Everyone knows this line! Spoken by Bourville 60 years ago, it marked the history of French cinema

You all know that famous line from the movies, even if you haven’t seen the movie it’s based on, which is kicking off a bit as it celebrates its 60th anniversary next year. This is a comedy whose title at least tells you something: Le Corniaud!

A French comedy flagship directed by Gérard Oury, it is the 23rd biggest hit of all time in France with 11.74 million admissions upon release. Adapted by Louis de Funes and Burville, Le Corniaud tells the story of how a trafficker hides a veiled heroine in a Cadillac and manipulates a somewhat naive trader, “Corniaud,” into moving the goods.

What do you mean, it’s not serious?!”

In the film’s iconic opening sequence, Antoine Maréchal (Bourville) is due to go on vacation in Italy, but on the way, he bumps into a CEO named Saroyan (De Funes), who forces him to crash his 2-CV. Machine vs. moving boxes. As he sees every plate on his car crumble around him, he utters this line, the most famous in the film:

“It will definitely work a lot less well.”

Then begins a short dialogue between the sarong driver and the unfortunate Marshal, with two other dialogues that hit the mark:

“Marshal: – What will happen to me?”

Saroyan: – Well, a pedestrian and that’s it!

Of course, this accident allows Saroyan to offer Maréchal, as compensation for the destruction of his 2-CV, to drive a Cadillac from Naples to Bordeaux, actually loaded with 100 kilos of heroin, 300 kilos of gold, from the loot. up and the famous “Youkounkoun” diamond.

Discover the secrets of this scene and how the car broke down so badly

Have you seen 5 Oury-De Funès films?

Le Corniaud was just the beginning of a long collaboration between Gérard Ur and de Funes, with whom he would make La Grande vadrouille, a blockbuster, as well as La Folie des Grandeurs and The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Before Le Corniaud, they worked together on our previous film, Crime Doesn’t Pay (1962).

But they definitely crossed paths on set, as Oury began acting and appeared in three films with the then-unknown de Funes actress: Antoine et Antoinette (1947), Du Guesclin (1949). Address (1951).