I mistook this colorful, location-filled adventure fluff for a light-hearted caper - and, therefore, I couldn't help being disappointed by the lack of a definite plot and the general silliness of the whole enterprise! Becker is the son of Jacques Becker - who had made classics like CASQUE D'OR (1952), TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI (1954) and LE TROU (1960) - but he demonstrates little of his father's attention to detail, where the style actually served the plot and the characters rather than being merely surface gloss. In fact, the film leans completely on the charms of leading-man Jean-Paul Belmondo - who's accompanied off-screen by a bouncy Michel Legrand score and on it by the likes of Robert Morley, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Philippe Noiret and Marcel Dalio...not forgetting a bevy of beauties (though second-billed Stefania Sandrelli is wasted and actually appears only in the film's final third), including Orson Welles' future wife Oja Kodar! I'd still love to watch Becker's award-winning erotic drama ONE DEADLY SUMMER (1983), starring luscious Isabelle Adjani...
Review of Tender Scoundrel
