Don't Touch The White Woman!
Encyclopedia
Don't Touch The White Woman! is a 1974 French-Italian farce
, an absurd "Western
" set in Paris
, directed by Marco Ferreri. Marcello Mastroianni
stars as a vain General George Armstrong Custer. Richard Nixon
is the American president. Buffalo Bill Cody (Michel Piccoli) is here portrayed as a charlatan media impresario. Ugo Tognazzi
gives a fictional portrayal of Mitch Bouyer
one of Custer's Native American
scouts, who runs a curio shop selling Native artifacts made in sweatshop
s by white women. Alain Cuny
plays Sitting Bull
who must defend his people when their homes (apartment buildings) are destroyed by the Union Cavalry. The movie climaxes with the Battle of the Little Bighorn
held in a large construction excavation where Les Halles
market used to be. The language used to justify the conflict parodies the Vietnam War
and the Algerian War.
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, an absurd "Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
" set in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, directed by Marco Ferreri. Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
stars as a vain General George Armstrong Custer. Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
is the American president. Buffalo Bill Cody (Michel Piccoli) is here portrayed as a charlatan media impresario. Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life:Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.After his return in the native city in 1936, he...
gives a fictional portrayal of Mitch Bouyer
Mitch Bouyer
Mitch Bouyer was an interpreter and guide in the Old West following the American Civil War. General John Gibbon called him "next to Jim Bridger, the best guide in the country"...
one of Custer's Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
scouts, who runs a curio shop selling Native artifacts made in sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
s by white women. Alain Cuny
Alain Cuny
Alain Cuny was a French actor.He was born René Xavier Marie in Saint-Malo, Brittany, and studied medicine for a while before entering the film industry as a costume and set designer. Cuny started acting in the 1930s...
plays Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography), also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies...
who must defend his people when their homes (apartment buildings) are destroyed by the Union Cavalry. The movie climaxes with the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
held in a large construction excavation where Les Halles
Les Halles
Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named for the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles...
market used to be. The language used to justify the conflict parodies the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and the Algerian War.
Cast
- Catherine DeneuveCatherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
- Marie-Hélène de Boismonfrais - Marcello MastroianniMarcello MastroianniMarcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
- George A. Custer - Michel Piccoli - Buffalo Bill
- Philippe NoiretPhilippe NoiretPhilippe Noiret was a French film actor.-Biography:Noiret's father was in the clothes trade. Philippe was an indifferent scholar and attended several prestigious Paris schools, including the Lycée Janson de Sailly. He failed several times to pass his baccalauréat exams, so he decided to study...
- Gen. Terry - Ugo TognazziUgo TognazziUgo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life:Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.After his return in the native city in 1936, he...
- Mitch - Alain CunyAlain CunyAlain Cuny was a French actor.He was born René Xavier Marie in Saint-Malo, Brittany, and studied medicine for a while before entering the film industry as a costume and set designer. Cuny started acting in the 1930s...
- Sitting Bull - Serge ReggianiSerge ReggianiSerge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...
- The Mad Indian - Darry CowlDarry CowlDarry Cowl, born André Darricau, was a French actor and musician. He won a César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2004 for his role as a concierge in Pas sur la bouche , which proved to be his last appearance.He was born in Vittel, and came to prominence when he was cast by Sacha...
- Major Archibald - Monique Chaumette - Sister Lucie
- Daniele Dublino - Daughter
- Henri Piccoli - Sitting Bull's Father
- Franca BettoiaFranca BettoiaFranca Bettoia is an Italian actress.Born in Rome, she made her first film appearance in Un palco all'opera . The following year she appeared in Los amantes del desierto Franca Bettoia (or Bettoja; born 14 May 1936) is an Italian actress.Born in Rome, she made her first film appearance in Un palco...
- Rayon de Lune (as Franca Bettoja) - Paolo VillaggioPaolo VillaggioPaolo Villaggio is an Italian actor, writer, director and comedian.-Life:Villaggio was born in Genoa in 1932. His jobs included being a clerk for the Italsider steel major which inspired his character "Il ragioniere Fantozzi Ugo", "the accountant Ugo Fantozzi"...
- The CIA agent - Franco FabriziFranco FabriziFranco Fabrizi was an Italian actor.Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, he was a soap opera photo actor, for example, the fotoromanzo Arizona Kid, in the newspaper Avventuroso Film...
- Tom (as Franco Fabrizzi) - Laurente Vedres - (as Vedres et Boutang)
See also
- Mr. FreedomMr. FreedomMr. Freedom is a 1969 film by American expatriate photographer and filmmaker William Klein. In addition to starring popular French actor Delphine Seyrig, this anti-imperialist satirical farce features cameos by well-known actors Donald Pleasence and Philippe Noiret, as well as musician Serge...
- Blazing SaddlesBlazing SaddlesBlazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
- Revisionist WesternRevisionist WesternThe Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti-Western traces to the mid 1960s and early 1970s as a sub-genre of the Western movie....
- Cultural depictions of George Armstrong CusterCultural depictions of George Armstrong CusterGeorge Armstrong Custer was a United States Army cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. He was defeated and killed by the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.-Paintings:...