Rum Runners (1971) User Reviews

An entertaining movie with some beautifully evocative scenes

[pzanardo · 7/10 · 22 December 2000]

"Boulevard du Rhum" is the pleasant, entertaining story of Captain Cornelius (Lino Ventura), a rum-smuggler of the Caribbean Sea during the prohibition in the States. Along his many adventures, he falls in love with the silent-movie actress Linda Larue (Brigitte Bardot), just seeing her on the screen. Afterwards he meets her in flesh. A turbulent love-story follows...

Lino Ventura is a great actor in every role. Brigitte Bardot is gorgeous and tremendously sexy, as always. She can act, too, but that's not so relevant. Unfortunately, she has her eyebrows shaven, an awful fashion of the 60's, which partially affected BB's beauty along the second part of her career.

The photography is good and the sceneries of the Gulf of Mexico are magnificent, as expected. To show pieces of the silent movies interpreted by Linda Larue is by far the best idea in "Boulevard du Rhum". These funny silent flicks all share a delightful sexy aura, gently mocking the erotic taste of that epoch. You know, Linda Larue has always the role of a half-naked sort-of-queen of some savage tribe. And she is last-minute-rescued when, bounded in chains, she is going to be sacrificed to some ferocious beast...

However, it is to be pointed out that the film is definitely too long, and some episodes are just boring or clumsy, in particular the stuff concerned with the English Lord.

But in any case one must wait for the final scene. With the accompaniment of the song "Desir d'amour", it is incredibly romantic, evocative and poignant, without leaving off a touch of gentle sense of humour. This single scene might be enough to recommend to see "Boulevard du Rhum" (don't forget Brigitte's sex-appeal, though).

Prohibition

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 4 December 2012]

The decade of the 1920s saw the arrival of prohibition to America. That era became a boon for enterprising people and bandits to profit from the smuggling of liquor to a thirsty society which could not do without its drinking habits. Creative ways for getting the prohibited booze to drinkers in the United States is the basis of this story,

Captain Cornelius Von Zeelinga, is a naval captain that is surprised as this tale begins, by the U S Coast Guard, and his precious cargo of rum is destroyed. Corny, as he is otherwise known, begins to wander through Mexico, the Caribbean, and Panama, after he has made a small fortune in a game where wealthy Americans, looking for fun, fire at him on a dark room.

Cornelius discovers a screen goddess, Linda Larue, a luscious woman who becomes the object of his love. Wherever Corny goes, finds an excuse for watching one of Linda's epics, which begin with silent fare, graduating to the "talkies". Not only does Linda get the best of his imagination, he manages to meet her in person! His passion for the silver screen star will consume him to the point that smuggling becomes an after thought.

This 1971 French production, directed by Robert Enrico, showed up on a cable channel recently and we watched as a curiosity. Obviously a vehicle for Lino Ventura, who played heavier roles, was a change of pace for the actor, who showed great flair for comedy. The surprise though was the beautiful Brigitte Bardot,one of the sexiest film stars of the French cinema of all times. She plays the larger than life, Linda Larue, with gusto. Although the film has not "aged" well, it has some good moments. Shot in Almeria and Belize, it is a pleasant excuse to spend some time in the company of Mr. Venura and Ms. Bardot.

Proves that movies do need a script

[gridoon2024 · 3/10 · 26 August 2014]

"Rum Runners" could be taken as an experiment: is it possible to make an 80-minute film with apparently no script at all? Well, it is possible....that doesn't mean it is desirable, though. Virtually nothing happens in this movie. I don't mean nothing interesting, I mean NOTHING. Lino Ventura is a likable actor, and Brigitte Bardot still looks great in one of her last screen appearances, but they are both defeated by this non-existence of a script. Bardot has an unusual introduction - projected on a theater screen as a silent-film star - but has little to do from that point on. What's more, the film has fallen into public domain, which means that if you do find a copy it will probably be dubbed, cropped, and faded in color. Don't go out of your way to search for a copy, in any case. * out of 4.

a pleasant surprise

[wrvisser-leusden-nl · 8/10 · 18 October 2003]

Brigitte Bardot's later movies are generally not considered as good as her earlier ones, but 'Boulevard du rhum' is an exception to that. Aged 36 at the time, Brigitte plays a strong supporting role to leading man Lino Ventura. He plays an important runner, smuggling liquor in the time when this was prohibited by some very strict US laws. Unpleasant contacts with the US Coast Guard are part of the story.

With her singing and dancing Brigitte certainly adds a big dimension to 'Boulevard du rhum'. She also provides an element of twenties fashion, thus strongly contributing to this movie's lovely mix of Charleston and Carraïbean moods.

Just sit back, relax, and enjoy 'Boulevard du rhum'. This movie is worth 125 minutes of your time.

A very good movie

[Bardotsalvador · 10/10 · 28 June 2010]

I saw this movie not long ago and i love it ,to me Brigitte Bardot is the most beautiful , charming and divine movie star of all time , in this movie she play something like Pearl White or Musidora a silent movie star sadly this was ones of Bardot last movie role she was starting to getting older and as she once said she don't want to play mothers or older part AS LIZ TAYLOR AND HER WANNA BE SOPHIA LOREN DID good for her she was by this time a living legend and the most famous french movie star of all time, in the movie Lino Ventura a very good actor play the leading part in a very funny way but i just love the movie not only because its very good but because Bardot was in, anything with B,B, TO ME IS WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY

Pretentious turkey graced by Bardot. Three stars.

[johnwood-2 · 28 August 2001]

Other than the unmatchably beautiful Brigitte Bardot, there is little reason to see this turkey. She made only one other movie after this, in the same year (1971). The action is mindless except for a bizarre sort of reverse-Russian roulette: instead of a player pointing a gun at his own head and taking his chances, the player stands before a group of armed men with loaded guns, the lights go off, and then he ducks and hopes he can dodge their bullets, as each fires once. Nonetheless, the plot, such as there is, is stupid, the attempt at period-piece farce pathetic, the acting poor (save for Bardot)). The Caribbean scenery is pleasant. The movie is neither funny, nor exciting. The hero is singularly unappealing. Three stars.

Lino hates Brigitte, but Brigitte takes no notice!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 6 December 2016]

Definitely an absolute must-see for Bardot fans, this movie will also please those who love a big budget scenario with plenty of action. The relationship between hero, Lino Ventura and sex symbol, Brigitte Bardot, both on and off camera is definitely an odd one. It is obvious that both the stars hate each other. Ventura especially has no time whatever for Bardot and obviously resents making scenes with her. Fortunately, this serves the purposes of the plot rather well, although it does kill any interest we might have in the outcome of the said plot. But never mind! The plot is so full of superbly staged action sequences that it doesn't really matter. This one is available on a quite watchable Brentwood DVD.