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Animal (1977 film)
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Wikipedia article
'L'Animal' is a 1977 French action comedy film directed by Claude Zidi and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch. It was distributed in the United States by Analysis Film Releasing Corp under the title 'Stuntwoman'.
Plot
Mike Gauch (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a professional film stuntman who works with his fiance Jane Gardner (Raquel Welch). However minutes before their long planned marriage they are called to perform a car stunt for a movie but it goes wrong, as a brake problem causes their car to fall and they end up in a hospital with bruises and broken legs. Exasperated by the behavior of her fianc, Jane decides to leave. After his recovery Mike is no longer able to find work in the movie business and is forced to simulate mental retardation and to invent a family to receive Social Security benefits. One day his stuntman friend Santos asks him to replace him from time to time at his job which involves dressing up as a gorilla for advertising pasta at a supermarket.
Mike's luck begins to improve as he gets offered a high salary to do the stunts of an effeminate movie star Bruno Ferrari (Jean-Paul Belmondo) whom he proves to be a dead ringer to. Ferrari, while filming an action movie, suffers from vertigo and finds himself unable to perform dangerous sequences. Mike does not hesitate to get rid of his new stunt partner in order to replace her with Jane, who is enamored with the Count of Saint-Prix (Raymond Grme). Having heard the news Mike goes to the Count while impersonating a server in order to propose the offer to Jane. When he hears that the Count has asked to marry Jane he manically sabotages the dinner and makes Jane promise to do the film.
Desperate to regain Jane, Mike impersonates Ferrari who turns out to be gay, to seduce her. However the young woman is not fooled. Mike must perform a dangerous stunt on the wing of an airplane to an audience of journalists who think they are seeing Ferrari, where his life is saved from the accident by Jane, who is to marry the Count very soon. Meanwhile, the press discovers that Ferrari is not doing his own stunts.
While the wedding ceremony takes place at the castle of the Count, Mike arrives disguised as a gorilla, scaring guests with animals from the property, and takes Jane, who refuses to marry Count of Saint-Prix, preferring to live her life with Mike.
Cast
*Jean-Paul Belmondo as Mike Gaucher / Bruno Ferrari
*Raquel Welch as Jane
*Charles Grard as Hyacinthe
*Julien Guiomar as Fechner
*Aldo Maccione as Sergio Campanese
*Dany Saval as Doris
*Raymond Grme as Count of Saint-Prix
*Henri Gns : as Camille, caf owner
*Claude Chabrol as The Director
*Mario David as Santos
*Didier Flamand as The Cousin
*Josiane Balasko as Supermarket Girl
*Jacques Alric
*Henri Attal as an assistant
*Jane Birkin as The Female Star (cameo appearance)
*Johnny Hallyday as The Male Star (cameo appearance)
*Maurice Auzel
*Maurice Bnichou
*Edouard Bergara
*Paul Bisciglia
*Richard Bohringer
*Anne-Marie Coffinet
*Raphale Devins
*Isabelle Duby
*Martine Ferrire
*Jean-Jacques
*Jean-Jacques Moreau
*Gilles Kohler
*Yves Mourousi
*Xavier Saint-Macary
*Agathe Vannier
Production
Most of the stunts in the film were done by Belmondo himself. This caused him multiple injuries; a dislocated ankle after the scene on the steps of Sacr-Cur, dislocation and a penetrating wound after the scene in which he is tumbling down the stairs, a chewed up ear after the fight scene with a tiger. Because the insurance companies refused to insure aerial stunts they had to be filmed last. Everything went off without incident, and the actor was able to realize his childhood dream of personally standing on the wing of a flying airplane, a Fieseler Fi 156.
References
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