Henri Verneuil was born Achod Malakian of Armenian parentage on October 15, 1920, in Rodosto, Turkey, and his family fled to France and settled in Marseilles when he was a young child. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into this 1991 film with the same name.
A long parade of actors and actresses pop up in an unconnected series of skits, vignettes, and sight gags in this comedy anthology by Jean Curtelin. Among the sketches performed is one with Jean Carmet playing a man from the sticks woefully burdened with the challenge of getting through a dog food commercial on less than one tank of intelligible French. Another skit shows a silent duel between an airport custodian and an automatic door, while another with the renowned Michel Galabru sets up a strange teacher-student exchange.
When the investigation on a prostitute murder by the Paris vice department derails, one cop will stop at nothing for revenge.
A man helps the victim of an auto accident, not realizing that the man has actually been shot. The men who shot him are now after the man who helped him, in order to eliminate him as a potential witness. Soon they are killing everyone he even comes in contact with in order to get him.
Art collector Pierre Niox rushes through life, lives a frantic life, does everything in full speed -- searching for and acquiring works of art or real estate, marrying or even dying -- and in total disregard for any kind of morality. His misdeeds finally turn on him and destroy him.
"In Serieux comme le plaisir, two men and a woman live quite happily together in a romantic liaison. The woman is probably wealthy anyway, so the trio doesn't worry much about money. One day they decide to take a trip in their beat-up car, managing the whole affair in their own special, insouciant manner. They are followed by a suspicious policeman who thinks there's something fishy about this group..."
The body of a young woman is discovered near a farm. The judge, Larcher is in charge and thinks that the farmers have something to do with the murder.
Three men kidnap a young girl and keep her in a small house on an isolated beach, waiting for her father to pay up the ransom. But the youngest one, in charge of watching her, let accidentally the girl see his face and it becomes no longer possible to return her alive...
Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his family, over which he rules with an iron hand. Things go awry the day he discovers one of his grandsons is involved in drug traffic. To make matters worse, the reckless youth has hidden the white powder in the Maroilleur farm. Without a moment's hesitation, Auguste gets rid of the toxic substance but, of course, the mob has different views...
Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.
Albert is a Franciscan monk and a medical orderly at a monastery in France. Although he is German, the kindly monk helps hide French resistance members. Albert tries to maintain the delicate balance between the warring factions by helping out the afflicted and not getting involved in political ideology.
Mr Jo, nicknamed "the man with the Buick", is the darling of the small town of Honfleur. But he is in fact a trafficker with a bad reputation who would like to forget about his past, now limiting himself to smuggling rubies under the cover of a charitable organization which offers underprivileged children holidays in Switzerland. However, Mr. Jo is in love with a pretty widow and, in order to marry her, he is willing to get involved in a hold-up again. And "the man with the Buick", who seemed so honorable, will surprise the inhabitants of Honfleur when Inspector Menard reveals his secret activities.
A movie producer, director and assistant take the Trans-Europ-Express from Paris to Antwerp. They get the idea for a movie about a drug smuggler on their train and visualize it while taping the script.
In 1870s Scotland mining engineer James Starr is asked by former colleague Simon Ford, who's living inside the abandoned Aberfoyle mine, to help solve mysterious occurrences taking place inside the mine.
Lucky Jo and his three friends are little criminals, who try to live from small burglaries. But they never have luck - ever so often something inpredictable happens to Jo and gets one of them arrested. While Jo is in prison once again, they decide they'd better do without him in future. He decides to help them secretly...and unfortunately.