French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo might be best known to American audiences for his work with Jean-Luc Godard in arty films like Breathless and Pierrot le Fou, but don’t miss out on some of his goofier, but no less successful movies that found him globe-trotting and doing his own stunts!
From 1964, That Man From Rio finds Belmondo playing Adrien Dufourquet, on brief leave from military duties, and with the singular purpose of soaking up every last second with his beautiful fiancé Agnes (Francois Dorleac) while in Paris. This film is heavily inspired by Herge’s Tintin comics, so it’s not long before there’s an ancient relic heist, a kidnapping, and some international travel. There’s a madcap silliness to much of the plot, but along with it come some great stunts and a fun sense of humor. This was supposedly aiming for “James Bond spoof” territory, and while that can be seen in the finished product, this feels like an action-adventure film that can stand on it’s own. Philippe de Broca’s movie actually went on to inspire Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as they envisioned the world of Indiana Jones, but I would argue it has more in common with the eventual 80’s adventure film Romancing the Stone than Indy’s Nazi-punching escapades.
It should be said that the plot very much revolves around white folks “recovering” an artifact that originally came from the Maltec people somewhere in the Amazon and may or may not be connected to a lost treasure. Unfortunately, the story calls for the locals to be minimally involved in the narrative and more or less serve as background to the action happening around them – all pretty common for filmmaking at the time. That said, the film is still worth watching and appreciating, and will show you what it was about Belmondo that even inspired Jackie Chan’s style of physical comedy. It’s available from NPL on DVD, and streaming on Kanopy!
