Louis de Funès Grinning

Louis de Funès is probably the most famous French actor ever. If you search for "Louis de Funès" on YouTube, you're gonna find videos in French, in German, in Italian, in Spanish, etc. (Mostly the Germans love him — don't ask me why.)

He's known as a comedian, he actually never played in dramas. His most famous parts were in the Gendarmes series, in which he plays a policeman established in Saint-Tropez, the well-known "fishing village" (most known today as the place-to-be for jet-setters) in the South of France. Six Gendarme films were made. The first four were excellent, the last two were crappy (don't watch them, then!). What I wanted to show you is a scene taken from the fourth movie, Le Gendarme en balade.

Let's first situate the scene. The French government had decided to have a younger generation of gendarmes, so that the old team was forced to retire. The team that we see in the films consists of:
– Ludovic Cruchot (Louis de Funès)
– Warrant officer Gerber (Michel Galabru)
– Merlot (Christian Marin)
– Fougasse (Jean Lefebre)
– Tricard (Guy Grosso)
– Berlicard (Michel Modo)

I also have to say that Cruchot got married to a rich woman from the nobility (Claude Gensac). That is the reason why he lives in a big castle.

In the following scene, a priest, whose chapel roof was blown by the wind, pays a visit to Madame Cruchot, in order to ask for $ome help to cover the co$t$ of repair$. Then Cruchot tries making a fool of the priest whilst his wife is talking about the importance of being generous…



Tomorrow: other extracts illustrating De Funès' genius.