Watch The 400 Blows (1959) Free Online

Release Date: 1959

Cast: Albert Rémy, Jacques Demy, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Guy Decomble, Daniel Couturier, Robert Beauvais, Georges Flamant, Jeanne Moreau, Claire Maurier, Jean-Claude Brialy, Marius Laurey, Patrick Auffay

Categories: Movies, Crime Fiction, Film à clef, World cinema, Childhood Drama, Black-and-white, French New Wave, Coming of age, Art film

The 400 Blows (French: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers to be a trouble maker. The film had a total of 3,642,981 admissions in France, making it Truffaut's most successful film to date in his home country. The English title is a straight translation of the French but misses its meaning, as the French title refers to... MORE

The 400 Blows (French: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers to be a trouble maker. The film had a total of 3,642,981 admissions in France, making it Truffaut's most successful film to date in his home country. The English title is a straight translation of the French but misses its meaning, as the French title refers to the expression "faire les quatre cents coups", which means "to raise hell". On the first American prints, subtitler and dubber Noelle Gilmore gave the film the title Wild Oats, but the distributor did not like that title and reverted it to The 400 Blows, which led some to think the film covered the topic of corporal punishment. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a 12-year old boy growing up in Paris during the early 1950s. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble), Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits LESS