L'emmerdeur is a 1973 French-Italian black comedy film starring Jacques Brel

Jacques Brel

Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...

, appearing in his tenth and final feature film. Directed by Édouard Molinaro

Édouard Molinaro

Édouard Molinaro is a French film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was born in Gironde, Bordeaux.He is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès , My Uncle Benjamin , Dracula and Son , and the Academy Award-nominated La Cage aux Folles Édouard Molinaro (born 13 May 1928) is a French...

 and co-starring Lino Ventura

Lino Ventura

Lino Ventura , was an Italian actor who starred in French movies.-Biography:Born as Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura in Parma, Italy to Giovanni Ventura and Luisa Borrini, "Lino" dropped out of school at the age of eight and later took on a variety of jobs...

, Caroline Cellier

Caroline Cellier

Caroline Cellier is a French actress. She has appeared in such films as L'année des méduses , La vie, l'amour, la mort, Le zèbre and Le plaisir .-External links:...

, and Jean-Pierre Darras, L'emmerdeur is an adaptation of Francis Veber

Francis Veber

Francis Paul Veber is a French film director, screenwriter and producer, and theater playwright. Many of his French comedies feature recurring types of characters, named François Pignon and François Perrin...

's 1971 play Le contrat.

Plot

Ralph Milan is a contract killer who is paid to kill Louis Randoni, whose testimony in various trials could harm the organisation. Ralph waits for his prey in his hotel room, but is interrupted by his comical neighbour, a shirt salesman named François Pignon (Jacques Brel). Pignon, who is suicidal since his wife left him for a reputated doctor named Fuchs (Jean-Pierre Darras), tries to hang himself on the waterpipes, but only manages to cause a flood. Realizing that if Pignon tries to kill himself again the police will search the place, Milan offers to talk him out of it until after his assassination. Unfortunately Pignon starts irritating him more, and makes it more difficult for him to fulfill his contract killing.

Cast

• Jacques Brel
  Jacques Brel
  Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
  
   – François Pignon
• Lino Ventura
  Lino Ventura
  Lino Ventura , was an Italian actor who starred in French movies.-Biography:Born as Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura in Parma, Italy to Giovanni Ventura and Luisa Borrini, "Lino" dropped out of school at the age of eight and later took on a variety of jobs...
  
   – Ralf Milan
• Caroline Cellier
  Caroline Cellier
  Caroline Cellier is a French actress. She has appeared in such films as L'année des méduses , La vie, l'amour, la mort, Le zèbre and Le plaisir .-External links:...
  
   – Louise Pignon
• Jean-Pierre Darras – Fuchs
• Nino Castelnuovo
  Nino Castelnuovo
  Francesco "Nino" Castelnuovo is an Italian actor. His perhaps most prominent role was starring as Guy Foucher in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg...
  
   – The bellhop
• Angela Cardile – The future mother
• Xavier Depraz – Louis Randoni
• Jean-Louis Tristan – The hotel inspector
• André Valardy – The hitchhiker
• Jean Franval – The hitchhiker
• Pierre Collet
  Pierre Collet
  Pierre Collet was a French film actor. He appeared in 104 films and television shows between 1943 and 1977.-Selected filmography:*Thérèse Étienne * Greed in the Sun * Mademoiselle...
  
   – The butcher
• Arlette Balkis – The patient
• Éric Vasberg – The rally pilot
• Jacques Galland – Maître Chamfort
• François Dyrek
  François Dyrek
  François Dyrek was a French actor. He appeared in 141 films and television shows between 1964 and 1999.-Selected filmography:* Let Joy Reign Supreme * Les Ambassadeurs...
  
  

Remakes

The film was remade in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1981 as Buddy Buddy

Buddy Buddy

Buddy Buddy is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder that stars Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paula Prentiss and Klaus Kinski. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1973 French language film L'Emmerdeur, which screenwriter Francis Veber had adapted from his play...

by Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...

 starring Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon

John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

 and Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...

. The film was remade in France in 2008 as L' Emmerdeur starring Patrick Timsit

Patrick Timsit

Patrick Timsit is a French comedian, writer and film director. He has been nominated for 4 César Awards, three times as an actor and once as a writer...

 and Richard Berry

Richard Berry

Richard Berry was an African American singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including The Flairs and The Robins....

.