The verdict
Audiences rate it 6.2 out of 10 on TMDB across 201 votes — a mixed reception. It is not currently playing in Hong Kong cinemas. 112 minutes.
What it is about
Michel Bernardin works for “Planet Assistance”, which helps travellers in need. On his first assignment, Michel goes to North Africa to get a man out of the hospital but ends up with the wrong man and accidentally sets off a coup d’état. In New York, he is attacked by men in Harlem
while trying to bring a musician back. Lastly, he goes to Hong Kong, where he comes across his fiancée but is also an unwitting puppet of some racketeers.
What to expect
Claude Zidi’s 1983 comedy Banzaï screens as part of the Hong Kong French Film Festival (FCP 2026). Coluche plays a travel-assistance agent whose first job — fetching a client from a North African hospital — goes so wrong he topples a government. The movie then jumps to New York and Hong Kong, piling on slapstick set-pieces at a pace that leaves little room to breathe. The audience score sits at 6.2 from 201 votes, so it lands as a scrappy, uneven farce rather than a lost classic — exactly the kind of thing a festival revival is for. In French with English subtitles. 112 min. Check festival session details for venue and showtimes.
Cast
-
Coluche
Michel Bernardin -
Valérie Mairesse
Isabelle Morizet, fiancée de Michel -
Marthe Villalonga
Mme Bernardin, mère de Michel -
Rabah Loucif
Rachid -
Didier Kaminka
Paul, le cousin de Michel -
François Perrot
Le président de "Planète Assistance" -
Éva Darlan
Carole, un médecin de "Planète Assistance" -
Zabou Breitman
Sophia, de l'agence de voyages, l'amie d'Isabelle -
Rachid Ferrache
Julien, le garçon qu'il faut rapatrier de Tunisie -
Jean-Marie Proslier
L'homme d'affaires dans le Concorde - Isabelle Attali L'hôtesse du vol Paris-Tunis
- Dominique Balzer Robert
- Gérard Holtz Le journaliste de la télévision
-
André Chaumeau
Le vendeur de meubles - Jean Cherlian Le premier flic
Crew
- Director Claude Zidi
- Screenplay Claude Zidi
- Original Music Composer Vladimir Cosma
- Director of Photography Jean-Jacques Tarbès
- Editor Nicole Saunier
- Producer Claude Berri
- Executive Producer Pierre Grunstein
Common questions
- How long is the movie?
- 112 minutes.
- What language is it in and are there subtitles?
- French, with English subtitles.
- Is it suitable for children?
- No certificate is listed. It is a broad adventure comedy with no flagged adult content, so it should be fine for general audiences.
- Is this a new release?
- No, it is a 1983 movie screening as part of the French Film Festival (FCP 2026).
