History Film / TheLegendOfFrenchieKing

* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Louise smokes while waiting for Maria to come to her after kidnapping her brothers.

* DuelingStarsMovie: 'Dueling' being taken quite literally here.

Louise Leroi (Bardot) and her sisters are famous bandits who, while robbing a train, find the deed to a ranch. When the train arrives in the French-speaking community of Bougival Junction, Maria Sarrazin (Cardinale) and her brothers find the map of the ranch in what's left of the train's loot, and discover that there's oil in the ranch. The Lerois move to Bougival Junction with Louise under the guise of Doctor Miller, who's the true owner of the ranch, and start a cold war with the Sarrazins over the property, and things become mildly complicated when the respective sisters and brothers fall for each other. A bumbling sheriff who can't speak French is caught in the middle of all this.

* ActionPrologue: The train robbery within five minutes of the start which is where Doctor Miller loses the deed to the Lerois.

* BastardGirlfriend: The Leroi sisters to the Sarrazin brothers. The latter group doesn't seem to mind.

* {{Corpsing}}: Variation. In the scene where Louise rides one of the Sarrazins' untamed horses, Maria laughs and covers her face. The act of covering her face is OOC for someone like Maria, but Claudia Cardinale was known to do this when she laughed in real life.

* DistressedDude: Maria's brothers getting kidnapped by the Kings.

* DoubleInLawMarriage: The Leroi and Sarrazin siblings.

* TheDreaded: The Sarrazins for the population of Bougival Junction.
* DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas: Discussed. One guy (French immigrant, as are almost all characters) complains that this will be his 17th Christmas without snow.

* GenerationXerox: Maria's bossing of her brothers is apparently a common trait in every Pastucci woman (Pastucci being her mother's maiden name).

* HazyFeelTurn: Louise and Maria are on opposite sides, both similar in their (lack of) morality. [[spoiler:Maria is on Louise's side by the end of the film.]]

* HeroesLoveDogs: The sheriff, who's the most moral character in the film even if he has trouble living up to it in practice, randomly adopts a dog from the street.

* TrueBlueFemininity: Maria's most feminine attire is a blue dress which she only wears on specific occasions.

* WomenAreWiser

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes

* EvilVersusEvil: The Lerois and the Sarrazins ARE bandits, after all.

* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Maria's brothers are called [[Literature/TheFourGospels Matthieu, Luc, Marc, and Jean]]. For that matter, Maria is the name of several important biblical characters.

* NoNameGiven: The sheriff is a subversion. His name is Morgan Jeffson as stated in the movie, but in any credits listing he'll be referred to as just 'the sheriff'.

* TokenMinority: The black Marquis, and the native Americans Spitting Bull and Little Rain, one of Louise's sisters.

* UnkemptBeauty: Maria usually wears quite dingy and dirty clothes, contrasting Louise who generally has a cleaner appearance.

Louise King (Bardot) and her sisters are famous bandits who, while robbing a train, find a deed to an oil ranch. When the train arrives in the French-speaking community of Bougival Junction, Maria Sarrazin (Cardinale) and her brothers find the map of the ranch in what's left of the train's loot. The Kings move to Bougival Junction with Louise under the guise of Doctor Miller, who's the true owner of the ranch, and start a cold war with the Sarrazins over the property, and things become mildly complicated when the respective sisters and brothers fall for each other. A bumbling sheriff who can't speak French is caught in the middle of all this.

* ActionPrologue: The train robbery within five minutes of the start which is where Doctor Miller loses the deed to the Kings.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The Kings taking over the oil ranch, spurring the Sarrazins into trying to kick them out.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:The Kings and Sarrazins leave Bougival Junction and presumably go on with their bandit lifestyle.]]

* BarBrawl: The King sisters try to cheat the Sarrazins at poker; when they're found out they start a fight.
* BastardGirlfriend: The King sisters to the Sarrazin brothers. The latter group doesn't seem to mind.

* BulletDancing: Maria does this to Louise in the bar, and the latter retaliates by showing off her accuracy and shooting the gun off Marie's hands. Later Louise does this to the Sarrazin brothers as a form of torture to make them spill the location of the oil well.

* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Louise smokes while waiting for Marie to come to her after kidnapping her brothers.

* DoubleInLawMarriage: The King and Sarrazin siblings.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''Les Petroleuses'', besides the obvious meaning, used to be a rather derogatory term for women who struck out on their own.

* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: The sheriff, taken UpToEleven by Marie with her habit of calling him by the name of [[WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs the profession she needs him to be]] at a particular moment.

* EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily: The Kings and the Sarrazins at the end.
* EvilVersusEvil: The Kings and the Sarrazins ARE bandits, after all.

* FourthDateMarriage: The King and Sarrazin siblings have known each other for two days tops before marrying. And most of their acquainting happens during the kidnapping.
* FragileFlower: Marquis.

* TheHilariousTable: The family dynamics of the Kings and the Sarrazins are revealed to the viewers through two such scenes (in the Kings' case, it's a campfire).
* HitMeDammit: Louise lets Maria land the first punch without defending or evading. There's no explanation as to why she would do that, but given the importance she places on blood ties, it might've been her way of [[EvenEvilHasStandards apologizing to Marie for kidnapping her brothers]].

* InTheBlood: The Kings.
* {{Introdump}}: How the King sisters are introduced.

* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: The King and Sarrazin siblings.

* MeaningfulName: Invoked by Louise ''King'' when she refers to Maria as a "little peasant".
** Throughout most of his life, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess Marquis]] has been serving a family named King.
* MinionShipping / OutlawCouple: The King and Sarrazin siblings.

* [[MySisterIsOffLimits My Brothers Are Off Limits]]: Maria doesn't want her brothers anywhere near the Kings. Of course, they're enemies, so this is justified.

* OldRetainer: Marquis for the Kings, Spitting Bull for the Sarrazins.

* ReallyGetsAround: Frenchie King. The Kings are all half-sisters. Do the math.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: The sheriff considers his placing in Bougival Junction as this.

* SamusIsAGirl: The King gang doesn't reveal themselves as women until the train robbery scene is over.

* ShipperOnDeck: The Sarrazin brothers for Maria/the sheriff. The King sisters' attitude during the musical number can be interpreted as them shipping Louise/Maria.

* {{Squee}}: The King sisters' reaction after first meeting the Sarrazin brothers.

* UnfamiliarCeiling: After being roughly beaten up by the Kings, Doctor Miller is chucked out of the train and wakes up under the care of a Chinese acupuncturist, though he's not entirely benevolent as he takes all his money and refuses to continue the treatment without more.

* TokenMinority: The black Marquis, the native American Spitting Bull and Little Rain, one of Louise's sisters.

Louise King (Bardot) and her sisters are famous bandits who, while robbing a train, find a deed to an oil ranch. When the train arrives in the French-speaking community of Bougival Junction, Marie Sarrazin (Cardinale) and her brothers find the map of the ranch in what's left of the train's loot. The Kings move to Bougival Junction with Louise under the guise of Doctor Miller, who's the true owner of the ranch, and start a cold war with the Sarrazins over the property, and things become mildly complicated when the respective sisters and brothers fall for each other. A bumbling sheriff who can't speak French is caught in the middle of all this.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Every outfit Marie wears ever.
* AccidentalHug / SecurityCling: Louise and Marie when they're wrestling each other and they see the oil suddenly spilling out from the well.

* AlmostKiss: Marie and the sheriff in the scene where she tries to seduce him into giving her the ranch.

* AltarTheSpeed: Louise and Marie's siblings marry each other under the sheriff's watch before they're shipped off to prison.

* BackToBackBadasses: Louise and Marie in most posters.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Neither Louise or Marie look much worse for wear following their fight, although they have visible bruises.
* BehindEveryGreatMan: Marie talks about how Napoleon Bonaparte wouldn't have been who he was without the input of his mother, using the tale to lecture her brothers on how they should respect her more.
* BettyAndVeronica: From the sheriff's perspective, Marie is the Betty and Louise is the Veronica.
** From Marie's perspective [[FoeRomanceSubtext (which is entirely possible)]], the sheriff is the Betty and Louise is the Veronica.
* {{Bifauxnen}}: Louise and her sisters are called men in all wanted posters and are described as men by their victims. Same thing for [[spoiler:Marie, when she joins them and becomes known as The Man in White.]]
* BifauxnenAndLadette: Louise and Marie.
* BigSisterInstinct: Kidnap Marie's brothers and ''suffer''.
* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Louise does this to Marie in their only gunfight.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Marie winks at the camera at the end.
* BulletDancing: Marie does this to Louise in the bar, and the latter retaliates by showing off her accuracy and shooting the gun off Marie's hands. Later Louise does this to the Sarrazin brothers as a form of torture to make them spill the location of the oil well.
* ButtMonkey: Mainly the sheriff and Marie's brothers, but also, unexpectedly, Marie herself, as she seems to find herself on the receiving end of Louise's humiliation much more than vice-versa.

* CardSharp: Louise's sisters con Marie's brothers out of a lot of money through a card game, although Marie arrives in time to put a stop to it.

* {{Corpsing}}: Variation. In the scene where Louise rides one of the Sarrazins' untamed horses, Marie laughs and covers her face. The act of covering her face is OOC for someone like Marie, but Claudia Cardinale was known to do this when she laughed in real life.

-->'''Marie''': So are you.

* DistractedByTheSexy: The sheriff and Marie's brothers on a constant basis.
* DistressedDude: Marie's brothers getting kidnapped by the Kings.

* [[DefeatMeansFriendship Double Knock-Out Means Friendship]]: Louise and Marie's CatFight ends with both fainting from fatigue. A minute later, they're more-or-less instant [=BFFs=].

* EngagementChallenge: Marie promises the sheriff that she will love him if he can somehow make the ranch her property, though it's likely she never intended to keep her word. Also, the sheriff flat-out tells her it's impossible and doesn't even try.

* EveryManHasHisPrice: Marie offers 3 times the amount of money that Louise spent in buying the ranch in hopes of getting rid of her without her discovering that the land has oil. It backfires because: 1) Louise did not care for her tone in negotiating with her, and 2) it made her suspicious of why Marie was trying so hard to make her leave.

* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: After learning off-screen that Louise is indeed Frenchie King, Marie expresses disappointment in her lackadaisical attitude.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Marie is the responsible sister to her four foolish brothers.

* GambitRoulette: Louise's plan to kidnap Marie's brothers relies on a series of {{Contrived Coincidence}}s, yet she and her sisters act like they've got everything carefully predicted and set up.

* HairContrastDuo: Blonde Louise and brunette Marie. Louise's sisters are also two blondes and two brunettes.

* HazyFeelTurn: Louise and Marie are on opposite sides, both similar in their (lack of) morality. [[spoiler:Marie is on Louise's side by the end of the film.]]

* HitMeDammit: Louise lets Marie land the first punch without defending or evading. There's no explanation as to why she would do that, but given the importance she places on blood ties, it might've been her way of [[EvenEvilHasStandards apologizing to Marie for kidnapping her brothers]].
* HomosocialHeterosexuality: Louise and Marie humour the sheriff because he has the power to hand over the ranch to either of them, but otherwise don't care about him.
* HotBlooded: Marie. Nothing says hot blood like storming into the local pub, firing off your pistols, looking for your brothers because it's past their bedtime.
* HypocriticalHumor: In one scene, Louise tries to get under Marie's skin by saying that she almost mistook Marie for a woman. This is while Louise is wearing a very mannish outfit herself, and Marie is wearing a dress with a corsets underneath. Marie shoves the insult back in Louise's face by way of a musical number and a tame strip-tease to showcase her femininity.
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Before the sheriff arrives at her house to negotiate the ranch, Marie adjusts her shirt to show some cleavage, obviously hoping it'll persuade him.
* IHaveBrothers: Subverted. Growing up with four brothers hasn't made Marie more tolerant of their boyish antics, and she's shown to be much more competent than them.

* IronLady: How the Sarrazin bros and, to a lesser extent, the whole of Bougival Junction see Marie.
* ItsPersonal: Louise fights Marie without aid from her sisters because she decided it was a personal matter.

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Louise slaps Marie three times after she gets knocked unconscious during the singing scene. Averted during the CatFight; if one is down, the other doesn't touch her.

* LadyMacbeth: Marie tries to get the sheriff to hand her over the ranch through not-so-legal ways. Unfortunately for her, he turns out to be more wholesome than expected.
* [[LeaveHimToMe Leave Her To Me]]: Louise orders her sisters to deal with the Sarrazin brothers while she handles Marie.
* [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen Let's Fight Like Ladies]]: Louise and Marie tacitally agree to use GoodOldFisticuffs instead of weapons.

* LongingLook: The way Louise stares at Marie in some scenes (especially in the musical number) is... hard to interpret as hateful. Either it's genuine ShipTease or Bardot failing at conveying hatred with her eyes.
* LovableSexManiac: Marie's brothers.
* LovelyAngels: Louise and Marie develop this dynamic after becoming friends.

* MeaningfulName: Invoked by Louise ''King'' when she refers to Marie as a "little peasant".

* [[MySisterIsOffLimits My Brothers Are Off Limits]]: Marie doesn't want her brothers anywhere near the Kings. Of course, they're enemies, so this is justified.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Belphegor, Marie's untamed horse which she tries to sell to Louise. Belphegor is the name of a demon.

* NoHeroToHisValet: Spitting Bull is implied to feel some measure of contempt for the Sarrazin brothers, but not Marie, apparently.

* NonActionGuy: Male characters are either useless (Marie's brothers), bumbling (sheriff), passive (Marquis and Spitting Bull) or evil schemers (Doctor Miller).
* NoNameGiven: The sheriff is a subversion. His name is Morgan Jefferson as stated in the movie, but in any credits listing he'll be referred to as just 'the sheriff'.
* NotSoAboveItAll: When the Sarrazin bros confirm that the ranch indeed has oil, the normally serious Louise has an outburst of joy but then checks herself and quickly puts her guard back up again.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Marie gets a corset from her aunt (she's a singer at a saloon) for Christmas. She strips down to it during the musical number.

* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Louise and Marie at first. They become more obvious in their attempts to insult each other as the movie goes on.

* PervertRevengeMode: Marie judo throws a guy for attempting to cop a feel.

* PosthumousCharacter: Frenchie King; Marie's parents, whose graves we catch a glimpse of.
* PromotionToParent: Marie acts very much like a mother to her brothers.

* RedBaron: Louise's Frenchie King, [[spoiler:Marie's Man in White]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Hot blooded Marie and chessmaster Louise.

* RunawayTrain: Marie is the one to stop the train that Louise robbed, since she knocked out the driver in the process.

* ShipperOnDeck: The Sarrazin brothers for Marie/the sheriff. The King sisters' attitude during the musical number can be interpreted as them shipping Louise/Marie.
* ShootTheRope: When Marie asks what Louise plans to do in case she has to face a hanging, Louise nonchalantly replies that she'll use this trope.

* SmugSmiler: Louise, especially where Marie is concerned.

* SpotlightStealingTitle: It's just as much about Marie as it is about Louise 'Frenchie King'. Averted for the French title and its direct translations.
* {{Squee}}: The King sisters reaction after first meeting the Sarrazin brothers.
* StandingBetweenTheEnemies: The sheriff successfully stops Louise and Marie's almost-fight in the bar, although he has to pretty much trip over himself to do it. When he tries the same with the CatFight, he gets uppercut and hammered down for his troubles, with either woman hardly noticing him.

-->'''Marie''': And what's your area, doctor?

* TakeYourTime: Louise is fine with eating chicken by the river while hers and Marie's siblings are arrested and being transported to God knows where.
* TapOnTheHead: Marie gets knocked out by one.

* ThereCanOnlyBeOne: Louise (who owns the ranch) and Marie (who knows where the oil is exactly) fight over the ranch, being too prideful to strike a deal and cooperate with each other.
* ThirdActStupidity: If Louise had kidnapped Marie along with her brothers, things might have gone her way. Since she was posing as a doctor, it wouldn't have been a problem to bring her to her house under the pretext of watching her condition more closely.
* ThisMeansWar: Louise and Marie are amiccable (for a loose definition of the term) in their first couple of encounters. It's in the bar scene that they first fully express the tension between them, because Marie discovers that Louise had sent her sisters to investigate her brothers.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Zig-zagged with Louise and Marie.

* TriangRelations: Type 1. The sheriff is interested in both Louise and Marie, but they're just using him.

* TrueBlueFemininity: Marie's most feminine attire is a blue dress which she only wears on specific occasions.
* {{Tsundere}}: Marie, to her brothers and the sheriff.

* UnkemptBeauty: Marie usually wears quite dingy and dirty clothes, contrasting Louise who generally has a cleaner appearance.

* VillainProtagonist: Louise and Marie.
* TheVillainSucksSong: "Prairie Girl", from Marie to Louise.

* WomanInBlack / WomanInWhite: Louise and Marie respectively. Marie only at the end, though.

* WorthyOpponent: It takes until after the CatFight for Louise and Marie to acknowledge each other as such.

* YouCanLeaveYourHatOn: Marie performs one at the fair, though only down to the corset and stockings. The point of the exercise is [[FoeRomanceSubtext apparently to troll Louise]].

* YourMom: Inverted as Louise insults her own aunt to insult Marie.

-->'''Marie''': She sang?

* BackToBackBadasses: Most posters.

* BarBrawl