Un indien dans la ville
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''Un indien dans la ville'' (''An
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
in the city'') is a
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
French film by Hervé Palud. The film had a limited
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
release under the title ''Little Indian, Big City''. Part of the movie was shot in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, United States. It was later adapted for an American audience under the title ''
Jungle 2 Jungle ''Jungle 2 Jungle'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by John Pasquin, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and TF1 Films Productions, and starring Tim Allen, Martin Short, Lolita Davidovich, David Ogden Stiers, JoBeth Williams, and introducing Sam Hunt ...
'', set in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and starring
Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...
and
Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...
. A
tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
game for the
Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...
was released only in France.


Plot summary

Steph, a commodities broker living in
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 ...
, wants a divorce from his wife Patricia to marry another woman: Charlotte. However, Patricia has been living among the
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
Amazonas Indians for the past 13 years, so Steph travels to the Indian village to meet her and ask her to sign the divorce papers. When they meet, Patricia tells Steph that they have a teenage son, Mimi-Siku, who has been raised as an Amazonian Indian. Patricia tells Steph she will not sign the divorce papers unless Steph takes Mimi-Siku on a visit to Paris, which he agrees to. In Paris, Mimi-Siku meets the children of Steph's colleague Richard and falls in love with his daughter Sophie.


Cast

*
Thierry Lhermitte Thierry Lhermitte (; born 24 November 1952) is a French actor, director, writer and producer, best known for his comedic roles. He was a founder of the comedy troupe ''Le Splendid'' in the 1970s, along with, among others, Christian Clavier, Gérar ...
as Stéphane Marchadot *
Patrick Timsit Patrick Timsit () is a French comedian, writer and film director. He has been nominated for four César Awards – three times as an actor and once as a writer. He is best known for the French comedy ''Un indien dans la ville''. In 2006, he pa ...
as Richard Montignac *
Ludwig Briand Ludwig Briand (born 9 May 1981 at Soisy-sous-Montmorency) is a French actor. Named after Ludwig van Beethoven, he got his first acting job in 1991 at the age of ten as Gavroche in the stage musical ''Les Misérables''. Then another musical '' Pa ...
as Mimi-Siku *
Miou-Miou Sylvette Herry (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Miou-Miou (), is a French actress. A ten-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Actress for the 1979 film ''Memoirs of a French Whore''. Her other films inclu ...
as Patricia Marchadot *
Arielle Dombasle Arielle Dombasle (born April 27, 1953)Dombasle's year of birth has been a subject of much debate, and various sources have given dates ranging from 1953 to 1958. is an American-born French singer, actress, director and model. Her breakthrough ro ...
as Charlotte * Sonia Vollereaux as Marie Montignac *
Jackie Berroyer Jackie Berroyer (born 24 May 1946) is a French actor, comedian and writer. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berroyer, Jackie 1946 births Living people French male film actors French male television actors 20th-c ...
as Lawyer Joanovici *
Marc de Jonge Marc Louis Maxime de Jonge (16 February 1949 – 10 March 1996) was a French actor. Career Despite being best known for his role as the heartless Soviet Colonel Zaysen in ''Rambo III'', de Jonge had a long and fruitful career. He was in over 50 ...
as Rossberg * Louba Guertchikoff as Mrs. Godette * Philippe Bruneau as Mr. Maréchal *
Dominique Besnehard Dominique Besnehard (; born 5 February 1954) is a French actor, film producer, casting director, writer and talent manager. He has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1975. He starred in the 1983 film '' À nos amours'', wh ...
as Maître Dong *
Cheik Doukouré Cheik Doukouré (born 1943), is a Guinean filmmaker. He is notable as the director of critically acclaimed film ''Le Ballon d'Or''. Apart from filmmaking, he is also an actor, screenwriter and film producer. Personal life He was born in 1943 in ...
as Mr. Bonaventure * Marie-Charlotte Leclaire as Rossberg's Secretary * Vladimir Kotlyarov as Pavel Kuсhnukov * Olga Jiroušková as Sonia Kuchnukova * Chick Ortega as Russian * Paco Portero as The Snake Man * Sonia Lezinska as Stewardess * Marc Brunet as Policeman * Olivier Hémon as Policeman * Thierry Desroses as Customs Officer * Katja Weitzenböck as Miss Van Hodden * Pauline Pinsolle as Sophie Montignac * Stanley Zana as Jonathan Montignac * Gaston Dolle as Benjamin


Release

The film opened in France on 14 December 1994. Shortly after its release in France,
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
saw this film as a possibility to attract a family audience in the United States and considered giving it a limited release in select cities. Before releasing it in select cities, Disney decided to release it under their
Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...
label as they felt this film had some mature themes for an ordinary Disney film. As opposed to releasing it in the United States with subtitles leaving the original French dialogue in, Disney hired many cartoon voice-over actors to dub the original French dialogue out and substitute it with an English language format. They also gave the film an American name, ''Little Indian, Big City''. Under its new Americanized title and language dubbing, Touchstone finally released it to a select American audience on March 22, 1996.


Reception


Box office

The film grossed 21 million Franc ($3.9 million) in its opening week in France, finishing second behind ''
The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...
''. It remained in second place for two more weeks before moving to
number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...
for four weeks, grossing $35 million in its first 9 weeks and being the highest-grossing film of the year. The film flopped during its American release; the film opened in 545 theaters in the United States, but eventually only grossed $1,029,731 in the US and Canada theatrically.


Critical reception

Upon its original American release many American critics had an extremely harsh reaction to the film.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
awarded ''Little Indian, Big City'' a rare "Zero Stars" rating and called it one of the worst films ever made and that he "detested every moronic minute of it", saying that he was annoyed by the awful dubbing as well as the writing and what he perceived as terrible humor. He ended his original ''
Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' newspaper review by saying "If you under any circumstances see ''Little Indian, Big City'', I will never let you read one of my reviews again". Ebert's colleague
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
also deplored the film saying that it was likely to be a candidate for the year's (or any year's) worst film. He also said that if the word for the film got big enough in the United States family audiences would have been "hoodwinked into paying to see a totally unprofessional movie." When Siskel and Ebert viewed the film during its original theatrical release, one of the film reels broke out and the third reel of film was missing. A film executive informed Siskel and Ebert that they were allowed to come back the following week and view the particular reel. Siskel and Ebert came back to view the third reel, and by the time they had concluded viewing the whole film Siskel was quoted as saying, "If it was the legendary missing footage from ''
The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...
'', this movie would still suck." Both Siskel and Ebert later went on to claim this as one of the worst motion pictures they had ever seen (though it's not on Ebert's "Most Hated Films" list), and in January 1997, on Siskel and Ebert's "Worst of the Year" program for 1996, Ebert went on to call ''Little Indian, Big City'' the second worst film of the year, just behind ''
Mad Dog Time ''Mad Dog Time'' (also known as ''Trigger Happy'') is a 1996 American ensemble crime comedy film written and directed by Larry Bishop and starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum and Diane Lane. The film is notable f ...
''. Peter Stack of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' said that the dub "lends tackiness to an already inept comedy." A critic from the rival ''
San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
'' newspaper stated that "the real trouble with this movie is that it isn't even funny. As directed by Herve Palud and written by Palud and Igor Aptekman, it's a feathery thing that does not show off Lhermitte's considerable allure and gifts as a comic. In this movie, he looks like a dope whose mouth is moving in a distinctly French manner, inexplicably spouting the words of some uninspired American goof."
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' further brutalized the production: "Whatever may have been funny - possibly nothing - about the popular French comedy ..American audiences can watch it vanish before their eyes. This film has been dubbed into English so dreadfully that it becomes a discordant horror. Though the actors, including Thierry Lhermitte, Arielle Dombasle and Miou Miou, show faint visual signs of gentleness and civility, they now have now become crassly Americanized boors on the film's painful audio track."
James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
opened his review with a paragraph which read, "''Little Indian, Big City'', the American name given to Herve Palud's 1995 French fish-out-of-water comedy, ''L'Indian dans la Ville'', is easily one of the most tedious viewing experiences of 1996. I came as close to walking out of this movie as anything I have ever watched. No one, no matter how desperate they are for family entertainment, should be subjected to the indignity of sitting through this ninety-minute excuse for a motion picture." As of today, Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a score of 13% based on 8 reviews.


Home media

It was later released on home video under the VHS format in early 1997 and was re-issued one other time on VHS in mid-1998. The film has not been released on DVD, Blu-ray or any other video formats in the United States.


Official Comic Book

The film was also adapted into a comic book by
Vincent Deporter Vincent Deporter (13 February 1959 – 27 September 2022) was a Belgian comic and storyboard artist. Deporter got his start in comics working as an assistant to Jean Graton, before selling his own strips, as Mike Deporter, to ''Spirou (magazine), ...
and his wife Judith Rucar. * Titl
MIMI SIKU - UN INDIEN DANS LA VILLE
* Author
Hervé Palud Hervé is a French language, French masculine given name of Breton language, Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinizati ...
-
Vincent Deporter Vincent Deporter (13 February 1959 – 27 September 2022) was a Belgian comic and storyboard artist. Deporter got his start in comics working as an assistant to Jean Graton, before selling his own strips, as Mike Deporter, to ''Spirou (magazine), ...
- Judith Rucar * Publisher Glénat, 1994 * ,


External links

* *


Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indien dans la ville, Un 1994 films French adventure comedy films Films set in Venezuela 1990s French-language films 1990s adventure comedy films Films about hunter-gatherers Films adapted into comics 1994 comedy films Films directed by Hervé Palud Touchstone Pictures films 1990s French films