Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
The whole clique of Cruchot's police station is retired. Now he lives with his rich wife in her castle - and is bored almost to death. He fights with the butler, because he isn't even allowed to do the simple works. But when one of the clique suffers from amnesia after an accident, all of the others reunite and kidnap him, to take him on a tour to their old working places and through their memories. In their old uniforms they turn St. Tropez upside down.
The sixth and penultimate entry in the long-running Gendarme series starring Louis de Funès, this 1970 installment follows the formula established by its predecessors with diminishing returns. The amnesia-and-reunion plot is thin and episodic, serving mainly as a loose frame for slapstick set pieces rather than delivering genuine narrative momentum. De Funès remains an energetic and committed physical comedian, lifting the material above its script, but the supporting cast operates mostly as props for his antics. Visually the film is functional French commercial cinema of the era with nothing distinctive to offer. As the series had by this point repeated its core gags and Saint-Tropez setting multiple times, novelty is minimal. The ending wraps up predictably with little emotional payoff. A serviceable comedy for fans of de Funès but unremarkable otherwise.