Cent mille dollars au soleil (1964)
Directed by Henri Verneuil

Film Review

Director Henri Verneuil originally conceived this film as a latter day Gallic western, with lorries replacing horses, and the North African landscape making a plausible substitute for the American mid-west.  The resulting film isn't so much a western as a gripping chase film - at times very reminiscent of H.G. Clouzot's Le Salaire de la peur (1953) and Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971).  The action takes a while to build but once the chase gets underway the film sustains itself brilliantly, thanks to its magnificent, tension-inducing photography, great performances from a cast of fine actors and some humorous dialogue from Michel Audiard.  A pity that, after a great chase sequence, the narrative just dries up, collapsing exhaustedly without even a half-decent ending.

The stars of Cent mille dollars au soleil are none other than Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura, two iconic film actors who were at the height of their popularity when the film was released.   Another greatly admired actor, Bernard Blier, appears in a memorable comedy role which strangely resembles Coluche, a comedy icon of the 1980s.  Whilst the film was generally badly received by the critics, and even condemned for its dated portrayal of French colonialist sentiment, it was a huge box office success in France, achieving three and half million ticket sales (making it the second most popular film in France that year after L'Homme de Rio, in which Belmondo also starred).

Film Synopsis

Castigliano is the owner of a long-distance transport business in Morocco.  His existing staff - Rocco, Hervé and Mitch-Mitch -  become suspicious when a new driver named Steiner is hired to drive a brand new lorry with an unknown consignment.  Suspecting that the lorry is loaded with something incredibly valuable Rocco drives it away himself, picking up his girlfriend Pepa on his way out of town.  Castigliano is incensed when he learns of this and offers Marée, his most dependable employee, a reward of two million francs if he can recover the lorry.  Without delay, Marée and Steiner set off after Rocco and a mad pursuit through the Atlas mountains ensues.  When his lorry breaks down, Rocco lures his followers into a trap and takes their own lorry at gunpoint.  Once the valuable cargo has been transferred to the second lorry, Rocco resumes his journey.  The chase is far from over...