I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

An author writes cheap novels about the adventures of one Bob Saint-Clar, an impossibly handsome, suave and cosmopolitan secret agent. The life of the author is no great fun. He has difficulty in making ends meet and is treated as a slave by his editor, who pretty much answers the question of what would happen if a tapeworm could walk on two legs and speak. When the author meets a beauteous female student - all this and brains too ! - things begin to look better ; but then, the course of true love rarely runs smooth... The life of the author and the exotic adventures of Saint-Clar begin to blend and bleed, like the colors in a cheap fabric - and the results aren't pretty.This is the concept behind "Le Magnifique" ("The Splendid One"), a French comedy about the relationship between an author and his creation and about the dangers and joys of vicarious living. It is also a deliriously surreal take on secret agent movies of the Bond, James Bond kind. (All women adore him ! All men envy him ! He speaks seventeen languages, plays the piano like a god and knows his wines ! He climbs mountains and fights tigers ! He looks sharp in a tuxedo even when burning to a crisp in a volcano !) Belmondo shows himself a most generous artist by throwing himself wholeheartedly into a parody of his usual roles. (As an actor, Belmondo was France's Adventurer-General.) Bisset too delivers a fine performance, both as a determined yet vulnerable student and as Saint-Clars love interest Tatiana. The scenes and dialogues between Saint-Clar and his Tatiana are so delightfully godawful that they belong in a museum.This fine comedy has achieved cult status in France - and rightly so.

When l'd watched this picture in 1988 l'd found it a crap...now in first time on DVD with original audio (Ugh!!) looks to me more acceptable and digestible...the plot is very clever but the acting is bizarre...nonsense and surreal....Jacqueline Bisset delivery your attractiveness to saves the movie....Jean Paul Belmondo is fine when he playing the writer only....the Mexican landscape helps to much....this odd french comedy is dated and isn't for all taste...but works for a killing time only and of course to see how beauty Jacqueline Bisset was in the seventies!!! Resume:First watch: 1988 / How Many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 6.25

Bob Sinclar is the greatest secret agent in the world : he is handsome, strong, intelligent, unstoppable ... and he doesn't exist. You're irritated by the perfection of James (Bond) ? check this movie.This movie looks old, and most of its jokes don't work as well as it worked 31 yrs ago, yet, this movie has to be seen. It is short, and there are some great findings (and some stuff are still funny too). Actually the concepts in the movie are better than the movie itself IMHO, but it's still a nice movie. When I was a kid I LOVED that movie so much !!! BTW, I guess that the name Sinclar comes from who was James Bond at this time (Roger Moore) that was Simon Templar and Lord Sinclair on TV.I almost forgot : if you're a man ... or a lesbian, Jacqueline Bisset is a sufficient enough reason to watch the movie." - coucouroucoucou coucouroucoucou VOS GUEULES !!! cou ... ou ..."Check it out.

There are some cornball aspects to this film, but it also incredibly inspired in many ways. It is best not to read a bunch of summaries of the plot, just watch it and revel in the imagery which is fantastic in many parts. Belmondo is fantastic as is Jacqueline Bisset. If you already found sixties spy/agent films campy, this film will be a wonderful release, but also a haunting pastiche of dark humor on the whole genre. The jokes are layered very thick, not all of them hit, but compared to the campy schtick done in hollywood, this is shakespearean.