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Cent mille dollars au soleil
1964 Adventure / Thriller / Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Henri Verneuil
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Script: Michel Audiard, Marcel Jullian, Henri Verneuil, based on the novel "Nous n'irons pas en Nigeria" by Claude Veillot
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Photo: Marcel Grignon
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Music: Georges Delerue
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Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Rocco),
Lino Ventura (Hervé Marec),
Reginald Kerman (Hans Steiner),
Bernard Blier (Mitch-Mitch),
Andréa Parisy (Pepa),
Gert Fröbe (Castigliano)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 130 min; B&W
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Aka: 100 000 Dollars au soleil; Greed in the Sun
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Summary
Rocco, Hervé Marec, and Mitch-Mitch are long-distance lorry
drivers who work for Morocco-based Castigliano and Co. When a
mysterious lorry with an unknown consignment is assigned to a new
driver, Hans Steiner, they become suspicious. Realising that the
lorry is carrying a valuable cargo, Rocco secretly drives the lorry
away, accompanied by his girlfriend. When he learns what has
happened, Castigliano offers Hervé and Mitch-Match a reward of
two million francs if they can recover the lorry. A long,
desperate chase ensues...
Review
Director Henri Verneuil originally conceived this film as a latter day
Gallic western, with lorries replacing horses, and the North African
landscape making a plausible substitute for the American
mid-west. The resulting film isn’t so much a western as a
gripping chase film - at times very reminiscent of H.G. Clouzot’s Le Salaire de la peur (1953)
and Steven Spielberg’s Duel
(1971). The action takes a while to build but once the chase gets
underway the film sustains itself brilliantly, thanks to its
magnificent, tension-inducing photography, great performances from a
cast of fine actors and some humorous dialogue from Michel Audiard.
A pity that, after a great chase sequence, the narrative just
dries up, collapsing exhaustedly without even a half-decent ending.
The stars of Cent mille dollars au
soleil are none other than Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura,
two iconic film actors who were at the height of their popularity when
the film was released. Another greatly admired actor,
Bernard Blier, appears in a memorable comedy role which strangely
resembles Coluche, a comedy icon of the 1980s. Whilst the film
was generally badly received by the critics, and even condemned for its
dated portrayal of French colonialist sentiment, it was a huge box
office success in France, achieving three and half million ticket sales
(making it the second most popular film in France that year after L’Homme
de Rio, in which Belmondo also starred).
© James Travers 2001
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