A good, simple comedy is like an omlette: it looks easy, but actually very difficult to do well, to make it light, fluffy and delicious, as it should be.
Fortunately here we are served just such a plate of nicely scrambled eggs. The comic idea is very straightforward: the slow but certain disintegration of the austere assassin, Lino Ventura. But what consistency and what control in getting the idea across! From the unlikely sombre opening sequence, the joke is carefully developed and slowly but surely built up, to the gun-slinging frenzy of the climax. No big accomplishment, you may say, but still very admirable.
Ventura, a tough-guy persona, here shows unsuspected comic potential in a dead-pan, nervy and hilariously disciplined manner. Highly recommendable, for 80mins of carefree fun.
