''Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'' (released in the UK as ''Too Many Chefs'') is a 1978

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

directed by

Ted Kotcheff William Theodore Kotcheff (born April 7, 1931) is a Bulgarian-Canadian film and television director, writer and producer, known primarily for his work on British and American television productions such as ''Armchair Theatre'' and '' Law & Order ...

and starring

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as ''Ship o ...

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

and

Robert Morley Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, of ...

. It is based on the 1976 novel ''Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe'' by Nan and Ivan Lyons.

Plot

Natasha "Nat" O'Brien is a celebrated pastry chef invited to London to assist in preparing a

state dinner A state banquet is an official banquet hosted by the head of state in his or her official residence for another head of state, or sometimes head of government, and other guests. Usually as part of a state visit or diplomatic conference, it is ...

for the queen, organized by culinary critic Maximillian "Max" Vandeveer. Natasha's ex-husband, Robert "Robby" Ross, is a fast-food entrepreneur ("the Taco King") serving the "everyman" consumer while she caters to the affluent. Max is the "calamitously fat" grand

gourmand A gourmand is a person who takes great pleasure and interest in consuming good food and drink. ''Gourmand'' originally referred to a person who was "a glutton for food and drink", a person who eats and drinks excessively; this usage is now rare. ...

publisher of a gourmet magazine ''Epicurious'' and is patron of several famous European chefs, each renowned for a signature dish. When Natasha arrives, Max is gloating over his latest issue, featuring "the world's most fabulous meal," which highlights the culinary masterpieces of his favorite chefs. However, Max's health is failing from an addiction to those chefs' specialties. After completing the meal at Buckingham Palace, Natasha has a one-night fling with chef Louis Kohner whose specialty is baked pigeon in crust. The next morning, Natasha finds Louis dead in a 450° oven. After being questioned by Inspector Blodgett, Natasha and Robby depart for Venice, where Natasha is wooed by another chef, Fausto Zoppi, whose specialty is a lobster dish. However, when turning up for their date at his kitchen, Natasha finds Zoppi dead in a tank of lobsters. After more questioning, this time by Venice police, Natasha receives a call from Robby to come to Paris to help prevent one member of a group of French chefs from being murdered. When they arrive, they hold a meeting discussing how Louis and Zoppi were killed and what to do next. Later that night, after a phone call from Max (who learns from his assistant Beecham that Natasha is no longer in Venice, but in Paris staying with Robby), Natasha puts together what Louis and Zoppi had in common – both made a dish featured in the aforementioned magazine article. It is now known that the next to be killed will be Jean-Claude Moulineau, whose specialty is

pressed duck Pressed duck (french: canard à la presse, caneton à la presse, canard à la rouennaise, caneton à la rouennaise or canard au sang) is a traditional French dish. The complex dish is a specialty of Rouen and its creation attributed to an innk ...

. The disturbing fact is that the killings are following the order of a meal, so Natasha will be the last to be killed, her specialty being a dessert known as "Le'

Bombe The bombe () was an electro-mechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II. The US Navy and US Army later produced their own machines to the same functiona ...

Richelieu." Robby tries to calm Natasha by suspecting Max as the killer, with the motive that he was the one who selected Natasha, Louis, Fausto and Jean-Claude to be in the magazine, but Natasha believes the killer is really Auguste Grandvilliers, with the motive that he was left off the list; however, when they attempt to call Moulineau to warn him, they receive a phone call from Grandvilliers that someone is at his restaurant. When they arrive, Robby and Natasha find Grandvilliers on a meat hook in the freezer, still alive. Robby and Natasha begin falling in love again. After being questioned by police, Natasha and Robby learn from Inspector Doyle that Moulineau was killed after being pushed headfirst into a duck-press. Back in London, Natasha is set to be a guest on ''A Moveable Feast.'' Robby initially decides to stay with her to keep her safe. However, Robby and Natasha learn from Max that Blodgett called Beecham to inform her that Grandvilliers confessed to the murders, so Robby can head to Brussels. As he is heading to the airport, he's watching Natasha on TV and realizes that the cake that Natasha is set to light – the cake Robby poked three holes into like a bowling ball – was switched and now has a bomb inside it. He calls Blodgett to confront him about Grandvilliers' confession, only to learn no one confessed. That's when Robby once again suspects Max is the killer. He arrives at the TV studio and rescues her just in time, as 30–45 seconds later, the cake explodes on-air. In the end, the killer turns out to be not Max, as Robby suspected, but Beecham, Max's dedicated assistant whose motive was admiration and love for Max. She wanted to kill the chefs to protect Max from the food he couldn't resist that was slowly killing him. In the final scene, Robby and Natasha get remarried.

Cast

as Robert Ross *

as Natasha O'Brien *

as Maximillian Vandeveer *

Jean-Pierre Cassel Jean-Pierre Cassel (born Jean-Pierre Crochon; 27 October 1932 – 19 April 2007) was a French actor. Early life Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite (née Fabrègue), an opera si ...

as Louis Kohner *

Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student and ...

as Jean-Claude Moulineau * Jean Rochefort as Auguste Grandvilliers *

Gigi Proietti Luigi "Gigi" Proietti (2 November 1940 – 2 November 2020) was an Italian actor, voice actor, comedian, musician, singer and television presenter. Early life He was born in Rome to Romano Proietti, originally from Umbria, and Giovanna Ceci, a ...

as Ravello (as Luigi Proietti) *

Stefano Satta Flores Stefano Satta Flores (14 January 1937 – 22 October 1985) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Naples, Italy, Satta Flores graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in the Italian capital city of Rome. He bega ...

as Fausto Zoppi *

Madge Ryan :''She is sometimes confused with American actress Fran Ryan.'' Madge Winifred Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian actress, known for her stage and film roles in the United Kingdom, including London stage productions of ' ...

as Beecham *

Frank Windsor Frank Windsor Higgins (12 July 1928 – 30 September 2020), known professionally as Frank Windsor, was an English actor, primarily known for his roles on television, especially policeman John Watt in ''Z-Cars'' and its spin-offs. Biography Win ...

as Blodgett *

Peter Sallis Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

as St. Claire *

Tim Barlow Michael John Leigh Barlow (born 18 January 1936), whose stage name is Tim Barlow or sometimes Timothy Barlow, is an English actor who has performed many small roles in a variety of films, television programmes and plays. Barlow left the army ...

as Inspector Doyle *

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation co ...

as Dr. Deere *

Joss Ackland Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Del ...

as Cantrell * Jean Gaven as Salpetre *

Daniel Emilfork Daniel Emilfork (7 April 1924 – 17 October 2006) was a Chilean stage and film actor who made his career in France. Biography Emilfork was born in San Felipe, Chile after his Jewish socialist parents from Kiev fled a pogrom in Odessa. A ...

as Saint-Juste *

Jacques Marin Jacques Marin (9 September 1919 – 10 January 2001) was a French actor on film and television. Marin's fluency in English and his instantly recognisable features made him a familiar face in some major American and British productions (''Cha ...

as Massenet *

Jacques Balutin Jacques Balutin is a French actor.Michael Chow as Soong *

Anita Graham Anita Graham (born 15 February 1948) is a British film, stage and television actress and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Graham's first television role was in an episode of '' Crossroads'' (1964). She went on to appear in '' T ...

as Blonde * Nicholas Ball as Skeffington *

David Cook David Cook may refer to: Entertainment * David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR * David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol'' * David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...

as Bussingbill *

Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film ''Chariots of Fire'', which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war drama ...

as Counterman *

Caroline Langrishe Caroline Langrishe (born 10 January 1958) is an English actress. Early life Born in London, Langrishe is the elder daughter of Patrick Nicholas Langrishe (1932–2022), of The Manor House, Sellindge, Kent, a Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, late ...

as Loretta

Release

The film was distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and produced by

Lorimar Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisio ...

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

acquired Lorimar in 1989 and now owns the rights to the film.

Reception

The film received critical acclaim and currently has a fresh 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

called it "a light, silly entertainment with class."

Awards

Morley won Best Supporting Actor at the 1978 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1978) and at the

National Society of Film Critics The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...

Awards (1979). He was also nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role along with Bisset for Best Motion Picture Actress (1979).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe? 1978 films 1970s black comedy films American black comedy films 1970s comedy mystery films Cooking films 1970s English-language films English-language German films Films scored by Henry Mancini Films directed by Ted Kotcheff Films set in London Films set in Paris Films set in Venice American serial killer films West German films 1970s serial killer films American comedy mystery films 1978 comedy films 1970s American films Films about chefs