The Sucker

A modest travelling salesman named Antoine Maréchal is about to leave Paris for a holiday in Italy when a wealthy industrialist, Léopold Saroyan, smashes up his small car. To make up for the ruined trip, Saroyan offers him an unusual arrangement: fly to Naples and drive a luxury Cadillac back to Bordeaux for some rich American clients. Antoine accepts, delighted, with no idea that the car has been packed with smuggled gold, drugs and jewels, or that he is being used as an unwitting courier. As he travels through Italy and France, rival gangs of traffickers take an interest in the vehicle, and Saroyan keeps his own watch on the man behind the wheel.

Gérard Oury directed and co-wrote the film with Marcel Jullian, and Robert Dorfmann produced it. It was Oury's first big comedy success and the earliest title in his filmography, ahead of Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!, The Brain and Delusions of Grandeur. Bourvil plays Antoine opposite Louis de Funès as Saroyan; supporting roles include Venantino Venantini, Henri Génès, Beba Lončar and Alida Chelli, with 29 credited cast members. Made for about 5 million dollars, it drew solid audience approval: 7.3/10 on IMDb from roughly 8,900 votes and 7.4/10 on TMDB from over 700.