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Bingo (1974 film)

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Bingo
Directed byJean-Claude Lord
Written byJean-Claude Lord
Roch Poisson
Lise Thouin
Michel Capistran
Jean Salvy
Produced byPierre David
Louise Ranger
StarringRéjean Guénette
Anne-Marie Provencher
Claude Michaud
Alexandra Stewart
Gilles Pelletier
CinematographyClaude La Rue
François Protat
Edited byJean-Claude Lord
Music byMichel Comte
Production
company
Les Films Mutuels
Distributed byAmbassador Film Distributors (Canada)
Michèle Dimitri Films (France)
Les Films Mutuels (all media)
Release date
  • March 14, 1974 (1974-03-14)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench
Budget$400,000[1]
Box office$1.5 million (Canada)[2]

Bingo is a 1974 French-Canadian thriller directed by Jean-Claude Lord. The plot relates to Quebec's October Crisis of 1970.[3][4]

Synopsis

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Director Jean-Claude Lord exploits the post-October Crisis paranoia that was rampant in Quebec with considerable panache with this skilful melodrama. Although the story is not about the events leading up to the War Measures Act, it does draw upon the fabric and feelings of that time. A young photographer (Réjean Guénette) becomes unwittingly entangled in a terrorist organization, which engages in a plot against prominent politicians and business leaders before an upcoming election. The film was hugely popular in Quebec and established Lord as a major director with this, his third feature.

Soundtrack

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Lord's wife, and co-screenwriter, the actress Lise Thouin released "Bingo", written by Michel Conte as a single.[5]

Reception

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The film was well received in Quebec but failed to find an audience elsewhere, grossing $1.5 million in Canada.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Quebec Films in 1976 Veered To English". Variety. November 24, 1976. p. 33.
  2. ^ a b "Canadian Films Grosses". Variety. November 24, 1976. p. 32.
  3. ^ The Cinema of Canada Jerry White - 2006 - Page 33 "... as well as the 1990s and early 2000s, witnessed a number of highly lucrative domestic productions, such as Denis Heroux's Valerie (1968), Claude Fournier's Deuxfemmes en or (1970), Jean-Claude Lord's Bingo (1974) and, more recently, ..."
  4. ^ Eugene P. Walz Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films 2002 "... decided to do neither an actual documentary on the events, like Robin Spry's Action: The October Crisis of 1970 (1973), nor a wholly fictionalized rendition of the incidents, like Jean-Claude Lord's contemporary political thriller Bingo (1974), ..."
  5. ^ Billboard - Volume 86 - Page 56 1974 ... music by Michel Conte. Les Grands Ballets Ca- nadiens will premiere the work in March at Montreal's Place des Arts. ... In early February Lise Thouin will have her recording of the theme song from her husband's movie, "Bingo," released by ...
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