Pour cent briques, t'as plus rien... (meaning "for 200 grand, you can't get anything nowaday...") is a 1982 French comedy film directed by Édouard Molinaro, starring Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Jugnot and Anémone. It is based on the 1976 play Pour cent briques t'as plus rien maintenant ! by Didier Kaminka.
Sam (Auteuil) lives with his unemployed friend Paul (Jugnot). He gets fired. When his furniture is seized by a debt collector, he realizes that he has no choice but taking hostages for ramson.
Pour cent briques, t'as plus rien... provides examples of:
- The Casanova: Sam. In the beginning, Ginette comes to the flat just to have sex with him. He also manages to seduce Caroline, the travel agency employee. During the hostage situation, he seduces Nicole.
- Casual Danger Dialog: Nicole, a hostage, calls the Home Department to inform them about the hostage situation. When she gets someone she knows on the line, she starts a totally casual conversation. Only after that she tells that the purpose of the call is about the hostage situation.
- Chekhov's Gun: The red ink. When Paul enters the bank, a clerk spills red ink on her hands. Later, Sam uses it to fake his own death.
- Creator Cameo: The director, Édouard Molinaro, appears briefly as a newspaper vendor.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The hostage situation happens on Christmas Eve, but this is only relevant to the plot by the fact that the bank is supposed to close earlier than usual, at noon.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- Nicole appears in the opening scene as one of the hostages. Then Sam and Paul watch her interview on TV. She becomes an important character when Sam and Paul take her hostage in another bank.
- Police officer Bouvard also appears in this first hostage situation. He plays an important role in the second one.
- Fainting: Parodied. Henri, the impressive minder, faints again and again when he is shocked.
- Faking the Dead: Sam fakes his own death. He uses red ink so that he seems to have been mortally wounded by Paul's gun. This is to show that the hostage takers are serious.
- Fanservice Extra: Ginette (Isabelle Mergault) appears briefly in the beginning of the film: she comes to Sam's flat to make love with him. She appears topless when she talks with Paul.
- The Film of the Play: The film is based on the 1976 play Pour cent briques t'as plus rien maintenant ! by Didier Kaminka.
- Foreshadowing: The hostage situation in the opening scene foreshadows the main one, that Sam and Paul commit.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Invoked. Sam pretends to volunteer to be Paul's first victim. In reality, he is Paul's accomplice and he does it just because they do not intend to harm anyone (they do not even have real weapons).
- Hidden Weapons: Bouvard has a small gun hidden in the sole of one of his shoes.
- Hostage Situation: Sam and Paul attack a bank and takes the customers and employees hostage. They demand money and a car to go away.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Sam and Paul learn how to take hostages by watching movies with hostage situations.
- Lawman Gone Bad: In the end, Bouvard, a police officer, suggests helping Sam and Paul and asks for a part of the loot. This is because he was told that he will be demoted.
- Lemming Cops: In the final chase scene, several police cruisers and motorbikes crash.
- Lima Syndrome: Sam becomes friend with the hostages. He even offers to share the loot with them.
- Lovable Rogue: Sam and Paul. They take people hostage, but they do it only because they are broke and they have no other option. They do not intend to harm anyone (their guns are toy guns).
- A Match Made in Stockholm: Nicole falls for Sam, one of the hostage takers.
- The Mole: Sam is Paul's accomplice, but he pretends to be a customer of the bank during the first part of the hostage situation.
- Ms. Fanservice: Caroline (Élisa Servier) is naked or topless in many of the scenes where she appears.
- Nepotism: Sam's boss orders him to train a young guy. When the training is completed, he fires Sam and hires the trainee, who is his own son, instead.
- Running Gag: Henri, the impressive minder, faints again and again when he is shocked.
- ShoutOut:
- At Caroline's flat, Sam watches a videotape of Asphalte, a 1981 film directed by Denis Amar.
- When Sam and Paul are practicing before they attack the bank, Sam tells Paul he should try to look cool like Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
- Stupid Crooks: Sam and Paul are not very bright. They finally manage to get away with the money, but this is because their hostages (in particular Nicole and Bouvard) help them and because they are lucky.
- Tropical Epilogue: In the epilogue, the characters live together in a tropical beach resort.
- Weapon for Intimidation: Sam and Paul use toy guns to intimidate the hostages and the police.
