Arrête ton char... bidasse! (1977)
Directed by Michel Gérard

Film Review

If you can sit through the utter comedy disaster that is Arrête ton char bidasse! without succumbing to the urge to commit hara-kiri with the nearest object with a sufficiently sharp edge (a paper-clip will do), you'll see just why its director Michel Gérard has acquired a lasting reputation as a purveyor of excruciatingly bad comedies.  Bidasse (or sad sack) films, which poked fun at military service and army life in general, were immensely popular in France throughout the 1970s, although some - such as Robert Lamoureux's Mais ou est donc passé la 7eme compagnie? (1973) - were somewhat better than others.  Gérard's contribution to this genre was at the lower quality end of the spectrum, although his first film of this kind, Soldat Duroc, ça va être ta fête (1974), is a reasonably likeable romp and does not pose too great a risk to your sanity.

Gérard's follow up to his Soldat Duroc film, Arrête ton char bidasse!, is, however, inferior in just about every respect, and the presence of Darry Cowl - then considered the 'roi des nanars' (king of the turkeys) - is the surest sign that the depths are about to be plumbed like they've never been plumbed before.  Don't bother looking for the plot - this seems to have been completely overlooked, along with anything even vaguely resembling a decent gag.  It's just silliness piled upon silliness, the acting almost as appalling as the writing and direction, and any attempts at humour are so stiff and crass that it almost makes your eyes water.  Is it possible that people actually paid to watch this insipid crud in cinemas...?  It would appear that, in France during the 1970s, film comedy wasn't so much entertainment as an extreme sport, as gruelling as a trek up Mont Blanc in a skimpy bathing costume, only not quite as much fun.

Film Synopsis

Four young Frenchmen travel to Germany to begin their military service at a French forces camp.  None of them were expecting a holiday but the rigour and discipline of army life soon begin to get them down.  Their only solace is that they are occasionally allowed to leave the barracks, and they make the most of the freedom they have when they do so.  Army life is definitely not what they had imagined...