''The Umbrella Coup'' (french: Le Coup du parapluie) is a 1980 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 ...

, starring

Pierre Richard Pierre Richard (born Pierre-Richard Maurice Charles Léopold Defays; 16 August 1934) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, best known for the roles of a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films. Pierre Richard is considered by many, such as ...

Gordon Mitchell Gordon Mitchell (born Charles Allen Pendleton; July 29, 1923 – September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies. Biography Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in hi ...

and

Gert Fröbe Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...

. The creation of the film was inspired by several assassinations of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

s where the so-called

Bulgarian umbrella A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin. It has a hollowed stalk in which the pellet neatly sits. Such an umbrella was used in and named for the assassination ...

was used as a weapon. The working title of the film was ''Le Coup du Parapluie Bulgare''. It was shot the

Epinay Studios The Epinay Studios are film production studios located in Epinay in northern Paris. It was a complex with two distinct and separate structures. The earliest was built in 1902 by Eclair Film. A second studio was controlled by the French subsidia ...

and on location around Paris. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Jean André.

Plot

The unsuccessful actor Grégoire Lecomte is heading for a

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

but then he takes a wrong turn. While he thinks he talks to casting director who wants an actor to play a

henchman A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...

, he actually talks to a

mafia don A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

who wants a real killer. Lecomte's performance is convincing and consequently he receives a contract to finish off

arms dealer The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servi ...

Otto Krampe. He is supposed to kill Krampe with an umbrella containing a built-in

syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

full of

potassium cyanide Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications includ ...

at his birthday party in St-Tropez. Lecomte takes the don for a producer and believes this was all part of shooting a film.

Cast

as Grégoire Lecomte *

as Moskovitz *

Valérie Mairesse Valérie Mairesse (born 8 June 1954) is a French stage and film actress. She was nominated for the César Awards 1978 for Best Supporting Actress for her role in '' Repérages''. Theater Filmography External links * 1955 births Fr ...

as Sylvette Bunny * Christine Murillo as Josyane Leblanc *

as Otto Krampe a.k.a. Whale *

Gérard Jugnot Gérard Jugnot (; born 4 May 1951) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy ''troupe'' Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Cl ...

as Frédo *

Vittorio Caprioli Vittorio Caprioli (15 August 1921 – 2 October 1989) was an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 109 films between 1946 and 1990, mostly in French productions. Biography Caprioli was born in Naples. Having graduated fr ...

as Don Barberini *

Yaseen Khan Yasin, Yassin, Yassine, Yacine or Yaseen may refer to: People * Yasin (name), an Arabic-based name * Yassin (name), an Arabic-based name * Yassine (name), an Arabic-based name * Yacine (name), an Arabic-based name * Yaşın (name), a Turkish-based ...

as Radj Kahn * Didier Sauvegrain as Stanislas Lefort a.k.a. Crazy * Mike Marshall as the Doctor * Roger Carel as Salvatore Bozzoni *

Dominique Lavanant Dominique Lavanant (born 24 May 1944) is a César Award-winning French film and theatrical actress. She is known for her comedy skills especially with posh and distinguished characters like Rosalind Russell's; characters often defined by the ...

as Mireille *

Maurice Risch Maurice Risch (born 25 January 1943, in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in ...

as the Producer

References

External links

* *
The Umbrella Coup/Le Coup du parapluie
at the Cinemovies site
The Umbrella Coup
overview at the New York Times 1980 films French crime comedy films Films about contract killing Films directed by Gérard Oury Films scored by Vladimir Cosma Films set in Saint-Tropez French comedy films 1980s French-language films Mafia comedy films 1980s screwball comedy films 1980s crime comedy films 1980 comedy films Gaumont Film Company films Films shot at Epinay Studios 1980s American films 1980s French films {{1980s-comedy-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links