La Chèvre

La Chèvre (English title: Knock on Wood, literal translation: The She-goat) is a 1981 French buddy cop comedy film written and directed by Francis Veber, starring Pierre Richard and Gérard Depardieu. It is the first of three films featuring Richard and Depardieu as a comic duo.

An American remake of this film was made in 1991, starring Martin Short and Danny Glover, entitled Pure Luck.

Plot
La Chèvre features Depardieu as tough-guy private detective Campana, hired to find Marie, the daughter of a rich businessman, who has mysteriously disappeared while vacationing in Mexico. The case turns out to be complicated – several attempts to find her have already failed. A psychologist, Meyer, who works for the businessman, suggests a plan: Marie is known to be extremely unlucky and accident-prone; therefore, the psychologist advises sending someone equally unlucky and accident-prone to find her on the theory that what happened to her may also happen to him, and thus, following her steps while the detective tags along, the daughter can be found and returned home. Richard's character Perrin is an awkward, accident-prone accountant who works for the businessman, and is chosen to implement the scheme while being made to believe that HE is actually in charge of the investigation. While Campana does not believe in luck and is extremely skeptical about the plan's success, he goes along with it. The adventures of the serious detective and unlucky guy begin, with, amazingly, each misfortune Perrin suffers along the way bringing the duo one step closer each time to finding their quarry...

Cast

 * Pierre Richard as François Perrin
 * Gérard Depardieu as Campana
 * Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as The Captain
 * Corynne Charbit as Marie Bens
 * Maritza Olivares
 * André Valardy as Meyer
 * Jorge Luke as Arbal
 * Sergio Calderón as Prisoner
 * Michel Robin as Alexandre Bens
 * Robert Dalban as The technician

Release history and facts
The movie is infamous in Italy for the Cinema Statuto fire in Turin in which it was projected, killing 64 people.

Reception
The film received favorable reviews, with praise for Richard and Depardieu's performances, story and humour. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1985 by the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.