''The Brain'' (french: Le Cerveau) is a 1969 French comedy film directed by
Gérard Oury
Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer.
Life and career
Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish orig ...
, about a second train robbery by the brain behind the
Great Train Robbery of 1963. It stars
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...
and
Bourvil
André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis ...
as a pair of French petty crooks,
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...
as a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer who is secretly a criminal mastermind and
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
as a Sicilian
mafioso.
Plot
Arthur, due for release from prison in four days' time, escapes to join his accomplice Anatole in robbing a night train carrying millions in cash from
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. The money belongs to
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and in charge of its transit is Colonel Matthews, who in fact was the unknown mastermind behind the Great Train Robbery, nicknamed 'The Brain'.
In his plans for a repeat exploit, he recruits a mafioso called Scannapieco to launder the money for a small percentage. Visiting the Sicilian's villa outside
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, he catches the eye of his sister Sofia, who resolves to give him her virginity. This infuriates her brother, who considers his honour impugned and resolves that instead of a contemptible percentage he will take all the money himself.
The train sets off with the money, with Arthur and Anatole disguised as railwaymen. Making a hole into the armour of the secure coach, they drop stink bombs inside, which causes the guards to open the door. Suddenly, the guards are incapacitated with gas, and two explosions free the couplings of the coach - unbeknownst to Anatole and Arthur, the gas and explosives were planted by Colonel Matthews as part of his plan. When the coach has rolled to a halt, Anatole and Arthur throw the bags of cash down the embankment. However, it is the precise spot where Colonel Matthews' team, disguised as firemen, are waiting. They scoop up the bags and make off with sirens blaring, leaving Arthur and Anatole to walk back to Paris penniless.
The firemen do not get far because they run into a roadblock, where the police reclaim the money and arrest Matthews. In fact, they are not police but disguised mafiosi, whose plan is to smuggle the money out of France in a replica of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
. Hijacking a
DS19, Arthur and Anatole give chase. Also in the chase at the wheel of a
BMW 2000 coupé is Sofia, who has freed Matthews and locked her brother in a cabin trunk. All three groups of villains are pursued by the police, ending up on the dockside at
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
.
As the Statue of Liberty is hoisted aboard the passenger liner ''
SS France'', Arthur climbs into it and finds the money, which falls in a shower of banknotes over the crowds on the quay. The film ends on the ship as it enters
New York Harbor
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
, where Matthews lets Arthur and Anatole into the secret of his next operation, which is to hijack a consignment of bullion bound for
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...
.
Music
The film's original score was composed by
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue (12 March 1925 – 20 March 1992) was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for ''A Little Romance'' (1980), three Cà ...
, while its
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
was performed by
The American Breed
The American Breed was an American rock band from Chicago in the 1960s. The band was originally called Gary & The Knight Lites before adopting the name The American Breed in 1967. The band had a number of charting songs in 1967–68, the be ...
. The score also includes the song ''Cento giorni'', performed by
Caterina Caselli
Caterina Caselli (born 10 April 1946) is an Italian record producer, music executive, singer and bass player.
Biography
Caselli was born in Modena but grew up in Sassuolo. She started her music career by playing bass in local clubs.
In 1966 sh ...
.
Reception
The film was the most popular French movie at the French box office in 1969.
["The World's Top Twenty Films." Sunday Times ondon, England27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 Apr. 2014]
References
External links
*
*
''The Brain''at le Film Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brain, The
1960s crime comedy films
1960s heist films
1969 films
French crime comedy films
Films scored by Georges Delerue
Films directed by Gérard Oury
French heist films
Gaumont Film Company films
Paramount Pictures films
Rail transport films
English-language French films
English-language Italian films
1969 comedy films
Films about train robbery
1960s French films