Not really a spoof of Bond, but more of a smarter, quicker, hand-held adventure film, with the hand-held camera technique adding to the charm, speed and precarious feel of all the situations. Beautiful and offbeat locations are used ingeniously in Paris, Rio, and Amazon areas. It is definitely the source of "Indiana Jones" material, but this movie is much cooler. The pace is extremely fast, with a plot twist placed right where it is needed.

There were 2 versions of "L'homme de Rio" released in the UK in 1964,one had subtitles and the other was dubbed into English.I would urge you most strongly to go for the one with the subtitles because the characters are voiced as if it was a Walt Disney cartoon.The subsequent revelation that the plot was at least partly "borrowed" from Herge does not in any way diminish the crimes committed in the dubbing suite. Not that the plot is anything more than a convenient excuse for a series of exhilarating set-pieces with M.Belmondo sailing blithely through them all whilst searching Brazil for his kidnapped girl-friend.He is an airman doing his "Service Militaire Obligatoire" who is forced to go AWOL in the most photogenic locations near the burgeoning new city of Brasilia.Filmed in sumptuous colour "L'homme de Rio" is a feast for the eye.M.Belmondo is les nads du chien as the reluctant hero,permanently perplexed as the film develops around him.It contains one of my favourite shots in any movie,a marvellous zoom to a Big Close-up of an alligator's unblinking eye and a brilliantly staged barroom brawl that has been copied many times but never bettered.It really should be seen in the cinema to appreciate its scope,but I have no idea when or if a movie revival is planned.Those of us who were fortunate enough to see it 40 years ago on the big screen and are now queueing up to collect our pensions can perhaps be excused a secret smile at the memories it evokes.

Jean-Paul Belmondo died recently,* so I decided to watch one of his most famous movies. What an experience! "L'homme de Rio" ("That Man from Rio" in English) has just about everything! Obviously, the movie borrowed a lot of stuff from Tintin books, but isn't all art borrowed from something or other? Philippe de Broca's Academy Award-nominated movie is a great romp from start to finish. I suspect that, had Françoise Dorléac not died a car wreck at the age of twenty-five, she would've gone on to become just as great an actress as her younger sister (Catherine Deneuve).

Anyway, a fun movie with some great shots of Rio de Janeiro. And is that soundtrack to die for or what?

*As it happened, Belmondo died right after I saw his movie "Leon Morin, Priest".