Film Career
With their increasing popularity as a genuine rock / comedy group, they received many offers to appear in films. Producer Michel Ardan hired them for their first film "because his children had seen them on television and found them very funny..." They made their first film, La Grande Java with comedian Francis Blanche in 1970, playing five members of a rugby team whose manager stole the money. The film wasn't very good, mostly due to the fact that Les Charlots weren't actors and didn't get along with director Philippe Clair (often considered to be one of the worst French directors ever). But surprisingly, La Grande Java was a hit. On the set, they met a first AD named Claude Zidi, who later directed them in their best films.
The following films, Les Bidasses en Folie (1971), Les Fous du Stade (1972), Les Charlots Font l'Espagne (1972), Le Grand Bazar (1973), Les Bidasses s'en vont en Guerre (1974) were all superior and very funny comedies. All their films from 1971 to 1976 (8 films) became phenomenal hits in France and all around the world thanks to the fact that (according to Rinaldi) "you didn't need to speak french to understand the plots!"...
About their films, Les Charlots have often said that their only criteria were the glamorous locations, warm weather and good food. None of them originally intended to become actors and they didn't think their movie career would last. They just started out of curiosity, with no ambition as actors whatsoever. Acting in films was just the icing on the cake. But they had this youthful energy that young people of the time connected to, so after their first film became a hit, they caught the acting bug.
They continued to appear on stage and record albums but movies became their main activity in the '70s.
Les Charlots wrote and performed the songs and music for all of their films.
Years after their acting debuts with Les Charlots, Gérard Rinaldi and Luis Rego pursued successful acting careers outside of the group.
Their films focused on the group's anti-authoritarian lifestyle and free-spirited youthfulness, their friendship, love of music and pretty girls, their laziness towards work, their numerous blunders and their hatred of authority figures like the army. The films depicted the members in absurd situations and visual gags.
In Les Bidasses en Folie (1971) and sequel Les Bidasses s'en vont en Guerre (1974), they played musicians drafted in the army, trying their best to be sent to the regiment jail rather than taking part in the manoeuvres. Their nemesis was a bald and severe sergeant named Bellec (played by character actor Jacques Seiler) who had to endure his new recruits' blunders and was ultimately always ridiculed by the boys.
In their biggest hit, Les Fous du Stade (1972) they played reluctant athletes in the Olympics.
In Le Grand Bazar (1973), they were reluctant factory workers, helping their shopkeeper friend Emile (Michel Galabru) fight against a brand new modern supermarket.
In the big budget parody From Hong Kong With Love (1975), they reluctantly replaced a recently deceased 007 when Queen Elizabeth II is abducted by villain Mickey Rooney... For the occasion, actors Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell, cameoed in their roles from the 007 franchise as M and Miss Moneypenny respectively.
In Les Charlots Contre Dracula (1980), they became reluctant vampire hunters...
Gérard Rinaldi usually played the straight good-looking guy and the others were his goofy, faithful friends. Supporting actors like Jacques Seiler, Pierre Gualdi, André Badin, Paul Préboist, Roger Carel, Gérard Croce and renowned accordionist Aimable appeared in many of their films. They were directed four times by Claude Zidi who started his directing career with the group.
They usually keep their real-life first names (Gérard, Jean, Phil, Luis and Jean-Guy) in the movies, except in the big-budget musketeers parody Les Quatre Charlots-Mousquetaires (1974) and sequel Les Charlots en Folie : A Nous Quatre Cardinal! (1974) in which they played the famous musketeers' valets, who were revealed to be the true heroes of the classic Alexandre Dumas story in place of their prestigious masters.
Read more about this topic: Les Charlots
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