In 1964, the first film of the Gendarmes series was released: The Gendarmes at Saint-Tropez. Facing the success of this first installment, the sequel arrived the following year: The Gendarmes in New York. The same team, led by Louis de Funès as Gendarme Cruchot, is back.
The entire cast (De Funès, Galabru, Lefebvre, Marin, Grosso, and Modo…) heads to an international gendarmerie congress in New York. The entire plot revolves around Cruchot’s daughter, who is part of the trip without her father’s knowledge, De Funès/Cruchot.
A rivalry develops between the French and Italian delegations to showcase the finest gendarmerie brigade. It’s during a baseball game that France tips the scales in their favor, with Cruchot tearing it up at the plate. He makes the Italian suitor of his daughter run for his life as the center fielder. This is the film’s turning point, shifting the rivalry in favor of the French against the Italians.
On which French baseball field were the scenes of this film shot: a military field in Saint-Germain-en-Laye named Camp des Loges. It was a U.S. military base dismantled in 1966.
Two baseball clubs share the field: the Foxy’s and the Boccara. The backstop is, for the time, one of the most beautiful in France. In 1964, the Americans left Saint-Germain after reconstructing, on the current site of the Fête des Loges, a typically American town, with Main Street, rodeo, and a parade in a pink Cadillac for the mayor.
To thank the city for its hospitality, a tour of the USA is organized. The Foxy’s and Boccara fly to Yankee Stadium to face the Yankees in an exhibition match. The result is overwhelming, even if the score is uncertain, with reports of 60-0… Since then, Camp des Loges has been taken over by football, notably by PSG.
But let’s return to the film. The French team, dressed in gray and red, are called the Devils and face the Indians for Italy. They are equipped with high-top shoes resembling boxing boots. However, the cleats are clearly visible. On the bench, outside the dugout, for filming convenience, Cruchot’s teammates wear both the glove and the bat simultaneously. Let’s acknowledge that this gesture is unfamiliar to a baseball player, who typically equips themselves with one or the other, but never both. De Funès’ swing gesture leaves much to be desired, and the credibility of his hits will make us smile. On his first at-bat, he hits a single, then a double on his second, and an inside-the-park home run on his third. His team celebrates his wonderful hit, prompting this memorable line from Galabru: « Well, that’s something else compared to playing boule. »
The four scenes were shot in a single day. And the interrogation that follows the match between the Italian suitor of his daughter and Cruchot allows the latter to locate his daughter. The Italian can’t keep the information to himself, under the blows of a baseball to the stomach. In every film, there are filming errors. And well, in these baseball scenes, none are to be noted. However, the film itself contains around thirty.
Worth watching or rewatching for Louis de Funès’ inspiring performance.
Photo credit: Jean-Claude Deutsch
