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Backfire (1964 film)

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Backfire
Film poster
Directed byJean Becker
Screenplay byJean Becker
Maurice Fabre
Didier Goulard
Luis Marquina
Claude Sautet
dialogue
Daniel Boulanger
Based onthe novel by Clet Coroner
Produced byPaul-Edmond Decharme
StarringJean-Paul Belmondo
Jean Seberg
Enrico Maria Salerno
CinematographyEdmond Séchan
Edited byMonique Kirsanoff
Music byGrégorio García Ségura
Martial Solal
Production
companies
Capotole Movies
South Pacific Films
Distributed byC.C.F.C.
Release date
  • 4 September 1964 (1964-09-04) (France)
Running time
97 mins
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Box office2,007,088 admissions (France)[1]

Backfire (French: Échappement libre, Italian: Scappamento aperto, Spanish: A escape libre) is a 1964 French crime film directed by Jean Becker, which stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, reuniting for the first time since Breathless (1960).

Plot

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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

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Production

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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.[2]

Filming took place from February 10 to April 7, 1964. Costa-Gavras was an assistant director.[1]

Reception

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The film was the 19th most popular movie at the French box office in 1964.[3]

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."[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Box office information for Backfire". Box Office Story. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  2. ^ Coates-Smith, Michael; McGee, Garry (4 May 2012). The Films of Jean Seberg. McFarland. p. 89. ISBN 9780786490226.
  3. ^ "1964 French box office". Box Office Story. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  4. ^ Vagg, Stephen (February 3, 2020). "Top 10 Unmemorable Films Starring Legendary Screen Couples". Filmink.
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