''Backfire'' (french: Échappement libre, it, Scappamento aperto, es, A escape libre) is a 1964 French crime film directed by Jean Becker, which stars

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...

and

Jean Seberg Jean Dorothy Seberg (; ; November 13, 1938August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half of her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''Breathless'' immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema. Seb ...

, reuniting for the first time since ''

Breathless Breathless may refer to: Aircraft *Paradelta Breathless, an Italian paraglider design Film and television * Breathless (1960 film), ''Breathless'' (1960 film) (''À bout de souffle''), a French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard * Breathless (1982 ...

'' (1960).

Plot

A criminal organisation offers a Parisian man, David, $10,000 to transport a car across Europe. They tell him little about it except that drugs are not involved. He is accompanied by a photographer, Olga. David discovers he is smuggling gold. The two travel to Beirut then Damascus. They fall in love and David wants the gold for himself.

Cast

as David Ladislas *

as Olga Celan *

Enrico Maria Salerno Enrico Maria Salerno (September 18, 1926 – February 28, 1994) was an Italian actor, voice actor and film director. He was also the voice of Clint Eastwood in the Italian version of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films, and the voice of Ch ...

as Mario *

Gert Fröbe Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Ope ...

as Fehrman *

Renate Ewert Renate Ewert (9 November 1933 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany - now Kaliningrad, Russia – 4 December 1966, Munich, West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: ...

as Comtesse *

Jean-Pierre Marielle Jean-Pierre Marielle (12 April 1932 – 24 April 2019) was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films in which he played very diverse roles, from a banal citizen (''Les Galettes de Pont-Aven''), to a World War II hero ('' Les Milles ...

as Van Houde * Diana Lorys as Rosetta *

Fernando Rey Fernando Casado Arambillet (La Coruña (Spain), 20 September 1917 – Madrid (Spain), 9 March 1994), best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, i ...

as the Lebanese policeman * Wolfgang Preiss as Grenner * Michel Beaune as Daniel * Roberto Camardiel as Stephanidès *

Fernando Sancho Fernando Sancho Les (7 January 1916 – 31 July 1990) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during o ...

as Ylmaz *

Giacomo Furia Giacomo Matteo Furia (2 January 1925 – 5 June 2015) was an Italian film, television and stage actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1948 and 1998. Life and career Born in Arienzo, near Caserta, Furia started his acting career ...

as Nino

Production

The film was made by the same team who had produced '' Banana Peel'' (1963). It was to have starred Jean Louis Trintignant but he withdrew and was replaced by Belmondo. Filming took place from February 10 to April 7, 1964.

Costa-Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

was an assistant director.

Reception

The film was the 19th most popular movie at the French box office in 1964. In 2020 ''Fimink'' wrote "The film’s existence is ideal useless trivia to annoy people with now that the Jean Seberg biopic has come out."

References

External links

* * *
''Backfire''
at Le Film Guide
''Backfire''
at Uni France
Review of film
at New York Times 1964 films 1964 crime films French crime films Films directed by Jean Becker Films set in West Germany Films set in Greece Films set in Italy Films set in Lebanon Films set in Spain Films shot in Almería 1960s French-language films 1960s French films {{1960s-France-film-stub