The Prize of Peril

A desperately dumb variation on the thesis that all the world's a telly channel, life (and death) just another game show. Unemployment is rising, ratings are falling, when a TV executive comes up with a show that pits a solitary volunteer contestant against a team of armed hunters in a once-a-week chase across the city, filmed live up to and including the moment of death. The show wins Christians vs Lions popularity. Everyone is happy: the producer (Pisier, just bitching it in the absence of a scripted character), the presenter (Piccoli, in Daz-white suit and slipping hair-piece), and the advertisers. Until Lanvin, playing The Hero (remember heroes? they're supposed to win), makes his bid for the million-dollar prize and discovers (you don't say) the game is rigged. Plot weaknesses apart, there's something culturally unreal about this cheapie Paris production with second-rate stuntwork that tries to be (the dubbing doesn't help) mid-Atlantic or universal.