The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Encyclopedia
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob is a 1973 French comedy film directed by Gérard Oury
Gérard Oury
Gérard Oury was a French film director, actor and writer. His real name was Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum.- A commercially successful French filmmaker :...

, starring Louis de Funès
Louis de Funès
Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza was a very popular French actor who is one of the giants of French comedy alongside André Bourvil and Fernandel...

 and Claude Giraud.

Plot

Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio
Marcel Dalio
Marcel Dalio was a French character actor. He had major roles in two of Jean Renoir's most famous films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game.- Biography :...

) is one of the most loved rabbis of New York. One day, the French side of his family, the Schmolls, invite him to celebrate the bar mitzvah of the young David. Rabbi Jacob boards a plane to leave America for his birthland of France after more than 30 years of American life. His young friend Rabbi Samuel comes with him.

In Normandy, the rich businessman Victor Pivert (Louis de Funès
Louis de Funès
Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza was a very popular French actor who is one of the giants of French comedy alongside André Bourvil and Fernandel...

) is also on his way; his daughter (Miou-Miou
Miou-Miou
Miou-Miou is a French actress. In her career she has worked with a number of international directors, including Michel Gondry, Bertrand Blier, Yves Boisset, Claude Berri, Jacques Deray, Michel Deville, Diane Kurys, Radu Mihăileanu, Patrice Leconte, Joseph Losey and Louis Malle.-Career:She was born...

) will be married the next day. Pivert is a dreadful man: bad-tempered, rude and a bigot, with a well-honed racism against blacks, Jews, and pretty much all foreigners. He and his driver, Salomon (Henri Guybet), have a car accident in which Pivert's car (carrying a speed boat) flips upside-down into a lake. When Salomon, who is Jewish, refuses to help because Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

 has just begun, Pivert fires him, much to Salomon's content.

Arab revolutionist leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) is kidnapped by killers who are working for his country's government. The team, led by Colonel Farès, takes him by night to an empty bubble gum factory... the same place where Victor Pivert goes to find assistance. Pivert involuntarily helps Slimane to flee, leaving two killers' corpses behind them. The police, alerted by Salomon, find the bodies and accuse Pivert of the crime.

The next day, Slimane forces Pivert to go to Orly airport to catch a plane to Slimane's country (if the revolution succeeds, he will become Prime Minister). However, they are followed by a number of people: the jealous Germaine, Pivert's wife, who thinks her husband is going to leave her for another woman; Farès and the killers; and the police commissioner Andréani (Claude Piéplu
Claude Piéplu
Claude Léon Auguste Piéplu was a French film and television actor.-Filmography:*Shadoks et le Big Blank, Les *Astérix et Obélix contre César *Chapeau bas...

), a zealous and stupid cop who imagines that Pivert is the new Al Capone.

Trying to conceal his and Pivert's identities, Slimane attacks two rabbis in the toilets, stealing their clothes and shaving their beards and their payot
Payot
Payot is the Hebrew word for sidelocks or sidecurls. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Biblical injunction against shaving the "corners" of one's head...

. The disguises are perfect, and they are mistaken for Rabbi Jacob and Rabbi Samuel by the Schmoll family. The only one who recognizes Pivert (and Slimane) behind the disguise is Salomon, his former driver, who just happens to be a Schmoll nephew. But Pivert and Slimane are able to keep their identity secret and even manage to hold a sermon in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, thanks to the polylingual Slimane (who is deeply gutted, of course).

After a few misunderstandings, Commissioner Andréani and his two inspectors are mistaken by the Jews for terrorists, attempting to kill Rabbi Jacob. The real Rabbi Jacob arrives at Orly, where no one is waiting for him any more. He is mistaken for Victor Pivert by the police, then by Farès and his killers (both times in a painful way for his long beard).

There is a chaotic, but sweeping happy ending:
  • the revolution is a success, and Slimane becomes President of the Republic
  • Pivert's daughter falls in love with Slimane and escapes her dull fiance near the altar to go with him
  • Pivert learns tolerance towards other religions and cultures, and also Salomon and Slimane make peace with their respective Arab and Jewish colleagues
  • the Schmolls finally find the real Rabbi Jacob
  • the Piverts and the Schmolls go together feasting and celebrating

Reception

The film is widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of French comedy, and has become a cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...

. It is also seen as one of the best socially-aware films, as the topic of the film (racism) is actually very serious. It contains funny (but clever) musings about a multicultural society and also delivers a powerful statement in favor of tolerance and understanding. The handshake between Slimane and Salomon towards the end of the movie (despite their differences, the Jew helped the Muslim) is a beautifully understated mark of understanding, full of reason.
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