John Brooks
Taking this film as it is there's lots of fun to be had. It makes for a smooth viewing, a wild ride full of bumps on the road and unexpected developments. Whether you're particularly a fan of either lead doesn't make a difference here as it's a very solidly crafted film, with excellent pace and good dialog. It avoids being completely ridiculous as many such films do in an attempt to produce base humor for the masses, and despite being obviously on the parody side of things maintains a balanced compromise between emphatic comedy and story telling. The jokes find fit into the scenes, rather than pushing so hard as to leaking out of the plot.Of course it has to be mentioned the film takes advantage of the world war context to take a good crack at various clichés and make fun of the English, the Germans as well as the French themselves, and it's done pretty accurately with, again, a balanced effort.It's perhaps a little long for its own good, surpassing the two hour format which surely can constitute a flaw in the sense that: this is a lighthearted comedy, not to be taken seriously at any one possible point, and the goal being straight up having fun one doesn't so much care about the characters really or what happens to them as the thin tone of the film doesn't allow for it. The result of this is the ending tends to be a little overworked and spread on too long a final act where we all understand the main characters will get out alright and it's just a matter of how the film chooses it, like the viewer can feel like he's had his fun and "get on with the happy ending already". Two hours plus is a bit too much...7.5/10. A French comedy classic.
ianda
I can't say I find the film particularly funny, but it interested me because perhaps it shows the difference between French and British humour. À chacun son goût - to each his own taste - of course, and to my taste the film had too much farce, too much slapstick, and too little subtlety of humour. It was like being hit with a humour-hammer rather than being amused intelligently.I have to confess that I didn't laugh once, nor, as far as I'm aware, even manage to raise a smile. I can't imagine that a film of this type would have been the most popular in the UK for as long as it was in France. I was previously unaware of the work of Bourvil and de Funés (sorry, but their constant over-acting did nothing for me) but I certainly knew of Terry Thomas's films, and he was capable of far better than this.I loved the Burgundy scenery, though, and I was happily transported back to holidays in the Côte d'Or and a visit the old hospital at Beaune.
giovanni-leonardi
This film is associated to personal memories of holidays with family. My father used to take me with him to watch war films in the 1960s, and this film starts as if it is yet another serious war film. However, this lasts only one or two minutes, and the rest is a fantastic series of good quality gags that strike a perfect balance between the humour of its fable and the fearsome echo of the disastrous war.I particularly enjoyed seeing the effect of this on my father, who I have rarely seen enjoying himself as much as when he was watching "tre uomini in fuga" (the Italian title). We used to see a film or two per summer with many friends, and we went to see this in at least 3 or 4 years as this was the best of all the films we saw in those years.
Luis Morgado
Besides the great quality of the actors who portray the two main characters of the movie (Louis de Funés and Bourvil), its script is fantastic, fulfilled with brilliant moments of humor and non sense. Absolutely unmissable for the fans of this kind of movies. I don't remember how many times i've seen it already but i never grow tired of it! For those who think that french movies are not so mainstream, this is probably a pleasant surprise, along with other comedies like the fabulous "Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob" ("Rabbi Jacob") and "Le corniaud" ("The sucker"), both of which starring Louis de Funés and the latter also with Bourvil.
AD
