That Man from Rio

When I was younger, That Man from Rio was much better... I wonder why that is? Today it is an overlong film in which the best things happen in the last half hour or so (starting with the fight in the pub, there is some pretty entertaining action and Delerue's music becomes more interesting). Belmondo is of course a great likable man, but to write the same about the hysterical and utterly insufferable Françoise Dorléac would require a great deal of self-denial. I'd be more cautious about the Indiana Jones inspirations, too. (03/01/2015)

This is what decent commerce looked like in the 60s. It was definitely not top-quality, but rather a pleasant above-average leisure film. Today, That Man from Rio is hopelessly exhausted. If you compare it to The Man from Acapulco, which still has something to say and is worth seeing, you will notice a significant qualitative difference. What remains functional to this day is Jean-Paul Belmondo's performance, who practically stole the film for himself, and from his energetic escapades, you will understand what his charm consisted of and why he became one of the most significant French film stars of the 20th century. It is also worth mentioning the presence of the tragically deceased nurse Catherine Deneuve. Although the script does not prescribe anything for Françoise Dorléac other than being a playful devil by the side of the main protagonist, you can still tell that she had talent and could have proven a lot in cinema. The script is nonsense, and you can see logical gaps wherever you look, but that was not what this spectacle was about. As a comedy, That Man from Rio doesn't work well for me because the humor is not very clever, and so only the cast really engraves itself into one's memory. Overall impression: 40%. (06/29/2018)

Before Bebel became 100% cool, he was cool, but a little whipped at times. The Man from Rio is a clear example of that. He still managed to meet all the ladies’ requests so elegantly that I wouldn’t dare say he is 100% whipped. When he arrives on the train platform, you can see that he had a tendency to be cool. And on top of that, this is such a good adventure movie that it won’t bore you for a minute. So double success if you’re into movies like that. Spielberg knew well where to look to suck the best parts out of this movie and turn them into his Indiana Jones. (01/29/2014)

What I liked about it was the occasionally somewhat abbreviated dubbing (at least I thought it was); it created some comical situations. On the other hand, I found Miss Fiancée annoying, which kind of ruined my experience of the whole film. Her character annoyed the hell out of me. And Belmondo wasn't dubbed by the Czech actor Jiří Krampol :-( But otherwise a pretty decent sixties film with a still youthful Bel. ^^ (08/04/2011)