Maurice Dugowson, 1975, France, 110min
Starring Rufus, Jean-Michel Folon, Patrick Dewaere, Zouzou, Juliette Gréco, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Roger Blin, Roland Dubillard
Patrick Dewaere’s flair for physical comedy shines in his performance as the boxer Gaston—aka “Johnny Cask”—in Maurice Dugowson’s underappreciated first feature. This story of a Paris journalist who falls in with a romantically beleaguered worker and his boxer friend while researching a piece about the working class is really an excuse for a romp through French class and gender relations in the 1970s. Among several riotous set pieces, Dewaere’s reenactment of a Hollywood movie with a ripped pillow is surpassed only by the goading monologue he elicits from real-life partner Miou-Miou when he tries to pick her up in a café.
Imported 35mm print