Up to His Ears

This is Bebel at his best. The action is ultimate, the fun is immense and the mood is really typically French. An adventure movie if I ever have seen one! (11/02/2014)

The shooting of the American film The Sand Pebbles (1966), though itself modest in terms of action, is one of the formative influences in the history of Hong Kong cinema and the roots of its action production and stunt work. Conversely, the French classic Up to His Ears, which a year earlier had taken the streets of the British colony by storm, has at most received only fleeting mention (at least in English-language texts). At the same time, de Broca’s wild farce clearly lends itself to being viewed as a precedent for Jackie Chan’s action comedies. After all, Belmondo, with his burlesque physical comedy and the principle that he would perform all of the dangerous bits himself, could be a direct model for the future biggest star of Hong Kong cinema’s golden era. Hong Kong stunt veterans attribute at least one practical innovation to the French production, as it introduced the practice of using cardboard boxes to lessen the impact of falls. Furthermore, it was the first production that took the action out of the artificial environment of film studios and directly into the streets of the city, with spectacular sequences combining the attraction of hair-raising acrobatics with local exterior elements such as ships at anchor in ports and bamboo scaffolding. With its numerous shots of districts such as Central and Aberdeen and Kai Tak Airport in their long since forgotten form, Up to His Ears thus concurrently serves as a valuable historical memento for Hong Kong. Apart from the considerations associated with the location, de Broca’s film grandiosely paraphrases Bond films and other ostentatious productions whose main attraction consists in the swift movement between various locations around the world. Belmondo’s protagonist ridicules the noble motivations of serious heroes as he heedlessly throws himself into adventures on a whim and in the name of egocentric interests, thus revealing the vagary and senselessness of competing McGuffins. (26/06/2016)

An excellent show. Recently, I was not too pleased with That Man from Rio, which lacked a lot of things, but in the case of Up to His Ears everything was already in the best order. Adventure as it should be, lots of imaginative escapades and gags, practically no dull spots, the characters more than likeable (I admit I didn't recognize Jean Rochefort at all), excellent music and many scenes with impressive atmosphere. I'm happy to round up four and a half stars. (09/03/2015)