zefrenchpeople

Let’s talk “Les Inconnus“.   French trio of humorists: Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan and Pascal Légitimus are most famous for their satirical sketch comedy, music and movies.

There are too many parodies, too many classics to share them all on this blog but here are a few.

A parody of a band called Indochine, “Isabelle a les yeux bleus, les yeux bleus Isabelle a“:

Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Bleus les yeux Isabelle a.
Soudain quand elle est partie,
J’ai vu qu’elle n’était plus là
Et comme elle n’était plus là,
Je m’suis dit elle est partie,
Dans la nuit noire,
Dans la nuit noire et obscure,
Obscure et sombre,
Isabelle s’est cognée contre les murs.
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Bleus les yeux Isabelle a.
Y aplus d’espoirs,
Dans le nuit noire,
Sur le quai de la gare,
Ddans le brouillard,
Il faisait un froid de canard,
Euh les mecs j’ai plus de rimes en “ar”…
C’est pas grave on continue la chanson…
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Bleus les yeux Isabelle a,
Isableu belle a les yeux
Ho! le solo guitard….
Ho! MONSTRUEUX….
Ho! MERDE!!!
Merde! attends je comprends pas là…
Eh les mecs si on se faisait un plan en anglais,
On va conquérir l’Europe….
Isabelle has the blue eyes,
Isabelle has the blue eyes,
Isabelle eyes blue,
Blue eyes Isebelle et has
C’était trop tard,
Quand j’ai su qu’elle me quittait,
Qu’elle me quittait,
Je l’ai su oui que oui que très très tard…
Tard tard
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Isabelle a les yeux bleus,
Bleus les yeux isabelle a
“ISABELLE LORSQUE JE T’AI RENCONTRE POUR LA PREMIERE FOIS, TU AVAIS LES YEUX BLEUS ET LORSQUE TU M’AS QUITTE, TU AVAIS TOUJOURS LES YEUX BLEUS”
ben c’est normal hein…
Sur l’quai de la gare
J’ai voulu la rattraper
C’était trop tard,
Son avion venait juste de decoller
Coller….
Ho! les mecs je viens de trouver un accord a le guitare, completement monstrueux…
Ouais vas-y vas-y!
Ecoutez!
Oh monstrueux, monstrueux!
Tu vois c’est pas compliqué tu vois tu mets le doigt là tu voiset apres tu fais comme ça regarde
c’est monstreux ah oué oué oué
Ho la la! c’est complétement d’enfer
L’éclate totale tu vois
Ho! j’vais vous dire les mecs ca va etre monstrueux!!

 

One of their songs, La Banlieue, but you have to understand French very well to get what they say (lyrics):

The first is a sketch is a classic:

The following is Didier Bourdon playing Jesus as Sylvester Stallone Rambo-style:

Another one is based on Bioman the TV show (Bioman jaune devant marron derrière!):

You can watch more through youtube and dailymotion… it’s hard to sum up all their work in just a few lines.

In the 60s, a TV show called Thierry La Fronde aired.  This show is famous, the theme music legendary.  Why did this become a classic? Not sure, never watched it really!  But I do know that it is referred to often enough you might hear about it and also parodied of course.

The main character is played by Jean-Claude Drouot. (IMDB)

The story: In 1360, during the Hundred Years’ War, France is occupied by the English and the Black Prince rules France with an iron fist. In Sologne, in the heart of France Thierry of Janville, a young lord, fights gallantly against the English occupation but is betrayed by his steward, Florent, and loses his title and his lands. He then takes the name of “Thierry La Fronde”, and with the help of his faithful companions continues his fight undercover.

Now check out the parody by “Les Inconnus” of whom I shall talk about very soon:

Born in Courbevoie but from my hometown (interview here) where her grandpa worked in the mines, Léonie Bathiat better known as Arletty was one of the major actresses of the 1930s.  Although, her main successes were Les Enfants du Paradis and Hôtel du Nord, she was in more than 50 movies, plays, cabaret and music hall.

In Hôtel du Nord, she says a line that everybody knows, even people who don’t know what she did or who she was, they know that line: “atmosphère, atmosphère, est-ce que j’ai une gueule d’atmosphère?” 

I found this article from the New York Times after she passed away in 1992.  It says it all:

Arletty, a dark-haired beauty who began her career as a factory worker and ended as a legend of the French cinema, died today at her Paris home, friends of the actress said. She was 94 years old.

The cause of death was not given.

From the moment she stood on the bridge over the Canal St.-Martin in the 1938 Marcel Carne classic “Hotel du Nord,” Arletty entered film history.

Her testy reply to her violent, wayward lover, “Atmosphere, atmosphere . . .,” became one of the most memorable moments in French film. She was frequently cast by Carne and other leading French directors, including Jacques Prevert, and made more than 50 films.

Leonie Bathiat was born on May 15, 1898, in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie. She was forced to take a job in an armaments factory after the death of her father in a 1916 tramway accident. Even before his death, her mother had taken in laundry to help support the family.

“I’m proud to have come from a working-class background,” she once said, adding that her origins were not modest, but “original.”

But as a young girl she preferred the Bohemian life of the capital and began frequenting cafes popular with artists and writers. The Cubist painter Paul Guillaume noticed her beautiful, angular face among the crowd and sent her to a producer of musical reviews.

By 1918 she was working as a model and chorus girl under the single name Arletty, which was suggested by a theater director who adapted it from the name Arlette, the heroine of a Guy de Maupassant story.

Her first movie roles came at almost the same moment that sound came to the screen, but her first big role did not come until “Hotel du Nord.” Several Cinema Classics

Carne used her often in his films, casting her in “Le Jour Se Leve,” “Les Visiteurs du Soir” and as Garance opposite Jean-Louis Barrault in the 1947 classic “Les Enfants du Paradis” (”Children of Paradise”).

Although she refused to work for the German film company that operated in France during World War II, she was later accused of collaborating with the enemy because she had taken a German lover during the occupation. The accusation affected her ability to find work, and her next major film, “Portrait d’un Assassin,” did not appear until 1949.

One of her last appearances was in “The Longest Day” in 1962. Beginning in 1964, she suffered a progressive loss of vision until she was almost totally blind. But at 89 she enjoyed renewed popularity with the publication of her autobiography, “Je Suis Comme Je Suis” (”I Am as I Am”).

She never married, and had no children.

Sometimes I just wish I could entitle my posts with a soundtrack or a theme music because this is a classic!

Two of the monsters in game shows, Guy Lux and Léon Zitrone, back in 1962, hosted a game that’s still on the air.  The first one, producer of many many many game shows, created Intervilles which he presented with Léon Zitrone.  The two of them started off on the radio and then moved their ideas to TV.

Intervilles, which was adapted in England under the title “It’s a knockout“, was also premiered in the US in 1975 and called “Almost anything goes” on ABC.

What is Intervilles?  It’s a prime-time show in which two towns compete against one another through different ridiculous tasks… a little bit like American Gladiator but instead of having to fight gladiators, you get chased by a bull.

Guy Lux had a catchy phrase that he would say at every game: “Lachez la vachette!” (Release the calf).  Of course teams would wear very bright red-ish colors to be a better target.

“Jeux sans frontières” were also Guy Lux’s baby which was the same game but between European countries.

The following video is the end of one of the shows in 1986 where you can hear Guy Lux and Léon Zitrone talk and the music I was talking about:

Now presented by Julien Lepers, this game is still on and here is a best of video to give you an idea of the games:

The legendary Bud Spencer and Terence Hill have to be mentioned at some point on this blog.  Both Italian actors, they were in the best Italo-westerns ever… at least the only ones I know that were shown over and over again in France!

Carlo Pedersoli (who changed his name in honor to Spencer Tracy as well as his favorite American beer, Budweiser) and Mario Girotti worked as a team. The snarky (6ft. 4 1/2in.) and the amiable always arguing and fighting in hilarious parodies of westerns. Terence Hill, later on, became Lucky Luke on the big screen (comic book character).

One of the famous one is “My name is Trinity”  (Trinita in French) and the sequels of that movie:

“My name is Nobody” (Mon nom est Personne) in which Steve Kanaly (Uncle Ray in “Dallas” TV series) played a role as one of the bad guys.

Here is a saloon fight in Italian:

Shuffling cards:

Bud Spencer is known for his hammering slaps, so here is a nice footage of his skills: