Spoken 60 years ago, this line is still spoken today, signed by one of the best French dialogues.

Michel Audiard was one of the best dialogue writers of French cinema. He wrote for the greats, from Jean Gabin to Lino Ventura, through Bernard Blier, André Pouss and Jean-Paul Belmondo. So when the three of them are brought together in the same movie, we can expect a flood of iconic copies… and we’re not disappointed!

One Hundred Thousand Dollars in the Sun, directed by Henri Vernoy, reunites Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmond, who meet again four years after Claude Saute’s Class All Risks. Bernard Blier co-stars with Andrea Paris, who played a small role in Hotel Palace in Paris, which had already been directed by Verneuil in 1956.

The most iconic line is part of the story

Young Rocco steals a truckload of valuable goods under the nose of his boss. The latter sends his best drivers after him.

On the path to In Saoud, he meets Mitch-Mitch (Blier). “Petroleum engineer with his Land Rover behind the curtain”. He is with his wife “Tall blonde with dreamy eyes and a baby smile”. “stingy, what”He is quick to judge. He then offers the engineer to take his wife to the nearest store.

On the way, he will offer his passenger to see “The most beautiful sand roses in all of Niger” and stops his truck in front of some dunes. The rest of the story is told by Rocco (Belmondo):

“Two hours later, Mitch-Mitch and his mouse are at Iqbul Free, trying to escape by beating Perniflard. Suddenly a cuckoo appears, goes straight to his wife, without saying a word, throws his mandalas at the couple. to kill a buffalo”.

Mitch, who always talks too much, said, “When you’re out of trouble, follow me to Iqbul Fra.” The little engineer followed the trail all the way to the dunes. (…) Pie to his shepherd, the boy would continue to the man that Mitch blocked the first peach and said: “You just shined, don’t waste your cards!”.

Why did the husband stop there? Simply because according to Rocco:

“When 300 pound guys say things, 60 pound guys listen!”

Jean-Paul Belmondo’s enthusiasm and Audiard’s dialogues will become the heyday of French cinema, because before a hundred thousand dollars in the sun, two men could already collaborate in Monkey in the Winter or in motion pictures. After Tendre Rogue (1966), Audiard left to make his own feature films as a director, only to find his new favorite actor in The Incorrigible (1975).

Since then, he has appeared in almost all of Belmondo’s films: The Body of My Enemy (1976), Animal (1977), Cop or Crook (1979), Guinillo (1980), The Professional (1981), Marginal. and Morphalus (1983). He died two years later, and at the same time Belmondo abandoned action comedies.