Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez (1964)

The ambitious police officer Cruchot is transferred to St. Tropez. He's struggling with persistent nude swimmers, but even more with his teenage daughter, who's trying to impress her rich friends by telling them her father was a millionaire and owned a yacht in the harbor.This film was such a pleasant surprise. I knew nothing going into it, was not familiar with the actors or anyone involved. Heck, I did not even know it was a comedy or what kind of comedy it was. And it hit me hard with laughs, definitely one of the finest French comedies ever made.By far the funniest part is the chasing of the nude swimmers. Somehow they manage to do it without it being obscene, just silly and quite humorous. If nothing else, the film is worth seeing for that sequence.

Of all the genres, comedy is the one which gets more easily dated. That's because the conventions for each moment in time (and for each culture) are very volatile, they change quickly. And, for some reason, we don't "pile" new notions over old ones, which is to say, with humor, once we have new conventions, we reject old ones (unlike, for instance, the detective film). This means that what makes people laugh now, won't work in a very short time. I'm still young, and i've seen that happen, with films i saw as a teen. But than we have another aspect to be reckoned: the fact that, though audiences adapt to new conventions regardless of their age (as long as they keep seeing new films and live active social lives), they still gain a cinematic memory. So, many times, people "know" that they will re-watch a film which "is" funny, they remember they laughed out loud when they saw it the first time.I saw this film with my mother, and i registered this effect on her. To me, this was something i had seen 10 years ago, to her, it was a memory from childhood, when these gendarme films were fresh.Now they aren't fresh. Social criticisms here are totally out of date for European societies, even for the Portuguese!, so that's a card out of the deck.The kind of gimmick Funés uses are also no longer so watchable. Physical acting has evolved to play with the body as an object (Jim Carey type) more than with the placing of the characters in a funny situation, like here (Chaplin made both things).I do sympathize with his unlikable character. The witty policeman, despicable, over-protective about his girl (that's social commentary as well), caring for appearances. It's a matter of attitude, and Louis de Funés was a valuable performer.One thing is remarkable about this film and its context: St.Tropez. What is remarkable, besides beautiful beaches, and pleasant lifestyle, is how cinema was an important, even fundamental, piece of the publicity machinery the french created to promote the place. It starts with 'Et dieu crea la femme', and it goes through a number of other films, including this one. Here we even have a song about the village, obviously made to promote both the film and the place. So here (as with 'and god...') we have the key elements that were important to highlight: beach, sand, summer-mood, boats, high life, open-minded relaxed living youth, attractive girls. The story exists to show off these elements. Well, you go today to St Tropez and compare it to what we have here in this film (and specially in 'and god..') and you have to admit they were successful in their campaign.My opinion: 3/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

It is a wonderful comedy, lively, vivid and energetic, one cannot stop laughing all the time. Louis de Funes is at his best again, acting perfectly the strict but good-natured policeman and the plot is complex enough to capture the attention. According to me, this film is a model for a comedy.The daughter of the policeman is very sweet and is a typical representative of young generation,overcoming the conservatism of the old generation.The music of the film is also wonderful, representing the typical atmosphere of its time and contributes much to the joyful spirit of the film.I also liked very much the idea the film starting in black and white and later becoming colourful.As a whole extremely witty and lively film, typical for the French character, which makes you not only smile but laugh sincerely.

What makes ,at least to these eyes,the first episodes of the gendarme saga worthwhile is the presence of his daughter ,played by the mischievous Geneviève Grad.When she left,after the third sequel,the other movies failed to excite me.Cruchot has been to transferred to Saint-Tropez and his daughter is overjoyed.She was probably sick and tired of singing canticles in the church of her one-horse town.In France it was ,like in the rest of the world the yeah yeah girls and the twistin' time.And Grad ,who was not a singer,is twisting and shouting a tune called "Saint-Tropez twist" and it goes like like that:"choobidoobidoobidoo Saint Tropez !Choobidoobidoobidoo Saint-Tropez!" But she wants to be part of the golden youth ,of the rich kids whose parents own yachts and desirable mansions on the Cöte d'Azur .It's not easy when you are a gendarme's daughter.And daddy will be led to adventures which will endanger his career because of his daughter's pretensions.All the elements which would make the series a blockbuster are present including the nun and her Deux-Chevaux .she probably has A Mickey mouse driving license.