Crooks in Clover (1963)

Les Tontons flingueurs (English: Crooks in Clover, also known as Monsieur Gangster) is a 1963 French-Italian-German movie, made in French, directed by Georges Lautner. It is an adaptation of the Albert Simonin book Grisbi or not grisbi.


The movie was not popular in its first release in 1963. But its reputation grew over the years and is now a French television classic. Its DVD version, released in 2002, sold 250,000 copies.

One of the most famous scenes is set in a kitchen where the gangsters try to make conversation while drinking a vile and strong liquor. Screenwriter Michel Audiard considered it useless and it might never have existed, but the director included the scene in homage to the film noir Key Largo.

Synopsis

Fernand Naudin (Lino Ventura) is an ex-gangster, who now deals in agricultural machinery and lives in Montauban. His modest, quiet life is disrupted when his childhood friend, nicknamed "The Mexican", who has become the Boss of a gangster organisation, summons him to his death bed. He has to take care of his friend's "business" and of his daughter, Patricia, who only thinks about having fun and has never been kept in a college for more than six months. Mister Folace (Francis Blanche) watches after "The Mexican"'s camp followers with a benevolent neutrality, as he don't feel really concerned by the upcoming quarrel about the succession, like Jean (Robert Dalban), butler and former housebreaker.

Actors