The Legend of Frenchie King

The Legend of Frenchie King
	French theatrical release poster
Directed by	Christian-Jaque
Produced by	Francis Cosne; Raymond Erger;
Written by	Marie-Ange Aniès; Daniel Boulanger; Clément Bywood; Eduardo Manzanos Brochero; Jean Nemours;
Starring	Brigitte Bardot; Claudia Cardinale;
Music by	Francis Lai
Cinematography	Henri Persin
Edited by	Nicole Gauduchon
Production; company	Francos Films; Vides Cinematografica; Coop. Copercines (Madrid); Hemdale Holdings[1];
Release date	16 December 1971
Running time	94 minutes
Country	France; United Kingdom; Italy; Spain;
Language	French
Box office	2,234,479 admissions (France)[2]

The Legend of Frenchie King (French: Les Pétroleuses) or Petroleum Girls is a 1971 French, Spanish, Italian and British international co-production western comedy film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Claudia Cardinale and Brigitte Bardot.

Plot

In Bougival Junction, Texas in 1888 the Francophone town is led by Marie Sarrazin. A new family arrives, calling themselves the Millers, but in fact they are the daughters of the hanged outlaw Frenchie King. His eldest daughter Louise seeks to keep her father's name alive by donning men's clothing and continuing his criminal ways. Louise and Maria fight, but when they are jailed they team up to take revenge on the town's men.[3]

Cast

Claudia Cardinale as Marie Sarrazin
Brigitte Bardot as Louise a.k.a. Frenchie King
Michael J. Pollard as the Marshal
Patty Shepard as Petite Pluie
Emma Cohen as Virginie
Teresa Gimpera as Caroline
Oscar Davis as Mathieu
Georges Beller as Marc
Patrick Préjan as Luc
Rocardo Salvino as Jean
Henri Czarniak as Doc Miller
Valéry Inkijnoff as Spitting Bull
Micheline Presle as Aunt Amelie
Denise Provence as Mlle. Letellier
Leroy Hayns as Marquis
José Luis López Vázquez as a barber
Manuel Zarzo as a roulette player
Jacques Jouanneau as M. Letellier
Raoul Delfossé as Le Cornac
France Dougnac as Elisabeth[4]

Release

The premiere of Les Pétroleuses was on 17 December 1971 at the Balzac cinema in Paris.[5]

Reception

Critical response

The film received generally negative reviews. Bardot's performance in particular was criticised by Jean Loup Passek, who noted how uncomfortable she seemed in the film's outdoors action setting.[6] Writing in Variety Gene Moskowitz dismissed the film as "predictable, naive and gauche" whilst Tom Milne called it "drearily unfunny".[7]

References

"Les Pétroleuses (1971)". British Film Institute. 1971. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
Box office information for film at Box Office Story
Crawley, Bébé, p. 231
Tony Crawley, Bébé: The Films of Brigitte Bardot, London:LSP Books, 1975, p. 230
Petroleuses Premiere. Actresses Claudia Cardinale (left) and Brigitte Bardot at the premiere of 'Les Petroleuses' (aka Petroleum Girls or The Legend of Frenchie King), at the Balzac cinema, Paris, 17 December 1971. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
Crawley, Bébé, p. 233
Crawley, Bébé, p. 234

External links

Les Pétroleuses at IMDb

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[1] "Les Pétroleuses (1971)". British Film Institute. 1971. Retrieved 3 December 2019.

[2] Box office information for film at Box Office Story

[3] Crawley, Bébé, p. 231

[4] Tony Crawley, Bébé: The Films of Brigitte Bardot, London:LSP Books, 1975, p. 230

[5] Petroleuses Premiere. Actresses Claudia Cardinale (left) and Brigitte Bardot at the premiere of 'Les Petroleuses' (aka Petroleum Girls or The Legend of Frenchie King), at the Balzac cinema, Paris, 17 December 1971. Retrieved 3 December 2019.

[6] Crawley, Bébé, p. 233

[7] Crawley, Bébé, p. 234