LES CINQ DERNIÈRES MINUTES: LE LIÈVRE BLANC AUX OREILLES NOIRES (ANTENNE 2, 1975)

A murder has been committed in a mountain village. Commissaire Broussard investigates.   

Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires is an episode of the feature-length French detective series Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (1958-1996). 

Created by journalist, director, scriptwriter and producer Claude Loursais, Les Cinq Dernières Minutes is one of the first series in the History of French television. It was launched on January 1, 1958 on the only channel of RTF (Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), the predecessor of ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française). Les Cinq Dernières Minutes went through many changes in three "eras" until France 2 aired its 149th episode on December 20, 1996.  The first era (1958-1973) was penned by Claude Loursais — who directed most of its episodes — with Fred Kassak, Louis C. Thomas, Michel Lebrun, Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe, Henri Grangé, André Maheux, Jean Cosmos, etc. This version starred Raymond Souplex as Inspecteur/Commissaire Antoine Bourrel and Jean Daurand as Inspecteur Dupuy. 

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes began as a live mystery gameshow. After the format and live broadcasting were dropped, the programme explored different socio-professional environments in episodes shot in studio on video and on 16mm film for the locations. The popularity of the series peaked in the 1960s-1970s and turned Raymond Souplex and Jean Daurand into TV stars. Bourrel's catchphrase (« Bon Dieu, mais c'est bien sûr! ») entered the vernacular.  From 1967 to 1973 there was a German adaptation called Dem Täter auf der Spur. Les Cinq Dernières Minutes switched from black and white to colour in 1971. Dupuy was gradually phased out after Jean Daurand's health issues.

 

Following the death of Souplex in 1972, four TV movies were tested by Loursais between July 1974 and January 1975 (not in their production order) on the Deuxième chaîne and Antenne 2: Rouges sont les vendanges, Fausse note, Si ce n'est toi and Le Coup de pouce. Those films, independent from Les Cinq Dernières Minutes though built on its "formula", tried new detectives and the famous theme music by Marc Lanjean (1) was notably absent. Claude Loursais almost kept Christian Barbier, who starred as Commissaire Le Carré in two of the TV movies, but they didn't agree on the financial terms. In 1974, Jacques Debary (Poker d'as) was announced  as the unnamed commissaire of Loursais' new (as yet untitled) mystery drama and that the shooting of its first episode had begun. 

 

The episode, called Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires,  was penned by novelist and writer Jean Chatenet. Chatenet co-wrote Ardéchois coeur fidèle (1974) with Jean Cosmos. Claude Loursais helmed the video sequences but he was struck by appendicitis before filming in Bonneval-sur-Arc (Savoie). ORTF asked Claire Jortner, his script girl and wife, to replace him (2). Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires  was shown by Antenne 2 (3) on May 10, 1975 as part of a relaunched Cinq Dernières Minutes. Prior to airing, Debary's character was introduced to the press as Commissaire Broussard but had to be renamed Cabrol because of a real-life supercop named Robert Broussard. The new commissaire is credited Cabrol in the end titles but he never introduces himself during the episode. At the time three other episodes with Debary were in the can.

 

Henri Sorbier, a retired businessman from Lyon, lives near the small mountain village of Bonvillard with his wife, his son and his stepdaughter. When he's found dead on a chairlift, Commissaire Broussard is sent to investigate. Sorbier was feared by his wife, and hated by both his entourage and the villagers. Starting with Just Regaud, a shepherd who was forced to sell his house to Henri Sorbier. Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires is filled with sheep, cows and beautiful mountains. The plot is a pretext for a social documentary about the challenges of mountain villages caught between traditions and the emergence of ski resorts. In 1971, the ORTF drama Les Sesterain ou Le Miroir 2000 had a similar theme.

 

Jacques Debary portrays a commissaire who's more caustic than in the latter episodes. Élisabeth Alain, who plays Sorbier's wife Stéphanie, died at 36 after the shooting of Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires. Henri Sorbier  is played by the great stage, cinema and television actor Michel Vitold (L'homme qui revient de loin, Judex). Actress Anémone (Lily) had supporting roles in three episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes in a row, this one included. In the 1980s, she became a star of the big screen and had a versatile career with films such as Le père Noël est une ordure (1982) or Le grand chemin (1988). Actors Henri Marteau (Etienne), François Dyrek (Just) and André Weber (Adrien) appeared in several episodes in different roles.

 

Also with Bernard Rousselet (Arnaud Sorbier), Abel Jores (Élysée),  Patrick Lancelot (Gérard Martin), Philippe Moreau (The mayor), Eva Saint-Paul (Beatrix), etc. Produced by Hélène Rambert and Oreste Delsale.  Cinematography by Pierre Mareschal. Video editing by Christiane Coutel. Film editing by M. Lebon-Stockhausen. There's no original music, as often for the ORTF productions, and no credited sound illustrator for the use of library music.  Marc Eyraud, seen in Si ce n'est toi, Fausse note and Rouges sont les vendanges, came back again as the Columbo-esque Inspector Ménardeau in La mémoire longue for an association with Debary/Cabrol which lasted until 1991.  

 

The duo Cabrol-Ménardeau was replaced by Pierre Santini (Un juge, un flic) as Commissaire Julien Massard and Pierre Hoden (Inspecteur Antoine Barrier) from 1992 to 1996. Perrette Souplex, the daughter of Raymond Souplex, guest starred as Bourrel's daughter in a 1995 episode. The episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes from 1958 to 1991 are available on Madelen, the streaming service of INA. Brigade des Mineurs, the 1977-1979 social drama series created by Claude Loursais and starring Jean Daurand as Commissaire Dupuy, is on Madelen too.

 

(1) Arsenic Blues, actually composed by Marc Lanjean for the movie La Peau de l'ours (1957).

(2) Télé 7 Jours.

(3) ORTF was dismantled in December 1974 and the Deuxième chaîne was renamed Antenne 2. 

 

https://madelen.ina.fr/serie/les-cinq-dernieres-minutes-i-2583

https://madelen.ina.fr/serie/les-cinq-dernieres-minutes-ii-2621

  

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes on this blog:

 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/11/les-cinq-dernieres-minutes-meurtre-par.html 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/07/les-cinq-dernieres-minutes-la-memoire.html 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/07/fausse-note-ortf-1974.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/06/si-ce-nest-toi-ortf-1974.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2024/06/rouges-sont-les-vendanges-ortf-1974.html

THE HARD WAY (LA MANIÈRE FORTE, FRANCE 2)

[Spoiler-free review] Major Chevalier, an old-school cop known for his brutal style, is brought out of retirement because of a murder bearing the signature of a serial killer he put behind bars. 

 

He's placed under the orders of Captain Kabongo, a clever and progressive detective who epitomizes everything he hates about French contemporary society.

 

The bottom line: Le dernier Flic.

 

From Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga, the makers of Chérif (2013-2019), Double Je (2019) and Le Code (2021-2023), comes La Manière forte. This brilliant 90-minute crime drama pilot was written by Lionel Olenga and helmed by actor, scriptwriter and director Vincent Primault (Section de recherches, Chérif, In America). La Manière forte stars the masterful Grégoire Bonnet (Scènes de ménages, Le Code) as Major Thierry Chevalier and the excellent Clarisse Lhoni-Botte (Codename: Annika) as Captain Wendy Kabongo. 

 

A young woman is found dead by a group of paintballers. She was stabbed and the killer engraved a 7 in Roman numerals on one of her thighs. Captain Kabongo, of the Angoulème police, is called on the crime scene. Her hierarchy is troubled by the similarity of the MO with a case of serial murders for which controversial supercop Major Chevalier sent Gabriel Laporte to jail after extorting his confession. Laporte awaits for his trial while Chevalier is on early retirement. Kabongo meets the latter, who's quickly imposed on the investigation by the préfet. 

 

Neither are thrilled by this collaboration. Wendy Kabongo is feminist, ecologist and vegan. Thierry Chevalier is misogynistic, conservative, racist and homophobic. His ex-colleagues say the word "dinosaur" was invented for this biker always in a leather jacket. Chevalier's homophobia even cost him his relationship with his gay son, who happens to be the deputy public prosecutor. The wealthy Caroline Laporte, Gabriel's mother, wants her son out of prison. She also wants to make Chevalier pay for his imprisonment. Another victim is found in a vineyard. 

 

Amongst the gazillion of crime and mystery dramas on French TV, La Manière forte is very refreshing. Major Thierry Chevalier is an antihero character in the mold of Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry), Andy Sipowicz (NYPD. Blue), Gene Hunt (Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes) or Mick Brisgau (Der letzte Bulle). His only (redeeming?) qualities are a huge sense of justice and a formidable instinct. Hopefully we'll see more of the duo Chevalier-Kabongo after this celebration of the crime/cop genre including great dialogues and a well dosed touch of cynical humour.

 

With Isabel Otero (Caroline), Cyril Descours (Deputy public prosecutor Albertini) Théo Frilet (Gabriel), Arthur Beaudoire (Jérémy), Jeanne Bournaud (Charline Huygues), etc. A co-production Making Prod (a Mediawan company), L.O. Productions and France Télévisions with the support of Magelis and Département de la Charente and the participation of RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Produced by Stéphane Drouet and Lionel Olenga. Sophie Barrat exec produces. Claude Azoulay is the production manager.

 

Music by Michael Tordjman and Maxime Desprez. Cinematography by Samuel Dravet. Editing by Emmanuel Douce. Filmed in Angoulème and Reims during summer 2024. Distributed by Mediawan Rights (The Hard Way is the international title). La Manière forte will be aired today by France 2 and it's available on france.tv.

 

https://www.france.tv/series-et-fictions/films-tv/7190429-la-maniere-forte.html 

https://www.sudouest.fr/culture/programmes-tv/la-maniere-forte-gregoire-bonnet-visage-populaire-de-scenes-de-menages-comme-on-ne-l-a-jamais-vu-24428363.php

 

See also: 

 

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-code-le-code-series-1-episodes-1-2.html

https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2019/05/double-je-series-1-episode-1-le-systeme.html

T.R. SLOANE/DEATH RAY 2000 (NBC, 1979)

T.R. Sloane is a 90-minute TV movie shot in 1979 but aired in 1981 and starring Robert Logan. It's a pilot for the short-lived NBC 1979 action/adventure series A man called Sloane, with Robert Conrad (of The Wild Wild West fame) in the title role.

Seven fake nuns and a giant black man with a metal hand attack the Gideon Peak Observatory. They steal the invention of Professor Gregory, a cannon shooting a powerful dehydrating ray. The Director of UNIT, an intelligence agency accountable only to the President, sends T.R. Sloane to Gideon Peak. Thomas R. Sloane III is an art historian and antique dealer but most of all he's the Director's best agent. Sloane meets Professor Gregory's niece Chrissy Randall and the scientist's assistant Sabina Dorffman. Millionaire Erik Clawson and the organization KARTEL are behind the observatory raid. They want to eliminate the attendants of a peace conference in Switzerland.

In 1978, U.S. television network NBC looked for a series a la James Bond and they discussed the idea with Quinn Martin, the boss of QM Productions. Martin built his reputation with crime drama hits The Fugitive (1963-1967), The F.B.I. (1965-1974), Cannon (1971-1976), The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) and Barnaby Jones (1973-1980). His style was recognizable, from the opening credits read by an announcer (Hank Simms or Dick Wesson) to the four acts and the epilogue of each episode all labelled on-screen. Beyond cops and detectives, Quinn Martin ventured into the military genre (12 O'Clock High, 1964-1967), sci-fi (The Invaders, 1967-1968) and even horror (Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, 1977).

QM Productions had something for NBC: Sloane, a scenario written in 1975 by screenwriter and producer Cliff Gould (Cade's County, The Streets of San Francisco) for  ABC although not produced (1). During Autumn 1978, Quinn Martin sold his 18-year old independent company to two of its executives in order to produce feature films and kept only a consultant position. In turn, both investors sold QM Productions to Taft Broadcasting soon after. Writer and producer Philip Saltzman, a longtime associate of Quinn Martin, founded Woodruff Productions the same year. Woodruff co-produced the last two seasons of Barnaby Jones with QM. Saltzman got involved with Sloane in December 1978 (2) as the executive producer. 

Cliff Gould was called to rewrite and produce the pilot, retitled T.R. Sloane. The role of superspy Thomas Remington Sloane III went to Robert Logan. Noticed in the 1960s for his parts in 77 Sunset Strip and Daniel Boone, he preferred sailing and travelling to acting. In 1968, Robert Logan was in Czechoslovakia for The Bridge at Remagen, where he played a soldier, when the country was invaded by the Soviet Union. While the actors and the crew left for Austria, Logan stayed to film the invasion and make photos. His career was relaunched by The Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1976). This low-budget family movie  spawned two sequels, The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1978) and Mountain Family Robinson (1979). 

Veteran actor Dan O'Herlihy was cast as The Director. He joined the Mercury Theatre of Orson Welles in 1948 and played alongside Welles in the stage and movie versions of Macbeth. O'Herlihy got an Oscar nomination for the title role in Luis Buñuel's film The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe, 1954). He was a regular in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963-1964) and The Long, Hot Summer (in 1966), and guest starred in many TV series. The Director never leaves his Kentucky farm and communicates with Sloane via voicemails. He interacts with Effie 3000, an unseen computer (voiced by Michele Carey). The only UNIT agent who has a direct contact with Thomas is his assistant Miss Blessing (Penelope Windust).

New Zealand-born stage, cinema and television actor Clive Revill (3) brought his talent and a bit of irony to the evil Erik Clawson, a character with a penchant for a cheese-loving spider and poisonous snakes. Torque, his henchman played by the impressive Ji-Tu Cumbuka (4), has a multi-function right hand in stainless steel. After stage work with the Performing Arts Society Workshop in Los Angeles, 6'5'' (1.96 m) Cumbuka made his film debut in Uptight (1968) under the direction of Jules Dassin. He participated to several TV series (including three from QM Productions), the miniseries Roots (1977) and the unsold pilot Mandrake the Magician (1979). 

The first major role of actress and former model Ann Turkel (Sabina) was in the 1974 film 99 and 44/100% Dead, where she met its star Richard Harris. They married and worked together in The Cassandra Crossing (1976), Golden Rendezvous (1977) and Ravagers (1979) (5). Before T.R. Sloane, Maggie Cooper (Chrissy) co-starred in the live-action saturday morning series Space Academy (1977). Lee H. Katzin was chosen to helm T.R. Sloane. For television he directed series, pilots such as Hondo (1967) and The Mod Squad (1968), the premiere of Space: 1999 (1975), the first Man from Atlantis TV movie (1977) and the miniseries The Bastard (1978). 

Lee H. Katzin also directed films like Le Mans (1971) or The Salzburg Connection (1972). Health issues almost prevented him to be hired on T.R. Sloane because of difficulties with the production insurance company (6) but the shooting took place between February and March 1979. The Swiss portion of the script was filmed in Colorado at Sunlight Ski Area, Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village. Glenwood Springs and Snowmass previously doubled as Switzerland in Intertect (1973), a pilot written and produced by Philip Saltzman for QM. Robert Logan had a ranch in Aspen and was an accomplished skier. The rest of T.R. Sloane was done in California.

T.R. Sloane was previewed by NBC programming boss Fred Silverman in April 1979 (7). He decided that Robert Logan wasn't right for the role and that Ji-Tu Cumbuka's Torque should be the sidekick of Sloane. NBC agreed to order a series if QM could find the right replacement to Logan. Stephen Collins and Armand Assante were considered (8), then Silverman told the production to get Robert Conrad. For the network, Conrad starred in Baa Baa Black Sheep/Black Sheep Squadron (1976-1978), played a trapper in Centennial (1978-1979) and was the NBC team captain in six episodes of Battle of the Network Stars (on ABC) between 1976 and 1979. Except Robert Conrad was now an ex-boxer turned detective in The Duke, launched by NBC in April 1979 to the satisfaction of the actor, who expected it to return in Autumn.

Fred Silverman convinced him to give up The Duke after only four episodes and star in A Man called Sloane for $100.000 per hour-length show (9). Meanwhile, the quite similar 007 copycat pilot Billion Dollar Threat was presented by ABC on April 15, 1979. Dan O'Herlihy and Michele Carey stayed for A Man called Sloane but UNIT left Kentucky for a Californian store called The Toy Boutique and a young woman named Kelly (Karen Purcill) was now in charge of Sloane's gadgets. Thomas' car, a 1979 Di Napoli Coupe, was changed for a Samco Cord Warrior. Gerald Sanford (Barnaby Jones) replaced Cliff Gould as the producer for the series. Peter Allan Fields (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) was appointed executive story consultant. 

Despite a budget estimated to $2.5 million (10), T.R. Sloane was still on the shelf when A Man called Sloane started on September 22, 1979. Some footage of the pilot was edited for the series promotion, an interview of Ji-Tu Cumbuka and the main title sequence of A Man called Sloane. Unlike the soundtrack of the series, composed mainly by Patrick Williams (The Streets of San Francisco), T.R. Sloane has no original music. Music editor Ken Wilhoit chose pieces from the KPM library. For instance, Fugitive by Johnny Pearson (opening credits), Agressive Jazz Theme by Keith Mansfield (Cuban mission) or Dave Gold's Big City (A) (ski scene). A Man called Sloane did well in the ratings until it faced ABC's Fantasy Island. NBC aired its 12th and final episode in December 22, 1979.   

T.R. Sloane was finally shown by the network on March 5, 1981 under the title Death Ray 2000. The pilot recovered its initial title for reruns on USA Network. A Man called Sloane arrived in France on TF1 in 1981 as Sloane, agent spécial. T.R. Sloane, titled Le maître de l'eau in French, aired on the same channel in August 1983 with a dubbing adaptation which erased all the names used in the series (Sloane was called "Stone"). Robert Logan wrote the script of the Canadian movie Kelly (1981) and starred in it. He quit acting in 1997 to pursue a life of travels and sports (polo, cycling...) Ji-Tu Cumbuka guest starred in numerous TV series and appeared in Brewster's Millions (1985) and Harlem Nights (1997). His extraordinary presence in A Man called Sloane is fondly remembered. 

Dan O'Herlihy is part of pop culture history for his roles in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), The Last Starfighter (1984), RoboCop (1987) and RoboCop II (1990). Maggie Cooper became a television reporter in 1989. Robert Conrad returned to his signature role of James West (The Wild Wild West, 1965-1969) in The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980), two made-for-TV movies for CBS. Though he never had a hit series again, Robert Conrad continued to enjoy his TV legend status. A Man called Sloane was one of the rare QM series without the elements which popularized the style of its founder and it was the last series produced by the company.

(1) (2) (7) (10) Priming for Prime Time (The New York Times, September 9, 1979).
(3) Clive Revill died last month, aged 94. He's best known as the original voice of Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
(4) His name was given by his grandmother. Ji-Tu means "Giant" and Cumbuka means "To Remember" in Swahili.

(5) Ann Turkel and Richard Harris divorced in 1982. The same year, Ann Turkel played in the unsold pilot Modesty Blaise. She guest starred in several TV series from the 1980s-1990s.
(6) (8) Quinn Martin, Producer: A Behind-the-Scenes History of QM Productions and Its Founder by Jonathan Etter (McFarland, 2003).

(9) Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters by Everett Aaker (McFarland, 2006).