{{for|the opera|Le magnifique (opera)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox film | name = Le Magnifique | image = Magnifique_affiche.jpg | director = Philippe de Broca | producer = Georges Dancigers <br> Alexandre Mnouchkine | writer = Philippe de Broca <br> Francis Veber <br> Jean-Paul Rappeneau | starring = Jean-Paul Belmondo<br>Jacqueline Bisset | music = Claude Bolling | cinematography =René Mathelin | editing = | distributor = C.C.F.C. | released = {{Film date|1973|11|29|ref1=<ref name="allmovie" />|df=y}} | runtime = 95 minutes | country = France<br/>Italy<ref name="allmovie">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/le-magnifique-v28644|title=Le Magnifique|accessdate=December 1, 2012|author=Brennan, Sandra|work=Allmovie}}</ref> | language = French | budget = | gross = 2,895,800 admissions (France)<ref>[http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/&prev=search Box office information for Jean Paul Belmondo films] at Box Office Story</ref> }} '''''Le Magnifique''''' (literally ''The Magnificent''; also known as '''''The Man from Acapulco''''') is a 1973 spy comedy, a French/Italian international co-production, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset and Vittorio Caprioli that was directed by Philippe de Broca. ''Le Magnifique'' is a slapstick spoof of B-series spy films and novels and the men who write them.
In the film, a financially struggling writer of spy novels imagines himself as an idealised superspy. In his imagination, he casts his female neighbor as the spy's paramour, and his publisher as an Albanian villain. The imagination is soon reflected in the formation of a love triangle in the writer's life.
==Synopsis== François Merlin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a Jean Bruce type writer of pulp espionage novels (he has written 42 so far) and about half of the film plays in his imagination, where he is the world-renowned superspy Bob Sinclar. (The name of the character is never seen written in the film. While some people write his name "Saint-Clair", the way it is pronounced in French sounds like Sinclar; in the English dubbed soundtrack the surname is "St. Cloud".)
Christine (Jacqueline Bisset) is a sociology student who lives in François' building and is interested in the novels, but in the writer's imagination she becomes Tatiana, his paramour, while the pompous and rich publisher of his novels, Pierre Charron (Vittorio Caprioli), doubles as the great villain of the spy novels, the Albanian secret service's head Karpov, who in a memorable scene of the film threatens to cut off one of Tatiana's breasts.
Christine is clearly fascinated with the handsome spy Bob Sinclar, an unrealistic and idealised hero, who is the very opposite of his creator: a clumsy, frustrated divorced man who barely makes enough money to get by. However, when she is befriended by the rich and vain publisher who looks down upon his poor hack writer, she realises her mistake, and after a party where he tries to seduce her, she flees him and falls asleep on the landing outside the writer's flat, where he finds her in the morning, clad apparently only in a T-shirt and embraces her for a happy ending. In the final scene, François throws over the balcony his last manuscript, freeing himself from his character and his imaginary life.
==Production== Due to a dispute between Francis Veber and director Philippe de Broca over the importance of the lead female character to the script, Francis Veber refused to be credited as a writer. As a result, the credits don't feature any writer.
==UK Release== In the United Kingdom, Le Magnifique was titled ''How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent'', and was released as the B-Movie to the film ''Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze'' in 1975.
== Cast == * Jean-Paul Belmondo : François Merlin / Bob Saint-Clar * Jacqueline Bisset : Christine / Tatiana * Vittorio Caprioli : Georges Charron / Colonel Karpof * {{ill|Monique Tarbès|fr|Monique Tarbès}} : Mrs. Berger * Mario David (actor) : Policeman * Raymond Gérôme : General Pontaubert * Jean Lefebvre : The electrician * Hans Meyer : Colonel Collins * André Weber : The plumber * Hubert Deschamps : Salesman * Bernard Musson : Interpreter * {{ill|Louis Navarre (actor)|fr|Louis Navarre (acteur)}} : Interpreter * {{ill|Jean-Pierre Rambal|fr|Jean-Pierre Rambal}} : The Lecturer * {{ill|Gaëtan Noël|fr|Gaëtan Noël}} : Doctor
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0070354|title=Le Magnifique}} *{{rotten-tomatoes|le_magnifique}} *[http://www.lefilmguide.com/review/le-magnifique-1973.html ''Le Magnifique'']{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at Le Film Guide {{Philippe de Broca}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnifique, Le}} Category:1970s parody films Category:1970s spy comedy films Category:1973 action comedy films Category:1973 films Category:1973 French films Category:1973 Italian films Category:Films about writers Category:Films directed by Philippe de Broca Category:Films scored by Claude Bolling Category:Films set in fictional countries Category:Films with screenplays by Francis Veber Category:Films with screenplays by Jean-Paul Rappeneau Category:French action comedy films Category:French parody films Category:French spy comedy films Category:Italian spy comedy films Category:Parody films based on James Bond films