Who Is Killing The Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)

When overbearing food connoisseur Max Vandevere (Robert Morley) publishes his list of the greatest chefs in Europe he inadvertently sets in motion a stream of jealousy, anger and eventually murder.

American fast-food entrepreneur Robby Ross (George Segal) – the ex-husband of dessert expert Natasha O’Brien (Jacqueline Bisset) – has travelled to Europe to recruit a top chef as the spokesperson for his planned chain of omelette restaurants and finds himself in the midst of the murder spree.

Robby is eager to rekindle things with Natasha, so investigating the murders becomes a grand romantic adventure.

It’s a promising premise with a soupçon of good jokes, a sprinkle of bad puns and more than a dash of bad taste.

There are good ingredients here but the recipe just doesn’t gel, resulting in a good looking dish that unfortunately leaves a bitter aftertaste and the nagging feeling that it could have been much tastier.

The film is resolved highly amusingly, though, and makes tremendous use of picturesque European locations such as London, Paris and Venice – and the murderer is not who you’ll likely think it is.

Robby Ross
George Segal
Natasha O’Brien
Jacqueline Bisset
Max Vandervere
Robert Morley
Louis Kohner
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Jean-Claude Moulineau
Philippe Noiret
Grandvilliers
Jean Rochefort
Ravello
Luigi Proietti

Director
Ted Kotcheff