Thanks to Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, science fiction in the late 1970s enjoyed such popularity that it began to be exploited by cinema industries, film-makers, and even film franchises that previously had nothing to do with the genre. A good example can be found in Le Gendarme (a.k.a. Troops), the popular series of French comedies starring Louis de Funès. The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials, the 1979 film directed by Jean Girault and the fifth instalment of the series, thus became a science-fiction comedy.
De Funès again plays the protagonist, Master Sergeant Ludovic Cruchot, a member of the National Gendarmerie brigade stationed in St. Tropez, a picturesque town on the French Riviera and popular tourist destination. The film begins when he is driving with his subordinate, Beaupied (played by Maurice Risch), and the car breaks down. While Cruchot tries to fix the vehicle, Beaupied wanders into the forest and witnesses the landing of a flying saucer. Cruchot at first does not believe his tale, but when he drives with his superior, Gerber (played by Michel Galabru), exactly the same thing happens; only this time it is Cruchot who sees the flying saucer while nobody believes him. Cruchot is soon visited by a strange young man (played by Lambert Wilson) who reveals himself to be a shape-shifting alien, a member of an expedition tasked with researching humanity. It soon turns out that the aliens have the ability to perfectly mimic humans with whom they have come into contact, so Cruchot soon finds an alien shapeshifter who doubles for Gerber, but also has problems distinguishing between him and the real Gerber. Cruchot nevertheless decides to use all of his ingenuity and determination to prove that he is not insane and, even more importantly, to find a way to defeat the alien invaders.
From the mid-1960s until the late 1970s, Louis de Funès was France’s most successful comic actor, with his films regularly topping the box office. At the end of this period, his career was affected by serious health problems. This, among other things, resulted in a long hiatus between the previous film, The Gendarme Takes a Stroll, and this one, which created problems with the availability of the cast (Maria Mauban had to replace Claude Gensac, who had played Cruchot’s wife in the previous two films). Despite his advanced age and lack of physical energy, de Funès nevertheless worked hard on this film to compensate for its flaws. And there were many, starting with a script that was rather underwhelming, especially in the first part (a lame attempt at satire of crass commercialism was one such example) and quite abysmal special effects. Aware of the latter, the producers wisely decided to use the shapeshifting motif to save on the budget. The Extra-Terrestrials improves considerably from the middle, when some sort of coherent plot takes shape and France Rumilly appears in the recurring role of Sister Clotilde. De Funès is at his best in the brilliant scene that takes place in the monastery, and the general impression is further improved by an interesting twist in the finale. Perhaps a little aware that the humour was not that strong, director and de Funès's old collaborator Girault tries to compensate for it with attractive vistas of St. Tropez and its surroundings, as well as scenes featuring attractive bikini-clad women on the beach. While critics were not happy, the audience was, and The Extra-Terrestrials became another big hit in de Funès’s career. Although far from being a classic, it could be recommended as solid entertainment even today.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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