French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot plays Maria – a half-Irish Irish revolutionary in the early 1900s. With her father leading the way, she has been busy bombing the British ever since she was knee high to a leprechaun. When their latest mission in Mexico goes horribly wrong and her father is killed, Maria, now an adult, finds herself desperate and on the run. Spotting a group of caravans belonging to a traveling music hall troupe, the bronze beauty ducks into one of them to hide.
Jeanne Moreau plays another Maria – a sexy chanteuse and dancer whose caravan Maria #1 has just chosen to make her temporary home. Turns out, though, it’s perfect timing – Moreau’s ex-partner, Janine, has just killed herself. What luck!
Teaming up, the two Marias are an instant hit tantalizing mostly male audiences with their striptease and singing act – ok, mostly with the striptease. Soon, they somehow become inspirational heroines of the Mexican revolution – What luck!
Light, absurd, way overlong laughless comedy is unfunny in the way that “The Great Race” (1965) is unfunny – lots of ole fashion slapstick performed by non-slapstick, mostly non-comedian mega stars.
It’s all kinda pleasant enough and the widescreen photography by Henri Decae looks great, but 117 minutes? Trim this bloated sucker down to 90 minutes and you may have something a little less dull and a little less ridiculous. Though, it will still be about as memorable as a trip to the corner store.
