Film / Gramps Is in the Resistance

"Adolfo Ramirez, Gestapo, HEIL! Don't worry, madam, this is French business and French police. So... AUSWEIS. Papers, please. PRONTO!"

— Adolfo Ramirez

Gramps Is in the Resistance (French: Papy fait de la résistance) is a 1983 French comedy film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré. The cast includes Christian Clavier, Michel Galabru, Roland Giraud, Jean Carmet, Gérard Jugnot, Martin Lamotte, Michel Blanc, Dominique Lavanant, Jacqueline Maillan, Jacques Villeret, Thierry Lhermitte among many others. It is based off the 1981 stage play of the same name by the Splendid' troupe (of which many actors played in the film following their previous hits, the French Fried Vacation series and Santa Claus Is a Stinker).

The story is set in Paris during the German occupation of France following the French defeat of 1940. A family of musical virtuosi, the Bourdelles, are French patriots and support the Resistance, refusing to play music for the Germans even if it harms their careers. In 1943, their mansion is commandeered to accommodate German general Spontz. Life together is made no easier when the family secretly has to care about a downed British pilot, and by the fact that one of the family is none other than the famous "Super-Resistant".

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Gramps Is in the Resistance provides examples of:

• Adolf Hitlarious:
  • Adolfo Ramirez's first name is self-explanatory.
  • Hitler is given a ridiculous and fat half-brother named Ludwig von Apfelstrudel.
• All Germans Are Nazis: Subverted. The character in the film who's the most won over by Nazi ideals is clearly the French Adolfo Ramirez, as the textbook and zealous example of Les Collaborateurs. The Germans meanwhile cover all the range between the average caricature of loud soldier who shouts gibberish and loudly clicks heels and the Cultured Warrior / Officer and a Gentleman who could as well come from any war involving Germany in the past 75 years by the film's era.
• Angry Guard Dog: André is chased by a couple of guard dogs when going to check weapons with the resistant priest.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "Spontz" is not a German name. It might be a Shout-Out to "Sponsz", a recurring enemy of Tintin.
• "Bang!" Flag Gun: Super-Resistant "welcomes" General Spontz in Paris by shooting a sticky dart on his forehead that deploys a French flag, much to General Müller's hilarity.
• Bayonet Ya: Under the pressure of his fiancée when they're at the Kommandantur, Michel steals a German bayonet and gives it to the downed British pilot, who uses it like a knife to kill Murat.
• Black Comedy: The film is a comedy set during the German Occupation, which is considered as of the darkest eras of the 20th century in France.
• Blade Brake: At the climax, Super-Resistant makes his Big Entrance in the castle by stabbing a swastika banner with a dagger and sliding down. He flubs the landing, though.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Ramirez, Dirty Coward that he is, uses one of his own men as a human shield against gunfire from Super-Resistant and other freedom fighters during the shootout at club Le Marquis.
• Camp Straight: André's son Guy-Hubert is a hairdresser with effeminate manners. This turns out to be an act, as he's actually Super-Resistant.
• Cats Are Mean: General Spontz owns a Russian Blue that he rescued from the Eastern front, Oberfeldwebel Gustav. Who proves rather foul-tempered, scratching his own master when introduced; Spontz blames it on the cat being full of himself ever since the Führer gave him the Iron Cross. Later, Gustav also attacks Michel Taupin while he's trying to eavesdrop on Spontz.
• Les Collaborateurs:
  • Adolfo Ramirez, who openly admires "The Great Germany" with sheer abandon, to a sometimes cartoonish extent. He starts off as a concierge, then ends up a French agent of The Gestapo. The character's name has since become a humorous shorthand for collaborationism during World War II.
  • Murat, the smarmy bureaucrat played by Jean Yanne, who pontificates to the protagonists about how "the Nazis aren't that bad" and "everybody's better off collaborating". He's then taken hostage by an escaped British pilot and promptly pleads that he was Just Following Orders before being offed.
  • Guy-Hubert passes himself as a German sympathizer, including in front of his family; he's actually in La Résistance.
• Credits Gag: The intro, which displays the names of the main actors, includes the mention "Bernard Giraudeau dans le rôle le plus court du film" ("Bernard Giraudeau in the shortest role of the movie").
• Cultured Warrior: General Spontz has been on the Eastern Front, he is well versed in music and literature and has quite a bit of respect for the family of musicians whose mansion he occupies, regardless of their French patriotism.
• Dad the Veteran: Jean-Robert "Gramps" Bourdelle is a veteran of World War I.
• Disposable Fiancé: Not only is Michel constantly bossed around and treated like dirt by Bernadette, but Bernadette also never returns him any affection and ends up falling in love with General Spontz.
• Domino Mask: Super-Resistant wears one, as part of the Gentleman Thief costume.
• Double-Meaning Title: A double meaning that is lost with the English title; at face value the French title can be indeed what it's translated to, but a colloquial meaning would be closer to "Gramps is being difficult".
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: As the most zealous of Les Collaborateurs around and a French Gestapo agent, Adolfo Ramirez expects the Germans to at least be friendly to him. They're not, because they either don't respect slimy traitors to their country like him or just because he's a loud, obnoxious and useless idiot who stands in the way or causes chaos. Or both.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Adolfo Ramirez is the first character to be introduced in the film, happily whistling while he's painting white swastikas on a theatre's outside program sign, visibly happy of being part of Les Collaborateurs. The narrator even states that "some people accommodate very well [to the Occupation]" after talking about the woes of the German occupation. Adolfo is also very much pro-Maréchal Philippe Pétain, the "Great Germany" and "das Grosse Europe".
  • In the same scene, the Bourdelles verbally talk Adolfo down, openly voice out their pro-Charles de Gaulle and pro-Resistance sentiments, and kick Adolfo's bucket of white paint on his feet for good measure.
• Everyone Has Standards: General Spontz can't stand "traitors to their country" like Adolfo Ramirez.
• Flynning: During the climax, Super-Resistant challenges Ludwig von Apfelstrudel into a Sword Fight. The latter, having been a master-at-arms in his youth, gladly accepts. A fight worthy of a swashbuckling movie ensues.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: When serving in the Gestapo, Adolfo Ramirez wears orange-tainted sunglasses. They actually make him look more ridiculous than sinister.
• Gentleman Thief: Super-Resistant takes his inspiration from the Gentleman Thief (such as Arsène Lupin) rather than American superheroes — including the tuxedo, top hat, Domino Mask and cape — to fight the Germans in Nazi-occupied France, mostly by ridiculing them.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: At one point, Héléna sings so high-pitched that she shatters the two Champagne flutes in Spontz's hands.
• Grenade Hot Potato: André's death is caused by him mishandling a Mk II grenade. While he's presented with a box of them in his car, he inadvertently removes the pin, then has the car stopped and throws it away... directly into the tennis racket of a German officer who was playing nearby, who then sends it back to the car. Then BOOM!
• Have a Gay Old Time: General Spontz's phrase "There's no shame in being gay!" (meaning "happy").
• Henpecked Husband: Michel is a henpecked fiancé. Bernadette bosses him around constantly, and even ends up cheating on him with General Spontz.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Adolf Hitler apparently has a hidden half-brother named Ludwig von Apfelstrudel.
• It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: When the Bourdelles park near the Le Marquis club where German officers are having a party with scantily clad or naked girls, Michel thinks it's a costumed party, and it's further fueled by Héléna mistaking the Gentleman Thief-dressed "Super-Resistant" for a costumed guest. Not having any costume at hand, Michel has the bright idea to simply draw a Hitler mustache on his face...
• Just a Stupid Accent: All the German characters in the movie speak French with a stereotypical German accent, including sometimes when they are by themselves and should logically be speaking in German (although there are scenes where they speak subtitled German, too).
• Karmic Butt-Monkey: Adolfo Ramirez is an obnoxious collaborateur of Those Wacky Nazis, and as such he thoroughly deserves every single instance of shit happening to him in the film (which is a lot).
• Laughably Evil: Adolfo Ramirez, the collaborateur who's all too happy to serve Those Wacky Nazis, is everyone's Butt-Monkey and Screams Like a Little Girl.
• Meaningful Name: "Adolfo" Ramirez, who's all-too-happy to collaborate with Those Wacky Nazis. As in Adolf Hitler.
• Murphy's Bed: The Bourdelle family is hiding Harry McBurrett, the wounded British pilot, in their cellar when a Gestapo squad led by Adolfo Ramirez surprises them. They immediately hide the pilot by closing the folding bed he's in, pressing him upside-down against the wall for the whole raid.
• Non-Powered Costumed Hero: Super-Resistant, who is Gentleman Thief-dressed, and has no powers.
• Officer and a Gentleman: General Spontz is quite affable and polite towards the Bourdelles and never mocks or insults them despite the French patriotic enmity they have for Germans.
• Parody: The Bourdelles' music practice, patriotism and later vow to not speak again to the German occupiers who commandeer their home recall the (serious) novel Le Silence de la mer, one of the most famous pieces of French fiction written about the German Occupation.
• Parting-Words Regret: While Nazis are about to execute hostages, resistant Jacques Frémontel, among them, is ready. His only regret is his last exchange with Mireille, the head of his resistance network, that was an argument. Thus, they'll stay angry at each other while Jacques wanted to patch things up.
• A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: Resistant Frémontel (a.k.a. "Felix") owns a private mansion housing a club called Le Marquis, which is seemingly dedicated to host orgies. Some German officers throw a party with naked (or very scantily clad) women in it.
• Patriotic Fervor:
  • The Bourdelles are French patriots and won't take any action that goes against that sentiment (such as playing music for the Germans). They sing the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", in the basement to annoy the Germans who occupy their mansion.
  • From his window, Gramps mocks the German soldiers who confiscate his house when they come in as they destroy the stone bust of Ludwig van Beethoven (a music composer from their own country) when parking a truck.
  • Super-Resistant plays pranks on German officers to humiliate them in a French patriotic manner, when he doesn't pull off genuine attacks with guns and explosives. And he doesn't really like the British, per the old French-British rivalry.
• Pornstache: Adolfo Ramirez has one. A staple for Gérard Jugnot at the time.
• La Résistance:
  • André Bourdelle leads a Resistance network under the alias "Capitaine Raymond" until his accidental death.
  • His son Guy-Hubert, while posing as a collaborator, is actually in the Resistance under the alias "Super-Resistant".
  • Michel Taupin might have the patriotic motivation but he does actions of resistance mostly to follow the orders of/impress his fiancée Bernadette. The latter goal fails thoroughly, because in the end she's just not interested in him.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: General Spontz states that he can't stand traitors, and as such he only has contempt for former janitor turned Gestapo collaborator Adolfo Ramirez, despite the latter (loudly) claiming they're on the same side. Especially since he first meets him harassing the Bourdelles for petty revenge and stealing their food rations. When Spontz catches Ramirez snooping around in his own apartment, he almost drowns him in a sink and burns his neck with a smoothing iron.
• Roofhopping: After giving a warm "welcome" to General Spontz, Super-Resistant escapes the pursuing German soldiers by moving over the Parisian rooftops.
• Say My Name: Adolfo Ramirez cannot start a confrontation with his nemesis without yelling first, "AH! SUPER-RESISTANT!"
• Secondary Character Title: Jean-Robert Bourdelle is the "Gramps" of the title, but he's overall a secondary character and first appears rather late in comparison with the others. The movie focuses much more on Michel Taupin, Super-Resistant, Bernadette Bourdelle or even General Spontz and Adolfo Ramirez.
• Secret Room: Guy-Hubert/Super-Resistant has a secret room to leave his costume in. It's hidden behind a rotating wall inside a museum of sculptures.
• Silly Walk: Ludwig von Apfelstrudel has a weird way of walking, part goosestepping and part "legs giving way at the knees without warning". Explained In-Universe by him having survived a bombing attempt and gone through physical therapy.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The movie uses quite dramatic music at times to reinforce the contrast with its comedic content:
  • The opening credits theme is more evocative of a serious thriller than a comedy.
  • The theme used when Super-Resistant is Roofhopping is from the First Symphony of Gustav Mahler.
  • The ending credit song "Libertas" is quite grim and bombastic, sounding like an opera piece, and would fit more with a serious World War II film.
• Spy Speak: Colonel Vincent speaks to "Félix" on the phone with seemingly nonsensical phrases to communicate a message to him.
• Those Wacky Nazis:
  • Kluglicht always talks loudly in German (some of it is gibberish) whether he's angry or not, raises the arm and clicks heels in exaggerated manner.
  • Adolfo Ramirez, the gleeful arm-raising collaborator, is everyone's Butt-Monkey (even to the German officers, who can't stand him) and Screams Like a Little Girl.
• To the Batpole!: After leaving the Bourdelle house through a rotating wall, Guy-Hubert changes into his Super-Resistant costume by going through an elaborate underground passage, which involves riding on a pulled cart with his cape dramatically flying behind him. Then he exits inside a medieval sculptures museum to add to the appropriate Gothic feel. This ends up being not entirely discreet, though, since he gets spotted by a guardian who calls the cops.
• Vehicular Turnabout: A French-made Somua S35 tank with German markings is used as an improvised mobile armored door to block the entrance to the mansion where Ludwig von Apfelstrudel goes to party. Germans made ample use of the hundreds of French vehicles they captured or confiscated in 1940, such as this very type of battle tank.
• Villain Song: Ludwig von Apfelstrudel (Hitler's half-brother) performing "Je n'ai pas changé" towards the climax.
• Vocal Dissonance: Whenever Adolfo Ramirez shouts, it's hilariously high-pitched.
• Voice of the Resistance: At one point, Bernadette tries to listen to Radio Londres (the Free French radio in London) before being interrupted by General Spontz.

The Epilogue provides examples of:

• Argentina Is Nazi-Land: It turns out Adolfo Ramirez fled to Bolivia and had a son there, Mr. Ramirez Jr. (played by the same actor).
• As Himself: Alain Jérôme, the usual show host for Les Dossiers de l'écran, providing Parody Assistance for the movie.
• Call to Agriculture: Bernadette Bourdelle reveals that her younger sister Colette had married with Harry McBurrett (the British pilot) and that they now own a pig farm in Sussex.^note IMDb gives the name as McBarrett, but the characters in the movie clearly pronounce it McBurrett.
• Completely Unnecessary Translator: When Ramirez Jr. joins the debate, he starts speaking in Spanish, forcing everybody to scramble for their earphones to listen to the translation. Then the host asks him if by any chance he can speak French, which he does, fluently.
• Embarrassing Nickname: The epilogue confirms Guy-Hubert was in the Résistance; however, his code name wasn't "Super-Resistant" but "Sparadrap" ("Bandaid"), which he doesn't hesitate mocking.
• Generation Xerox: The son of Adolfo Ramirez is as much of a Nazi sympathizer as his father. And just as much of a Butt-Monkey too.
• Identical Grandson: Both Adolfo Ramirez and his son were played by the same actor, Gérard Jugnot.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: From Guy-Hubert, as the shouting match with Ramirez Jr. gets heated.
  Guy-Hubert: There's no words to describe what you are, Ramirez! There's no words anymore!... asshole.
• Inherently Funny Words: For the French: "Sussex", that Bernadette naturally pronounces "suce-sexe", which evokes oral sex.
• Lampshade Hanging: The "debate" is used as an opportunity to lampoon the movie's loose take on historical events. For example, Michel Taupin describing the idea of Hitler having a half-brother as farcical.
• Parody: The epilogue as a whole heavily parodies Les Dossiers de l'écran, a popular 1967–1991 French TV debate show always preceded by a thematic movie.
• Shout-Out: Guy-Hubert mentions that "the youths of today" don't care any more about stories of résistants from the last world war. All that interest them now are big macho heroes "like Rocky."
• Time Skip: The movie skips from 1943 to The '80s — the time it was filmed — for the epilogue.
• Unreliable Narrator: The World War II part of the movie turns out to be... a movie in a movie, as revealed at the end. The various In-Universe real people the In-Universe World War II movie is about discuss it in the TV debate and thoroughly disagree about the details depicted in it, including the utter nonsense that is Adolf Hitler's nonexistent half-brother. It turns out Adolfo Ramirez did not die run over by a truck and fled to Bolivia instead, and Guy-Hubert's Camp Straight manners turn out to be real and not an act (in addition to his Resistance Code Name not being "Super-Resistant" but the ridiculous "Sparadrap" instead).
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Besides its spoofing content, the epilogue is also used as such for the characters, notably informing the viewers that General Spontz and Bernadette got married, or that Michel Taupin became Minister of Veterans Affairs.

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