Tonight on TV: Belmondo is a member of Morphalos, but what exactly is “Morfallos”?

Les Morphalous is broadcast tonight at 9.20pm on C8. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Pierre Oganeur, a member of the Foreign Legion on a mission in Tunisia, who decides to take six billion francs in gold bars with one of his comrades, defying the orders of his superior. But what exactly is a “morphallow”?

according to dictionaries Larus“Morphal” (sometimes spelled “morphale”) or “morphalo” is “A man who eats with a voracious appetite”. According to Le Robert: “Whoever devours, who has an insatiable appetite – a glutton”. It’s a colloquial term we use, for example, to emphasize a good use of a fork by a close friend: “That’s morphia!” But what does this have to do with Belmondo’s film?

The word “morphalo” is not in the film at all, but it could have been chosen to describe Belmondo’s appetite not for the cassoulet and beef presented in several scenes, but for money. Betrayal, lies, violence… Sergeant Pierre Oganier is ready to do anything to get his hands on this loot. Perhaps what we call the desire for gold?

Morphallows is an unofficial remake of the American film Gold for the Brave with Clint Eastwood, Telly Savala and Donald Sutherland (1970). The starting point is the same: a stockpile of 14,000 gold bars is in a bank, and Kelly (Eastwood) is determined not to sleep there, even if it means alienating the army. Here too there is a question of greed and avarice.

At the end of the “Bebel” recipe

After more than a decade at the top without ever dipping below a million (L’As des As or Le Professionnel peaked at 5 million), Les Morphalous marked the actor’s new success in March 1984. office. His name, along with Audiard for dialogue and Verneuil for direction, managed to sell 3.6 million cinema tickets.

Happy Easter in October ’84 would also be successful (3.4 million) before Hold-Up, whose ‘Bébel’ was seriously injured on set, would begin to decline with 2.3 million before the release of Solitaire in October 1985. It marks the end of an era (Audiar died in July) and falls below the million mark, despite the usual recipe for the actor’s films.