Don't Touch the White Woman (Touche pas à la femme blanche)
Included in the Marco Ferreri Collection
Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni star in this recreation of General Custer's last stand - in the midst of modern Paris.
Member Reviews
...it will make you think - rogerb666
At a meeting of representatives of US economic interests, it is clear that the Indians present a obstacle to the country's western expansion. A meeting is arranged and the general calls for the enthusiastic talents of George Armstrong Custer to mount a campaign against the Indians. An anthropologist in modern dress keeps popping up and asking questions as an instant reminder that something strange is going on here in Don't Touch the White Woman!.
The director himself fills this role, creating another layer of filmmaking license. Soon, it is obvious that although many of the characters are wearing period clothing, the plot is playing out in 1972 Paris. Not too subtle photos of President Richard Nixon show up on walls in the background. But the players keep their focus on 19th century events while the director and writer have other things in mind.
Don't Touch the White Woman is transparently political in its attack of the United States and the Nixon administration's involvement in Vietnam. Though every scene is meticulously composed, Ferreri's style appears improvisational. The camera has a cinema verite quality and the mix of costumed players amidst the modern Parisian setting has quite a startling effect. Though Absurdist in style and overall comic, there are devastating uses of extreme violence that serve to remind audience that they can laugh all they want but the laughter is hollow in the face of the underlying facts of history.
Honestly, dont really know if i liked it or hated it, but it will make you thinkA farce about the absurdity of war and warriors - spaz
Set at the end of the Vietnam war, and featuring Nixon as "our president", the economists press for a "final solution" to rid the country of the Native "savages".
An egotistical bunch of generals, colonels etc band together to plot the war, which they present to the public as inevitable. (The public is against violence against the natives.)
Mastroianni is hilariously superb as a pompous, deadpan, self-important General Custer, and Deneuve and the rest of the cast is also brilliant. This movie is filmed on the site of the renowned Les Halles market in Paris. Mastroianni's character says a couple of sour things about "progress" in the film, and you have to wonder how everyone felt at the loss of such a beloved landmark, and how that loss impacted the film overall.
Its huge dusty footprint mimics the typical Western movie setting, and its absent buildings loom over the set, casting invisible shadows.Don't Touch the White Woman - Coco
Big easy targets, avant-garde tropes no longer so avant but perhaps on guard, and smirky horseplay make this a lesser achievement from Ferreri, though it does look good on paper. Insane good cast! Old West in New Europe detournment! Tricky Dick Nixon and Col. Custer together at last! Turns out to be a sort of sad Marxist-Leninist pageant with very rich people on camera having way more fun than us while being way more full of what comes out back o’ the horse. Funny, cute, portentous, and pointless, really. Dated. And it doesn’t look very good in this transfer.
cOcO2
Member Reviews
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...it will make you think - rogerb666
At a meeting of representatives of US economic interests, it is clear that the Indians present a obstacle to the country's western expansion. A meeting is arranged and the general calls for the enthusiastic talents of George Armstrong Custer to mount a campaign ...A farce about the absurdity of war and warriors - spaz
Set at the end of the Vietnam war, and featuring Nixon as "our president", the economists press for a "final solution" to rid the country of the Native "savages".
An egotistical bunch of generals, colonels etc band together to plot the war, which they ...Don't Touch the White Woman - Coco
Big easy targets, avant-garde tropes no longer so avant but perhaps on guard, and smirky horseplay make this a lesser achievement from Ferreri, though it does look good on paper. Insane good cast! Old West in New Europe detournment! Tricky Dick Nixon and Col. ...