''L'as des as'' (''The Ace of Aces''; alternate English title: ''The Super Ace'') is a 1982 French-German

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film starring

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officer ...

and 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 or ...

. ''The Ace of Aces'' was a huge public success, reaching five and a half million spectators in France, which was the second best box office (after The Brain) for

Plot

In 1916, during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a German and a French

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

by the names of Gunther von Beckman (Hoffman) and Jo Cavalier (Belmondo) manage to drag each other out of the sky. An argument and subsequent fistfight about who is to be whose prisoner is interrupted by an artillery barrage on their position, forcing both to work together in order to survive. In a humorous side scene, Corporal

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

(Meisner) is berated by his frustrated First Lieutenant Rosenblum for his clumsiness. In 1936, 20 years later, Jo and his team of boxers travel to Germany to participate in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. On the train Jo meets young Simon Rosenblum (Ferrache), the grandson of aforementioned First Lieutenant Rosenblum and a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, and a beautiful reporter named Gaby Delcourt (Pisier), who is to interview Hitler. When his grandfather does not show up at the station, Simon asks Jo, whom he idolizes for his World War I days, to accompany him to his grandfather's bookstore. Arriving there, Jo gets into a fight with

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

agents who are demolishing the place, and subsequently he is asked by the whole Rosenblum family to hide them. Knowing no other place, he takes them to his team's hotel, which also happens to be Gaby's domicile. Jo begins to flamboyantly flirt with Gaby, who seems to return his affections. The next morning, just before they depart for the stadium for the opening ceremony, Jo re-encounters his old friend Gunther, now a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. He fast-talks Gunther into borrowing his car, which he gives to the Rosenblums for their escape to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Due to a critical blunder on the Rosenblums' part, however, the whole family is caught before they reach the border, and only Simon escapes. The boy phones Gaby, who informs Jo. Torn between his affection for Gaby, his sense of duty for Simon, and the need to see his team in the games (though not in that order), Jo decides to settle the matter as quickly as possible and goes off to fetch Simon. However, things do not go as planned. The Gestapo is hot on Jo's heels, a bear drives him and Simon from their forest camp, and they temporarily pick up its cub, whom they spontaneously name

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. Finally they are captured and taken to the next police station, where the rest of the Rosenblums are also held. Gunther arrives to secure the release of his friend, but Jo will not abandon the Rosenblums and takes Gunther for all appearances hostage. As they drive to the Austrian border, Gunther advises Jo to go with the Rosenblums since he is now considered a fugitive criminal, and Jo reluctantly agrees. However, due to circumstances the group misses the way and ends up right in Hitler's Berghof residence on the Obersalzberg. Mistaking it for a simple hotel, they are taken in by the grounds' caretaker, Hitler's sister Angela (again played by Meisner). As it so happens, Gunther has been invited by Hitler to the Berghof for a staff conference, along with Gaby, to whom Gunther has also taken a fancy. Jo is quick to find out about the residence's true nature, however, when he comes face to face with Hitler himself while following the Olympic boxing finals on the radio in the latter's personal office. He procures an officer's uniform, reveals himself to Gunther and Gaby, and devises a plan to rescue the Rosenblums by stealing Hitler's personal car, while a very reluctant Gunther is to create a diversion by eloping with Angela Hitler. The film ends with a furious car chase between Jo, the Rosenblums and Gaby in one car, and Hitler and his adjutants in another, during the course of which the elderly Rosenblum reveals himself to his old subordinate. Startled by the unexpected encounter with his former commanding officer, Hitler is sent crashing into a duck pond, while Jo and company successfully escape to

(a humorous hint on the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

which would follow two years later), where they also encounter Beethoven again.

Release

The film grossed $6,552,000 in its first week of release in France, including a record 6 million

French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...

($1,670,000) in Paris from 463,000 admissions.

References

External links

* *
''Ace of Aces''
at Le Film Guide
The New York Times Movies
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081009172828/http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=36213 {{Gérard Oury 1982 films 1982 action comedy films French aviation films Films directed by Gérard Oury 1980s French-language films Films set in 1916 Films about the 1936 Summer Olympics French war adventure films Films set in Berlin Films set in Germany Films about Adolf Hitler Films produced by Horst Wendlandt Films scored by Vladimir Cosma French multilingual films German multilingual films 1982 comedy films French World War II films German World War II films French World War I films German World War I films 1980s French films 1980s German films West German films