Sure-Footed Fleecing

Banana Peel has a plot as tricky as its title. Named after a race horse, this free French comedy of crime and blandishment gives the beast a mere nod during the opening credits, then plunges into an orgy of intrigues on a pretty fast track. Viewers may occasionally wish they had a pony to keep abreast of what is happening. But they will never lose interest, thanks to two shrewd performers, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau, under direction from Marcel Ophuls (son of Max).

Belmondo plays a. bass fiddle until Moreau, his former wife, lures him into a role as confidence man. Her goal is to set up a double swindle that will avenge her dead father, whose career was ruined 20 years earlier when he built a dam of rather flimsy concrete supplied by unscrupulous partners. On an offshore island, the first victim is soon shelling out 40 million francs for rights to a sandy beach he already owns. Then, in sunny Nice, Partner No. 2 (Gert Frobe, the Goldfinger of Goldfinger) finds himself jowl-deep in violence, sham infidelity, fixed races and drugged thoroughbreds ostensibly doctored by Belmondo, posing as a German veterinarian who possesses "Inca secrets from plants in Peru." The sucker is soon poorer by 60 million.

Though Banana Peel looks slipshod at times, it is mostly a bravura display of brightly stylish footwork. Befuddled, blackjacked, or held head down in a pool, Belmondo spins athletically through a series of double and triple crosses, showing more bounce per trounce than any leading man of his class. On the final bounce, it is inevitably Moreau who catches him. The minx with a perpetual moue, she sings, dances, suddenly flashes her searchlight smile over an unpromising patch of script--and the lost art of ultrasophisticated comedy springs to life on the instant. She seems more assured than ever as a chic dissembler who has hung by her fingernails through many a tight squeak. As one swindle takes shape, she dryly murmurs to Belmondo: "Be there at 3:08 sharp--I'll be working without a net." Working together, they prove again that one sure way to fill out a meager movie is to feed it a couple of top bananas.

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