Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Short description
In German-occupied Paris during the Second World War, a British bomber crew is shot down over the city. Three of the airmen parachute to safety and find themselves scattered across the capital, with the Germans searching for them. Two French civilians become drawn into their escape: Augustin Bouvet, a house painter, and Stanislas Lefort, an irritable orchestra conductor. Reluctantly at first, the pair help hide the stranded airmen, and they are joined by Juliette as they try to reunite the crew and get everyone out of the occupied zone toward unoccupied territory.
The film is a comedy directed by Gérard Oury, who wrote the screenplay with Marcel Jullian and Danièle Thompson, marking her first writing credit. It followed Oury's The Sucker from the previous year and came before The Brain, Delusions of Grandeur and The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Bourvil plays Augustin and Louis de Funès plays Stanislas, with Terry-Thomas, Claudio Brook, Mike Marshall and Marie Dubois among the cast.
Released in December 1966, the film runs 132 minutes and is a French and British co-production. It holds a rating of 7.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 22,000 votes, and the same score on TMDB from roughly 1,500 votes, indicating a widely held positive reputation across both audiences, with the much larger IMDb sample reflecting its long-standing popularity in France and beyond.
What's left behind the scenes
- In America, the film was released under the title “Don’t Look Now — We’re Being Shot at.”
- Ranks 66th in attendance among foreign films in Soviet cinema distribution.
- Louis de Funès' character, conductor Stanislas Lefort, states during interrogation by the major at the headquarters that he was born in 1914, which is the actor's actual year of birth.
- The second film by director Gérard Oury (after 'Razzia') in which he brought together two famous comedians—Bourvil and Louis de Funès.
- The finale of the film features the 'Rakóczy March' from Hector Berlioz's dramatic legend 'The Damnation of Faust'.
- The B-17 (B-17G-85VE 44-8846) featured in the film was a real participant in World War II.
- In Soviet distribution, the film was extended by 10 minutes to be a two-part series, through the addition of a "summary of part 1" and additional opening and closing credits.
- In the scene on the country road, the English march while whistling "Rule, Britannia".
- Filming took place from May 16 to July 1966.
- Stanislas is shown playing the piano at the Paris Opera. During the German occupation of France, Louis de Funès earned a living by playing the piano in Parisian bars.
- Louis de Funès' character, during interrogation by the major at the commandant's office, states that he was born in 1914, which is the actor's actual year of birth.
- In Soviet distribution, the film was split into two parts and extended by 10 minutes due to a synopsis of the first episode and additional opening and closing credits.
- In the final chase scene, a German reconnaissance aircraft, the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, appears in the frame – these were used in France after the war. On the ground, the protagonists are pursued by German soldiers and a major from the commandant's office in American M3 armored personnel carriers, simulating German Sd Kfz 251s. One of the modifications of the American Willys MB can also be seen on the commandant's office grounds.
- The film set a national attendance record that lasted 42 years and was broken by "Welcome to the Raccoons!"
- In the same scene, de Funès states that he was supposed to meet a man named Mareschal. This is the surname of Bourvil's character in the film "Le Caporal".
- On the plane, the pilots whistle the tune of the American song "Tea for Two".
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
