The Umbrella Coup

The Umbrella Coup
The Umbrella Coup
	Film poster
Directed by	Gérard Oury
Written by	Gérard Oury; Danièle Thompson
Produced by	Alain Poiré
Starring	Pierre Richard; Gordon Mitchell; Gert Fröbe
Cinematography	Henri Decaë
Edited by	Albert Jurgenson
Music by	Vladimir Cosma
Production; company	Gaumont International
Distributed by	Gaumont
Release date	8 October 1980;
Running time	98 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$18.4 million

The Umbrella Coup (French: Le Coup du parapluie) is a 1980 French comedy film directed by Gérard Oury, starring Pierre Richard, Gordon Mitchell and Gert Fröbe.^[2]

The creation of the film was inspired by several assassinations of Bulgarian dissidents where the so-called Bulgarian umbrella was used as a weapon. The working title of the film was Le Coup du Parapluie Bulgare.

It was shot the Epinay Studios and on location around Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jean André.

Plot

The unsuccessful actor Grégoire Lecomte is heading for a casting but then he takes a wrong turn. While he thinks he talks to casting director who wants an actor to play a henchman, he actually talks to a mafia don who wants a real killer. Lecomte's performance is convincing and consequently he receives a contract to finish off arms dealer Otto Krampe. He is supposed to kill Krampe with an umbrella containing a built-in syringe full of potassium cyanide at his birthday party in St-Tropez. Lecomte takes the don for a producer and believes this was all part of shooting a film.