Departures of Rego and Fechner
At the height of their success, Luis Rego left the group in 1971, just before the release of their second film, Les Bidasses en Folie to focus on a (successful) solo career as an actor. The split was amicable and Rego later rejoined his friends for two movies : Le Retour des Bidasses en Folie (1983) and Le Retour des Charlots (1992). Years later, Rego said he regretted his decision because the following Charlots films were extremely successful. Another reason for leaving the group was that he felt the scripts for their films or for their sketches on television often worked better with a four men team than with five and that he sometimes felt a little lost in the middle of the others or underappreciated.
Jean-Guy Fechner left the group in June 1976, a few months after the release of the expensive James Bond parody From Hong Kong With Love. Following a dispute about royalties, Les Charlots decided not to renew their contract with producer / manager Christian Fechner (Jean-Guy's brother) and Jean-Guy was torn between staying in the group or loyalty to his brother. He ultimately left the group.
Les Charlots were supposed to appear alongside comedy legend Louis De Funès in another film by Claude Zidi. The project was to be called "Merci Patron", after their hit song of the same name. Following their acrimonious split with Christian Fechner, the film was rewritten for emerging comedian Coluche (who had appeared with them in a small role in Le Grand Bazar), renamed L'Aile Ou la Cuisse and became a huge success, launching Coluche's film career.
The four Charlots were also supposed to appear in more serious films written and directed by Bertrand Blier and Jean-Jacques Beineix specifically for them, but Christian Fechner bought the scripts of these films to make sure that they would never get made without him.
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