Ace of Aces (1982 film)
L'as des as | |
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Directed by | Gérard Oury |
Written by | Gérard Oury Danièle Thompson |
Produced by | Alain Poiré, Horst Wendlandt |
Starring | Jean-Paul Belmondo Marie-France Pisier Frank Hoffmann Rachid Ferrache Günter Meisner |
Cinematography | Xaver Schwarzenberger |
Edited by | Albert Jurgenson |
Music by | Vladimir Cosma |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Countries | France Germany |
Languages | French German |
Budget | $6.1 million |
Box office | $40.9 million[1] |
L'as des as (The Ace of Aces; alternate English title: The Super Ace) is a 1982 French-German
The Ace of Aces was a huge public success, reaching five and a half million spectators in France, which was the second best box office (after The Brain) for Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Plot
In 1916, during World War I, a German and a French fighter ace by the names of Gunther von Beckman (Hoffman) and Jo Cavalier (Belmondo) manage to drag each other out of the sky. An argument and subsequent fistfight about who is to be whose prisoner is interrupted by an artillery barrage on their position, forcing both to work together in order to survive. In a humorous side scene, Corporal Adolf Hitler (Meisner) is berated by his frustrated First Lieutenant Rosenblum for his clumsiness.
In 1936, 20 years later, Jo and his team of boxers travel to Germany to participate in the
The next morning, just before they depart for
However, things do not go as planned. The Gestapo is hot on Jo's heels, a bear drives him and Simon from their forest camp, and they temporarily pick up its cub, whom they spontaneously name Beethoven. Finally they are captured and taken to the next police station, where the rest of the Rosenblums are also held. Gunther arrives to secure the release of his friend, but Jo won't abandon the Rosenblums and takes Gunther for all appearances hostage. As they drive to the Austrian border, Gunther advises Jo to go with the Rosenblums since he is now considered a fugitive criminal, and Jo reluctantly agrees.
However, due to circumstances the group misses the way and ends up right in Hitler's
The film ends with a furious car chase between Jo, the Rosenblums and Gaby in one car, and Hitler and his adjutants in another, during the course of which the elderly Rosenblum reveals himself to his old subordinate. Startled by the unexpected encounter with his former commanding officer, Hitler is sent crashing into a duck pond, while Jo and company successfully escape to Austria (a humorous hint on the Anschluss which would follow two years later), where they also encounter Beethoven again.
References
- ^ Box office information for film at Box Office Story