The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (French: Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob, pronounced [lez‿avɑ̃tyʁ də ʁabi ʒakɔb]) is a 1973 French-Italian comedy film directed by Gérard Oury, starring Louis de Funès and Claude Giraud. The plot involves a bigoted businessman and a kidnapped revolutionist who disguise themselves as rabbis to escape from a group of assassins. One of De Funès' most popular and iconic movies, it has become a cult classic.[3]

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Poster for the US release
Directed byGérard Oury
Produced byBertrand Javal
Written byGérard Oury
Danièle Thompson
Josy Eisenberg
Roberto De Leonardis
StarringLouis de Funès
Suzy Delair
Claude Giraud
Marcel Dalio
Claude Piéplu
Renzo Montagnani
Henri Guybet
Miou-Miou
Music byVladimir Cosma
CinematographyHenri Decaë
Edited byAlbert Jurgenson
Production
companies
Release date
18 October 1973
Running time
100 minutes
CountryFrance
Italy[1]
LanguageFrench
Box office$54.7 million[2]

Plot

Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) is one of the most loved rabbis of New York. One day, the French side of his family, the Schmolls, invite him to celebrate the bar mitzvah of the young David. Rabbi Jacob boards a plane to leave America for his birthland of France after more than 30 years of American life. His young friend Rabbi Samuel comes with him.

In Normandy, the rich businessman Victor Pivert (Louis de Funès) is also on his way; his daughter (Miou-Miou) will be married the next day. Pivert is a dreadful man: bad-tempered, rude and a bigot, with a well-honed racism against blacks, Jews, and pretty much all foreigners. He and his driver, Salomon (Henri Guybet), have a car accident in which Pivert's car (carrying a speed boat) flips upside-down into a lake. When Salomon, who is Jewish, refuses to help because Shabbat has just begun, Pivert fires him, much to Salomon's content.

Arab revolutionist leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) is kidnapped by killers who are working for his country's government. The team, led by Colonel Farès, takes him by night to an empty bubble gum factory... the same place where Victor Pivert goes to find assistance. Pivert involuntarily helps Slimane to flee, leaving two killers' corpses behind them. The police, alerted by Salomon, find the bodies and accuse Pivert of the crime.

The next day, Slimane forces Pivert to go to Orly airport to catch a plane to Slimane's country (if the revolution succeeds, he will become President). However, they are followed by a number of people: the jealous Germaine, Pivert's wife, who thinks her husband is going to leave her for another woman; Farès and the killers; and the police commissioner Andréani (Claude Piéplu), a zealous and overly suspicious cop who imagines that Pivert is the new Al Capone. Farès and his cohorts manage to kidnap Germaine, and they use her own dentist equipment to interrogate her.

Trying to conceal his and Pivert's identities, Slimane attacks two rabbis in the toilets, stealing their clothes and shaving their beards and their payot. The disguises are perfect, and they are mistaken for Rabbi Jacob and Rabbi Samuel by the Schmoll family. The only one who recognizes Pivert (and Slimane) behind the disguise is Salomon, his former driver, who just happens to be a Schmoll nephew. But Pivert and Slimane are able to keep their identity secret and even manage to hold a sermon in Hebrew, thanks to the polylingual Slimane (who is deeply gutted, of course).

After a few misunderstandings, Commissioner Andréani and his two inspectors are mistaken by the Jews for terrorists, attempting to kill Rabbi Jacob. The real Rabbi Jacob arrives at Orly, where no one is waiting for him any more. He is mistaken for Victor Pivert by the police, then by Farès and his killers (both times in a painful way for his long beard).

There is a chaotic, but sweeping happy ending:

  • the revolution is a success, and Slimane becomes President of the Republic
  • Pivert's daughter falls in love with Slimane and escapes her dull fiance near the altar to go with him
  • Pivert learns tolerance towards other religions and cultures, and also Salomon and Slimane make peace with their respective Arab and Jewish colleagues
  • the Schmolls finally find the real Rabbi Jacob
  • the Piverts and the Schmolls go together feasting and celebrating

Cast
Poster for the French release.

Notes
  1. "The Mad Adventures of "Rabbi" Jacob". Allmovie. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  2. JP. "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob ()". JP's Box-Office (Version Mobile) (in French). Retrieved 2019-01-27.
  3. "A Film and Its Era: The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob – Aubery Edler – France". Eurochannel. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
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