The One Man Band (1970)

the leading man is my tpye

Wonderful character development!

the audience applauded

A Disappointing Continuation

in essence, nice slice from "70's. atmosphere, songs, dance, relationship. at the first few, a film of Louis de Funes, not real different by many others. but this is its great virtue - a story like pretext, the little tyrannic boss and the young women with plots, secrets, charm, Olivier de Funes in middle of feelings, surprises , using teenager humor, clichés - the Sicilian family - confusion and the clear sky. all the tricks of French cinema. and the same force of seduction. because it is nice, amusing, almost lovely. and because the admiration for the work of de Funes remains at high level. this detail is the most important. and the feeling after the end of film. like delicate flavor of a lost innocent age. so, a good option for relax.

Those were the seventies, alright. (especially for those like me who only remember them vaguely) Saturated primary colors everywhere, telephones shaped like pyramids or like molten wax, easy chairs that were all but easy to sit on, catchy music, silly lyrics. This movie is as stylized as it can be (short of a Greenaway movie) and provides silly, but stylish entertainment.Louis de Funès, at 56, shows that he is not only still the explosive comedian we all love, but that he is able to sing (in his way) and that he can even play a convincing chef-de-ballet, able to hold a candle to his female co-stars when it comes to dancing...And, as another reviewer pointed out, we come to see his softer side as well, in his relationship with his nephew (actually real-life son), "his" girls, "his" babies.The film benefits much from an excellent all-female dance chorus, and the dance numbers are catchy, and top-notch in their 1970 silliness.A very uncommon movie if you expect standard LdF fare. Plot is, of course, nonexistent as any de Funès movie, but here we have abundant song and dance numbers, a Babylonian confusion of at least five languages (shadows of Tati's "Play Time", perhaps?), a dancing (!) Louis de Funès, and, as I said, plenty of 1970 design (atrocities, if you want) in brilliant colors, including the girls' costumes, which magically change between scenes.9/10 all in all. Too many plot holes for a perfect 10, and sadly Olivier de Funès's acting talents, despite his good looks, cannot hold their ground for a lead role against his father. (He wisely chose to pursue a different career after one more movie) Yet, the movie is highly entertaining, stylish and Louis de Funès's acting makes this one his finest.

Daddy Funès' multifaceted career includes several bourgeois conventional comedies that we have already discussed on this site (HIBERNATUS, Oscar), and some less conventional humorous outings, such as L'HOMME ORCHESTRE and LE GRAND RESTAURANT. A comedy of music and dance, L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is an attempt at a sex comedy—with Funès in his usual sexless austere persona; he performs the head of a dance troop, as his choreographic talent allowed him.I think Funès would of made a convincing faun (Funès could have been, had he consented, an ultra—Finlay …), yet the type—casting or maybe his own ambitions and prejudices and petty bourgeois respectability—which again reverts to type—casting—kept him away from this and he promoted an asexual, grumpy sexless persona—like the irascible Evan—Evans in this comedy.L'HOMME ORCHESTRE's sexpot is a mellow blonde, Françoise, slightly plumper than the other babes in Funès' dance ensemble, and shown as conveniently loving an oldster. Another blonde, Hendrike—a young mom—seemed on the brink of taking over, but no …. So, to speak my mind, this is perhaps not a very good comedy, quite deficiently written, and one whose presumed and self—styled originality is not convincing; yet it is of course recommended to Funès fans because it features a few genuine Funès bits of 'divertissement. Except for Funès himself, nothing else is really very good in L'HOMME ORCHESTRE, and the movie looks, as I said, sadly undecided and murky. Of course such comedy—exploitation is not at all unusual in most famous comedy actors' careers. This one has the changing content of a varieties TV show; even Funès' character ceaselessly switches between the dances patron prestige and the yellow sportswear of a funny oldster ….The French popular comedies gone fancy tend to have somewhat loose structures, to look a bit pointless, to be rather vaguely paced; this one, and others like it, are not sophisticated comedies—in the sense Tati's are, but popular comedies gone fancy …. L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is indeed a bit murky, undecided about its own nature—a dance comedy, a grumpy asexual Funès comedy, Françoise's romance …--then, in the last third, a baby comedy, with the baby of one of the dancing girls …. The movie looks like a series of _divagations, and it offers only some very vague fun; anyway, even in terms of fun L'HOMME ORCHESTRE is meaningless—what was it about? It might have been about Evan—Evans' nephew, after all. The girls are nice, and the dancing numbers rather average.

i saw this movie about a hundred times, under the title Piti Piti Pa as used in Czech or Slovak Republic. This movie is great for people who have a good sense of humour. Louis De Funes stars in this movie with his son Olivier De Funes who is also a great actor. This movie is about a group of girl dancers led by a man who doesn't support the girls having men around or getting into any relationship. But on a tour, one of the girls finds out she has a son and out of desperation and fear of the boss telling her off, she uses him and his nephew to get out of it...