Faites sauter la banque! (1964)

Victor Garnier is a married family man who runs a hunting and fishing supply shop in a respectable, family-oriented urban neighborhood. André Durand-Mareuil, his bank manager, advises him to invest in shares in mines located in the distant tropical country of Tangana. Trusting him—as he is also his neighbor—Victor entrusts him with all his savings to invest. But the shares suddenly collapse, and the Garnier family is ruined. Victor now feels intense hatred for Durand-Mareuil, especially since the latter’s business is thriving and he seems to be flaunting a newfound fortune. Victor suspects that the banker diverted the money entrusted to him for his own benefit, rather than investing it in shares that were about to collapse and would in any case have brought the Garniers no return. Inspired by a clergyman’s sermon about punishing a thief who has done wrong in order to make him recognize his actions, Victor decides to take revenge and get his money back. He brings his wife and their three children, whom he lets in on the plan, into the scheme. After discussing it, the Garniers decide to “reimburse” themselves in a daring way: by digging a tunnel from their cellar to the bank branch’s vault, which is directly across from the family home and shop. However, Isabelle, the Garniers’ eldest daughter, is being courted by young Philippe, an intern working at Durand-Mareuil’s bank, complicating the plan along with a host of other setbacks: problems shoring up the tunnel, miscalculations while digging it, the love life of Gérard, the Garnier son, an unexpected visit from overbearing friends, an aunt’s death, overly curious customers and a housekeeper, and the suspicions of a police officer.