L'aventure, c'est l'aventure

Last updated
L'aventure, c'est l'aventure
L'aventure, c'est l'aventure.jpg
Directed by Claude Lelouch
Written by Claude Lelouch
Pierre Uytterhoeven
Produced by Georges Dancigers
Alexandre Mnouchkine
Starring Lino Ventura
Jacques Brel
Charles Denner
Music by Francis Lai
José Padilla
Release date
  • 1972 (1972)
Running time
120 min
Country France
LanguagesFrench, Italian

L'aventure, c'est l'aventure is a 1972 French film directed by Claude Lelouch. Starring Lino Ventura and popular singers Jacques Brel and Johnny Hallyday, it recounts the adventures of five criminals who progress from conventional urban crime to international notoriety as celebrity kidnappers. The film was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

In Paris in 1972, a group of five career criminals realise that the rewards from their traditional way of life are shrinking in the modern world. Lino, for example, finds that his prostitutes want to be independent entrepreneurs recognised by the state. Jacques accepts that his bank robberies yield a low net return for high risks. After much discussion, the five settle on celebrity kidnaps. Their first target is the singer Johnny Hallyday, who is delighted at the publicity and himself writes them a huge ransom cheque.

Decamping with the proceeds to Latin America, they are hired by left-wing guerillas to kidnap the Swiss ambassador. The government agree to free twenty imprisoned revolutionaries in exchange for his release. When Ernesto, leader of the rebels, refuses to pay the kidnappers' fee, they kidnap him and sell his freedom for cash to three separate buyers; his soldiers, the government, and the CIA.

The gang decamp with the proceeds to the USA, where they hijack a 747 and return it for a fee in millions. Taking a holiday break on a yacht, they are hailed by five beauties in a speedboat. When the couples have paired off, Ernesto's soldiers scramble aboard. Under torture, the five men tell him how to access their Swiss bank account. Once he has their money, he hands them over to the French police, who put the five on trial.

Their defence lawyer craftily claims that the trial is political rather than criminal. Worried, the justice minister arranges for them to escape and fly out of the country. Landing in Africa, their skills are in immediate demand. The army is planning a coup on the day after the Pope arrives for a visit. The gang kidnap the Pope at the airport and demand that every Catholic in the world must contribute at least one dollar for his release.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Brel</span> Belgian singer (1929–1978)

Jacques Romain Georges Brel was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Hallyday</span> French musician and actor (1943–2017)

Jean-Philippe Léo Smet, better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alain Delon</span> French actor (born 1935)

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor, filmmaker, and businessman. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in Notre histoire (1984). In 1991, he received France's Legion of Honour. At the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, he won the Honorary Golden Bear. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, he received the Honorary Palme d'Or.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara (singer)</span> French singer (1930–1997)

Monique Andrée Serf, known as Barbara, was a French singer. She took her stage name from her grandmother, Varvara Brodsky, a native of Odesa, Russian Empire. Barbara became a famous cabaretière in the late 1950s in Paris, known as La Chanteuse de minuit, before she started composing her own tracks, which brought her to fame. Her most famous songs include "Dis, quand reviendras-tu ?" (1962), "Ma plus belle histoire d'amour" (1966) and "L'Aigle noir" (1970), the latter of which sold over 1 million copies in just twelve hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chantal Goya</span> Musical artist

Chantal de Guerre, known as Chantal Goya, is a French singer and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves Robert</span> French director (1920-2002)

Yves Robert was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.

Bruno Coquatrix was a French music producer, the owner and manager of the Olympia Hall in Paris from 1954 until his death in 1979.

The Banda della Magliana was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome. It was founded in 1975. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of some of its members. It is considered the most powerful and violent criminal organization ever to operate in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurane</span> Musical artist

Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane, was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.

<i>Classe tous risques</i> 1960 film

Classe tous risques, which was first released in the United States as The Big Risk, is a 1960 French-Italian gangster film directed by Claude Sautet and starring Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sandra Milo. An adaptation of the novel of the same name by José Giovanni, who collaborated with Sautet and Pascal Jardin on the screenplay, the film tells the story of a French mobster on the run with his family, who returns to Paris with help from a new criminal acquaintance and confronts the members of his old gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Lara</span> French musician (born 1945)

Catherine Lara is a French violinist, composer, singer, and author. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has established herself as an icon in French pop/rock music as well as the neo-classical genre. She has released 26 studio albums, contributed music to numerous television and film productions, and helped stage and produce many theatrical works. Lara is openly lesbian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Cannes Film Festival</span>

The 24th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 27 May 1971. The Palme d'Or went to The Go-Between by Joseph Losey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Giovanni</span> French film director

José Giovanni was the pseudonym of Joseph Damiani, a French writer and film-maker of Corsican origin who became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1982 Cannes Film Festival</span>

The 35th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 26 May 1982. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to Missing by Costa Gavras and Yol by Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney.

Véronique Silver was a French actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Goetghebeur</span> French film director

François Goetghebeur is a French film director, photographer and art director. He became known in the music world thanks to his work including music videos, recordings, documentaries and artists portraits.

Salut les copains is a series of albums released through Universal Music France to commemorate the best of music featured in French scene as sponsored by the "Salut les copains" radio program in France and the French Salut les copains magazine. The tracks include French original singles, French-language covers of known hits as well as European and American hits popular in France. The track list is a representative wide selection of the "Yé-yé" generation of French music.

Julos Beaucarne, was a Belgian artist, singing in French and Walloon. He lived in Tourinnes-la-Grosse, in Walloon Brabant (Belgium). One of his acting roles was the "father Jacques" in The Mystery of the Yellow Room and Le Parfum de la dame en noir. Beaucarne's first single was recorded in 1964. He produced multiple albums since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Malka</span>

Richard Malka is a French lawyer, comics writer and novelist. As lawyer Malka in 2007 successfully defended Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val against charges of racism following the magazine's publication of Mohammad caricatures. Other clients include Clearstream, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Caroline Fourest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Clermont</span>

René Clermont was a French stage and film actor as well as a playwright.

References

  1. "Festival de Cannes: L'aventure, c'est l'aventure". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  2. "L'aventure, c'est l'aventure". IMDB. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  3. "L'aventure, c'est l'aventure". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 September 2011.