The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun *** (1970, Samantha Eggar, Oliver Reed, Stéphane Audran, John McEnery) – Classic Movie Review 10,929

The enjoyable 1970 French psychological thriller film The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun stars Samantha Eggar, Oliver Reed, Stéphane Audran and John McEnery. A body turns up in the trunk of Eggar’s car… 

Director Anatole Litvak’s enjoyable 1970 French psychological thriller film The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun [La Dame dans l’Auto avec des Lunettes et un Fusil] is a not bad at all thriller. It stars Samantha Eggar, Oliver Reed, Stéphane Audran and John McEnery, and is based on the novel by Sébastien Japrisot.

English rose Samantha Eggar hits the movie Eurotrail as a British secretary in Paris who seems to be going crazy on the drive in her boss (Oliver Reed)’s car for a holiday to the south of France, apparently retracing a journey she has not taken and recognised by people she has never met. Then a corpse turns up in the boot of the car…

It looks sleek and glossy (thanks to ace cinematographer Claude Renoir’s superb pictures in Eastmancolor) and, if the story, based on Sébastien Japrisot’s 1966 novel, is pretty far fetched and daft, the mystery and suspense are still there, and Eggar keeps the show on the road.

Also in the cast are Billie Dixon, Bernard Fresson, Marcel Bozzuffi, Philippe Nicaud, Yves Pignot, Martine Kelly, and Maria Meriko.

And for that authentic flavour of 1970, there is a score by Michel Legrand and Petula Clark sings Michel Legrand’s title track song ‘On the Road’, as well as Legrand’s song ‘Je Roule’ (sung in French).

The screenplay by Sébastien Japrisot and Anatole Litvak (screenplay and dialogue) is based on Sébastien Japrisot’s novel. The dialogue in the English version is by Richard Harris and Eleanor Perry.

It runs 105 minutes.

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun is made by Lira Films and released by Columbia Pictures.

It is released on 5 January 1970 (UK).

It is the final film of director Anatole Litvak.

It is filmed at Studios de Boulogne, and on location in Paris, Avignon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Marseille, Moret-sur-Loing, and Remoulins.

It is remade as 2015 French-Belgian mystery thriller film The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (2015), directed by Joann Sfar and starring Freya Mavor, Benjamin Biolay, Elio Germano, and Stacy Martin. The remake was a commercial failure.

The cast are Samantha Eggar as Danielle “Dany” Lang, Oliver Reed as Michael Caldwell, John McEnery as Yves-Marie aka Philippe, Stéphane Audran as Anita Caldwell, Billie Dixon as tall girl, Bernard Fresson as Jean Yvain, Marcel Bozzuffi as Manuel, Philippe Nicaud as highway policemani, Yves Pignot, Martine Kelly, and Maria Meriko.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,929

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com