History Film / TheBrain1969

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''The Brain'' (''Le Cerveau'' in French) is a 1969 French heist comedy film directed by Gérard Oury and starring Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo, Creator/{{Bourvil}} and Creator/EliWallach.

* AsHimself: The English poster, as seen above, includes "The Statue of Liberty" in the list of stars.

* CoolPet: The Brain has a leopard pet.

* CrankyNeighbor: The couple who lives under the Brain's appartement. A water leak and Arthur's impersonating the Brain encourage the husband to go punch the gentleman upstairs.

* MsFanservice: Sofia, quite intentionally at first to piss off her brother. She introduces herself to the Brain by stripping down to her undies, breaking her window, gliding down a cord and [[ShowerScene getting a shower]] in front of Frankie, the Brain and their associates and bodyguard, all the while having a love song blazing through her radio[[note]] ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ECqmbdNuE Cento Giorni]]'' by Caterina Caselli [[/note]].

* MsFanservice: Sofia, quite intentionally at first to piss off her brother. She introduces herself to the Brain by stripping down to her undies, breaking her window, gliding down a cord and [[ShowerScene getting a shower]] in front of Frankie, the Brain and their associates and bodyguard, all the while having a love song blazing through her radio.

* HamAndDeadpanDuo: Arthur is the ham. He is always self-confident, ambitious and bombastic. Anatole is the deadpan: he keeps on complaining anf making sarcastic comments.

'''Arthur''': It's raining in your place? As intended!

* {{Shoutout}}: One of the guards on the train reads ''Recap/TintinTheCalculusAffair''.

'''Animated Brain''': Well, it's exactly what we're going to do, [[BatmanGambit because every idiot will react like you did]].

* PantheraAwesome: The Brain's pet.

* BavarianFireDrill: Arthur orders the driver of a car to follow another car. He says that he is the police. The driver does not believe him because he is a policeman himself, but he pretends to be fooled, because he thinks this may be a convenient way to get to the author of the train job and his loot.

* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Sofia suggestively takes a shower in front of the Brain to get on her brother's nerves.

* RefugeInAudacity: Invoked by both The Brain's and Arthur's plans, which are to reproduce an older heist. Also the chosen "Piggy-Bank" where Frankie hides the money.

* CoolPet: The Brain has a cheetah pet.

* CrankyNeighbor: The couple who lives under the Brain's appartment. A water leak and Arthur's impersonating the Brain encourage the husband to go punch the gentleman upstairs.

->''Who's got a computer for a mind ?\\
'''[[TitleThemeTune The Brain !]]'''\\
Who's got an IQ like an Einstein ?\\
'''[[TitleThemeTune The Brain !]]'''\\
He's [[EvilGenius a genius]] but he's [[TheChessmaster a schemer]] who plays [[EvilPlan a fiendish game]]\\
[[EvilIsCool Diabolically cool]], [[DoNotTauntCthulhu don't fool with]] '''[[TitleThemeTune The Brain !]]''' ''
-->-- '''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Breed The American Breed]]''', ''in the film's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbLYvlCFehg main theme]]''

!!Tropes:

* TheCaper / GambitPileup: Two separate groups of thieves try to rob the same train at the same time, while a third just waits to take advantage of its results.

-->'''Neighbor''': It's raining in my place, Sir!
-->'''Arthur''': It's raining in your place? As intended!

-->'''The Brain''': Your wife?
-->'''Frankie''': No, my sister.
-->'''The Brain''': Ah, she's still quite fetching.

-->'''Sofia''': You don't know my brother. If he saw us, he'd kill us.
-->'''The Brain''': But that's quite unfair. He could wait until we actually did something.

-->'''Animated!Brain''': Hello there. What is my plan to steal Nato's billions? We cannot repeat the Glasgow-London heist.
-->'''The Brain''': Can we, gentlemen?
-->'''Gangsters''': No, of course not.
-->'''Animated!Brain''': Well, it's exactly what we're going to do, [[BatmanGambit because every idiot will react like you did]].

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Played with. During the preparation phase, the Brain shows to his associates a cartoon presenting the various steps of the plan. However, during the actual heist, the Brain has a harder time than his animated counterpart, but still goes through with the robbery. In the end, the mafia shows up, having figured out the unspoken part of the plan (the time and the place) and takes the money.