The Adventures of Gerard is a 1970 historical adventure/comedy film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories.
During The Napoleonic Wars, the egotistical French brigadier Etienne Gerard (Peter McEnery) aims to prove himself as the finest soldier and lover of all time. He is stationed in Spain, where the French forces are having trouble taking the Castle of Morales. But much to his glee, Napoléon Bonaparte himself (Eli Wallach) chooses him to deliver some important dispatches that could turn the tide of the war. What Gerard doesn't know is that they are false dispatches meant to confuse the enemy and he was chosen as a decoy for his stupidity. At any rate, in his mission he has encounters with the British Colonel Russell (Mark Burns), with whom he develops a rivalry, and the lovely Teresa, Countess of Morales (Claudia Cardinale), who is determined to get whatever information she can out of Gerard.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: Gerard will often smirk at the camera while monologuing due to being full of himself, or otherwise look at it in wonder when something outlandish happens.
- Brits Love Tea: The British Colonel Russell drinks his tea as Gerard comes to him for a duel. Gerard lampshades it in his thoughts, wondering what it is about tea that makes the British stop all other activity just to have a cup.
- Decoy Damsel: Teresa orders one of her minions to assault her so Gerard will come to her aid. When he does, she and her men corner him with their guns, tie him to a tree and press him for information.
- The Grand Hunt: As Gerard escapes being hanged, he rides headlong into a British regiment entertaining themselves with a fox hunt. When he snatches the fox, Russell berates him for interfering when he wasn't even invited to the hunt.
- Land in the Saddle: Gerard is almost executed by hanging, but Teresa shoots the rope from afar and he lands right on his horse to make an expedient getaway.
- Shoot the Rope: Near the end of the movie, Gerard is set to be hanged, but Teresa is watching from a window and uses a pistol to shoot the rope around his neck, allowing him to escape.
- Spicy Latina: The Spanish Teresa is a very headstrong, Hot-Blooded and beautiful woman who's passionate for her country and engages in guerrilla warfare against Napoleon's forces.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: At one point, Teresa attempts to disguise herself as a boy (by, among other things, covering her face in shaving cream) to trick Gerard, but he sees through the ruse quick.
