Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?

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Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?

Directed by	Ted Kotcheff
Produced by	William Aldrich
Written by	Peter Stone
Starring	George Segal Jacqueline Bisset Robert Morley Jean-Pierre Cassel Philippe Noiret
Music by	Henry Mancini
Cinematography	John Alcott
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	1978
Running time	112 minutes
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Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? is a 1978 comedy film starring George Segal, Jacqueline Bisset, and Robert Morley. It was based on a novel entitled Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe by Nan and Ivan Lyons. Each chef is killed in the manner of his most famous dish (The lobster chef, for example, is boiled) and in the book the recipe for each dish is given. The film was co-produced by the U.S.A., Italy, France and West Germany.

[edit] Plot

Natasha O'Brien (Jacqueline Bisset) is a celebrated pastry chef invited to London to assist in preparing a state dinner for the Queen organized by her sometime benefactor, Max (Robert Morley). Natasha's ex-husband, Robby (George Segal) is a fast food entrepreneur ("the Taco King") serving the "everyman" consumer while she caters to the affluent. Max is the "immensely fat" grand gourmand publisher of a gourmet magazine and patron of several famous European chefs, each renowned for a signature dish. When Natasha arrives in London he's gloating over his latest issue featuring "the world's most fabulous meal" which highlights the culinary masterpieces of his favorite chefs. However, Max's health is failing from an addiction to those chefs' specialties. Mysteriously, each chef is murdered, killed in the manner of his most famous dish (e.g., the lobster chef is drowned in a tank of lobsters). In the book the recipe for each dish is given.

The murderer turns out to be Max's dedicated "jill-of-all-trades," motivated to kill the chefs in a vain attempt to keep Max on his severe diet by removing the focus of his addiction. Eventually, Robby realizes his ex-wife is the last on the list, and her signature dish is a dessert: "Le' Bombe Richelieu."

[edit] Awards

Robert Morley won Best Supporting Actor at the 1978 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1978) and at the National Society of Film Critics Awards (1979). He was also nominated for Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role along with Jacqueline Bisset for Best Motion Picture Actress (1979).