Mel Brooks was hired to write and record English-language dialogue for the U.S. release. But the version did not test well with audiences, and co-writer/director Jean-Marie Poiré hated it, saying Brooks had turned it from a comedy about a French knight into a parody with French accents so thick it was almost impossible to understand. So Miramax held up U.S. release until the summer of 1996, with standard subtitles. Brooks was paid $500,000 for his efforts, however.
The name "Jacquouille la Fripouille" translates roughly as "Jack the Knave" or "Jacques the Scoundrel" but the original French contains a pun which is very audible to French-speaking listeners, as the first name is pronounced as "Jacques Couille", "couille" being the French slang word equivalent to the English "balls" (for "testicles").
Top selling movie in France in 1993.
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