Der tolle Amerikaner (1961)
50KDer tolle Amerikaner: Directed by Robert Dhéry, Pierre Tchernia. With Alfred Adam, Colette Brosset, Robert Burnier, Pierre Dac. Marcel, a simple-minded factory worker, is tricked into buying a high-priced American convertible by a widow determined not to let it fall into the hands of her late husband’s secretary/secret lover. Once in possession of the car, Marcel only encounters one bad luck episode after another with the excessive gasoline consumption, his wife trying to sell it to make ends meet, getting into traffic jams, accidentally riding into a car wash with the top down, and more.
“I saw this one when it was new, in the 1960s, and with age itu0026#39;s only got better. The simple, lovable people of an idealized Parisian neighborhood have an additional layer of nostalgia value as we recall a country that appears to have found its feet again after wartime but has not yet been overwhelmed by globalization. The threat is certainly there, but in comical form. Thereu0026#39;s a hapless, primitive espresso machine. Thereu0026#39;s a lo-tech manufacturing machine thatu0026#39;s replaced with a hi-tech one– involving, by the way, a gag I remember from the 1960s version that wasnu0026#39;t in the version I downloaded from the web. And thereu0026#39;s the Belle Américaine itself, a huge luxury convertible that is admired by all but something of a mixed blessing. Anyway, the script presents a charming little world and the story is full of well-scripted and well-performed comical episodes any one of which, if you put it into a comedy of the last couple of decades, would be the highlight of the movie.”
