History Film / TheCowAndI

* CoolPet: Marguerite, the cow. A peaceful animal to travel with, she also provides Charles with milk.

''The Cow and I'' (French title ''La Vache et le Prisonnier'') is a 1959 French dramedy film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Creator/{{Fernandel}}.

* GildedCage: Being employed at a farm is one of the best conditions prisoners of war can hope for during World War II, but even this doesn't prevent Charles from risking his life to go back to France.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:In the climax once he arrives at the train station of Lunéville (in occupied France right next to the border with Germany), Charles tries to escape from French policemen and jumps into a train... which brings him back to Germany. He'll eventually come back to France, but only two years later after Germany's final defeat like most other prisoners.]]

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Once he arrives at the train station of Lunéville, in occupied France right next to the border with Germany, Charles tries to escape from French policemen and jumps into a train... which brings him back to Germany. He'll eventually come back to France, but only two years later after Germany's final defeat like most other prisoners.]]

* LazyBum: The French prisoners at the sawmill camp Charles comes across are used for forced labor by the Germans. They sit around doing nothing and imitate sawing sounds with their mouths whenever German officers leave them unchecked, and they "work" as slowly as possible when they're being checked. They also do that because, of course, it's patriotic.

!!''The Cow and I'' provides examples of the following tropes:

In [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1943]], Charles Bailly (Fernandel) is a French prisoner of war in Germany since the French defeat of 1940. He is employed as work force at a farm, and while such fate is way more enviable than it is for many other prisoners, he decides to try an evasion. To do so, he takes the farm's cow, named Marguerite, with him, so German soldiers will be fooled into thinking he works in the vicinity anywhere he goes.

* HiddenInPlainSight: Charles' plan? He doesn't speak enough German and thus just ditching his prisoner outfit and running away isn't such a good idea, so he simply keeps his prisoner of war coat on, stays on the roads and brings a cow and a bucket with him so patrolling German soldiers will think he's doing forced farm work anywhere he goes.

* LazyBum: The French prisoners at the sawmill camp Charles comes across are used for forced labor by the Germans. They sit around doing nothing and imitate sawing sounds with their mouths whenever German officers leave them unchecked, and they "work" as slowly as possible when they're being checked.

* HiddenInPlainSight: Charles' plan? He doesn't speak enough German and thus just ditching his prisoner outfit and running away isn't such a good idea, so he simply keeps his prisoner of war coat on, stays on the roads and brings a cow and a bucket with him so patrolling German soldiers will think he's doing forced work anywhere he goes.

In [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1943]], Charles Bailly (Fernandel) is a French prisoner of war in Germany since the French defeat of 1940. He is employed as work force at a farm, and while such fate is way more enviable than it is for many other French soldiers, he decides to try an evasion. To do so, he takes the farm's cow, named Marguerite, with him, so German soldiers will be fooled into thinking he works in the vicinity anywhere he goes.

* LazyBum: The French prisoners at the sawmill camp Charles comes across are used for forced labor by the Germans. Instead of sawing wood, they sit around doing nothing and imitate sawing sounds with their mouths.

In [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1943]], Charles Bailly (Fernandel) is a French prisoner of war in Germany since 1940. He is employed as work force at a farm, and while such fate is way more enviable than it is for many other prisoners, he decides to try an evasion. To do so, he takes the farm's cow, named Marguerite, with him, so German soldiers will be fooled into thinking he works in the vicinity.

!!''The Cow and I'' provides examples of the following tropes: