Themes: Class Differences, Mistaken Identities, Twins and Lookalikes
Main Cast: Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Billie Whitelaw
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Two French peasants are mistaken for a pair of aristocratic nobles in this historical situation comedy. Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland play the dual roles. Happy to be taken for nobles, the pair soon runs to escape the guillotine in the wake of the French Revolution's blood purge of the upper class and royalty. Hugh Griffith play Louis XVI, with Billie Whitelaw as the amorous Marie Antoinette. The pair are chased by the evil Duke d'Escargot (Victor Spinetti). Orson Welles appears at the beginning and the end of the film as the narrator. Wilder and Sutherland encounter a variety of comical situations in their dual roles of peasants and blue-blooded eccentrics. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
Start the Revolution Without Me has developed something of a cult following in the decades since its release, comprised largely of fans of stars Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder and of the anarchic, anything-goes farcical style of mid-'70s Mel Brooks. Like those Brooks films, Revolution is very silly and very frenetic; also like (some of) those Brooks films, Revolution doesn't always know when to pull back. There are some things, such as the ball at the palace, that work tremendously well; there are, unfortunately, many others that simply fall flat. This becomes increasingly the case toward the end of the film, which simply peters out. Many will feel that Revolution has built up sufficient good will before this so that they won't mind, but others will become increasingly irritated with Revolution and feel that it promises much more than it delivers. Whatever one's reaction, most viewers will find the stars well worth watching and will be delightfully surprised by the wonderful comic performance of Hugh Griffith as Louis XVI. There's also some opulent visuals, which tend to work against the actual comedy but are quite attractive on their own terms. Bud Yorkin's direction is as uneven as the film itself; again, those who are "tuned in" won't mind the lapses. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Victor Spinetti - Duke D'Escargot; Ewa Aulin - Christina; Orson Welles - Narrator; Denise Coffey - Anne Duval; Harry Fowler - Marcel; Helen Fraser - Mimi Montage; Rosalind Knight - Helen DeSisi; Barry Lowe - Sergeant; Jack MacGowran - Jacques Cabriolet; Jacques Maury - Lt. Sorel; Murray Melvin - Blind Man; Ken Parry - Dr. Boileau; Maxwell Shaw - Duke DeSisi; Graham Stark - Andre Coupe; George A. Cooper - Dr. Duval
Credit
Francois de Lamothe - Art Director, Alan Barrett - Costume Designer, Bud Yorkin - Director, John C. Horger - Editor, Ferris Webster - Editor, Norman Lear - Executive Producer, John Addison - Composer (Music Score), John Addison - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jean Tournier - Cinematographer, Norman Lear - Producer, Bud Yorkin - Producer, Gabriel Bechir - Set Designer, Fred Freeman - Screen Story, Larry Cohen - Screenwriter, Lawrence J. Cohen - Screenwriter, Fred Freeman - Screenwriter
Two sets of identical twins, played by Wilder and Sutherland, are accidentally switched at birth. One set is aristocratic and haughty, the other poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigues. Orson Welles, portraying himself, narrates the film.
Awards
Start the Revolution Without Me authors Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen were nominated for a WGA award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" in 1971.
Quotations
"Make haste, Escargot."
Narrator: "Paris, France, 1789. Thirty years later, under the reign of Louis XVI, longstanding grievances between aristocrat and peasant were about to boil over. The pot in which these troubles boiled was kindled with the firewood of oppression and injustice and heated by the flames that sucked the air from gasping peasants. Would the pot cool off, would it merely simmer, or would it boil over in the kitchen of France-- to stain the floor of history forever?"
Treatment of History
As a spoof, the film has no pretense of historical accuracy. Louis XVI, who was 38 years old at the time of his death, is played by Hugh Griffith, who was in his late fifties when the film was shot. He is portrayed as a bumbling cuckold. Marie Antoinette, here called simply Marie, is portrayed as a nymphomaniac. The French Revolution is depicted as being led exclusively by the impoverished masses, while most revolutionary leaders were actually middle or upper-class citizens. The film also portrays the man in the iron mask, who actually lived during the reign of Louis XIV.
