The Umbrella Coup

The Umbrella Coup
Film poster
Directed by	Gérard Oury
Written by	Gérard Oury Danièle Thompson
Produced by	Alain Poiré
Starring	Pierre Richard Gordon Mitchell Gert Fröbe
Cinematography	Henri Decaë
Edited by	Albert Jurgenson
Music by	Vladimir Cosma
Production company	Gaumont International
Distributed by	Gaumont Distribution
Release date	8 October 1980 (1980-10-08)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$18.4 million

The Umbrella Coup (French: Le Coup du parapluie) is a 1980 French comedy film directed by Gérard Oury, starring Pierre Richard, Gordon Mitchell and Gert Fröbe.

The creation of the film was inspired by several assassinations of Bulgarian dissidents where the so-called Bulgarian umbrella was used as a weapon. The working title of the film was Le Coup du Parapluie Bulgare.

It was shot the Epinay Studios and on location around Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jean André.

Plot

The unsuccessful actor and notorious ladies’ man Grégoire Lecomte is heading for a casting hoping to land the role of a hitman in a new comedy. His goal is to use the paycheck to settle debts — unpaid fines from the road police and outstanding repair fees to a service company for plumbing issues (the latter is revealed through a voicemail message from a plumber threatening legal action). Grégoire mistakenly enters the wrong room and finds himself in a meeting with real mafia members. He confuses their boss, Don Barberini, for a film producer, while the mobsters mistakenly believe Grégoire to be an actual assassin. Don Barberini gives him a 50,000-franc advance and sends him to Saint-Tropez to eliminate Otto Krampe, nicknamed "Whale," a weapons dealer accused of selling faulty arms to an African leader. Don also warns Grégoire about Whale’s dangerous bodyguards, who double as his personal doctors.

Salvatore Bozzoni, Don Barberini’s associate, equips Grégoire with a murder weapon — an umbrella containing a built-in syringe full of potassium cyanide. However, Bozzoni, acting as a double agent, informs Otto Krampe about Grégoire’s mission. Grégoire, oblivious to the truth, assumes he's heading to Saint-Tropez for a film shoot. Meanwhile, the mafia is under surveillance by criminal police and counterintelligence agents, who struggle to determine Grégoire’s role in the unfolding events. Sylvette, an undercover agent using the alias "Bunny," pretends to be a fan of Grégoire and accompanies him to St-Tropez.

Don Barberini later realizes his mistake when he spots Grégoire in a dog food advertisement on the side of a bus. He then hires Moskovitz, a professional assassin with an unrecognizable face due to multiple plastic surgeries, and sends him to Saint-Tropez to clean up the mess.

At the same time, Whale orders his own men — The Doctor, a sniper, and Stanislas Lefort, nicknamed "Crazy," to kill Grégoire. Their attempts fail disastrously. Crazy dies from the umbrella’s poison during a flight when Grégoire carelessly pokes it between the seats. Later, The Doctor dies in a car accident caused by Grégoire's friend Frédo, who loses control on a mountain road.

Grégoire and Sylvette arrive in Saint-Tropez and check into a hotel where Whale is celebrating his birthday. Moskovitz and Grégoire’s girlfriend, Josiane, also arrive at the hotel. Meanwhile, Whale sends his bodyguard Radj Kahn, skilled with knives, to retrieve the umbrella from Grégoire’s room. Radj Kahn encounters Moskovitz instead, resulting in a deadly fight where Moskovitz kills Kahn with the poisoned umbrella. Moskovitz then infiltrates the bar, injures the bartender, and kills Otto Krampe. He prepares to shoot Grégoire and potentially other guests to eliminate witnesses but is unexpectedly stopped by Sylvette. She kills Moskovitz with a precise shot and reveals her true identity as a criminal police officer tasked with eliminating Krampe.

Grégoire, realizing the events would make an excellent movie plot, turns his ordeal into a film. In the epilogue, Grégoire and Sylvette, now married, premiere their film at the Cannes Film Festival. Grégoire is both the director, screenwriter, and lead actor, while Don Barberini serves as the film’s successful producer. However, the comedy doesn’t end there — Grégoire finds a parking ticket on the windshield of his cabriolet. Laughing it off, he drives away with Sylvette, Don Barberini, and others, escorted by police.

Cast

• Pierre Richard as Grégoire Lecomte
• Gordon Mitchell as Moskovitz
• Valérie Mairesse as Sylvette a.k.a. Bunny
• Christine Murillo as Josyane Leblanc
• Gert Fröbe as Otto Krampe a.k.a. Whale
• Gérard Jugnot as Frédo
• Vittorio Caprioli as Don Barberini
• Yaseen Khan as Radj Kahn
• Didier Sauvegrain as Stanislas Lefort a.k.a. Crazy
• Mike Marshall as the Doctor
• Roger Carel as Salvatore Bozzoni
• Dominique Lavanant as Mireille
• Maurice Risch as the Producer

See also

• Never a Dull Moment (1968)

External links

• The Umbrella Coup at IMDb
• The Umbrella Coup/Le Coup du parapluie at the Cinemovies site
• The Umbrella Coup overview at the New York Times