope so anyway !

Gerard Oury is as we know the master of French comedies (he directed most of the Louis De Funes-movies) and this one brings Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil into one delicious film. Don't think too much about the script and its reality-factor as a trainrobbery can never be like that but it has the fun of those typical French sixties-movies and believe me, it's a relief. It's the kind of movie you will remember for ages, especially David Niven who is called The Brain whom can be recognized by a bent over head as his IQ is too heavy (yeah it's that type of humour but it works)and as always Bourvil is superb.