Hold-Up is a Franco-Canadian crime comedy from 1985, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Alexandre Arcady. The screenplay by Arcady, Daniel Saint-Hamont and Francis Veber is based on the novel Quick Change by Jay Cronley. The novel was filmed again, as Quick Change (1990), with Bill Murray starring and co-directing.

Plot

Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the police with his strange behavior, he calmly manages to rid the bank of a fortune. But then an unsatisfied companion arouses trouble...

Cast

Box office

The film was the 16th highest-grossing movie of its year in France, and was the first time since 1976 that Belmondo has not delivered a top 10 hit movie.

Music

The music that Grimm plays in Rome is by Nino Rota from La strada (1954), which also features a clown as a main character.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, composed by Serge Franklin, was released by Music Box Records and includes the complete score of Alexandre Arcady's Last Summer in Tangiers (1987).