Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
The bungling inspector Cruchot finds himself trying to save the residents of St. Tropez from some oil-drinking humanoid aliens. The only way to tell the aliens from the real people, besides their constant thirst for oil-products, is that they sound like empty garbage cans when you touch them. Chaos is ahead.
The sixth entry in the long-running French Gendarme comedy series, this late installment grafts a sci-fi alien-invasion premise onto the familiar Saint-Tropez slapstick formula. The plot is thin and episodic, relying on the same bumbling Cruchot routines that carried earlier films, though the alien-doppelganger gimmick adds mild novelty to the franchise. Louis de Funès remains the engine of the whole enterprise, his physical comedy and manic energy keeping things watchable even when the material is tired. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable for a broad studio comedy of the era. The ending wraps things up perfunctorily with little payoff. Entertaining for fans of de Funès but largely formulaic within the series.