Start the Revolution Without Me

Start the Revolution Without Me
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Bud Yorkin
Produced by	Bud Yorkin
Written by	Lawrence J. Cohen Fred Freeman
Starring	Gene Wilder Donald Sutherland Hugh Griffith Jack MacGowran Billie Whitelaw Orson Welles Victor Spinetti Ewa Aulin
Production company	Norbud Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	February 4, 1970 (1970-02-04)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Start the Revolution Without Me is a 1970 film directed by Bud Yorkin, starring Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran, Billie Whitelaw, Orson Welles (playing himself as narrator) and Victor Spinetti. The comedy is set in revolutionary France where two peasants are mistaken for the famous swordsmen, the Corsican Brothers. It can be considered a parody of a number of works of historical fiction about the French Revolution, including Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Dumas' The Corsican Brothers and The Man in the Iron Mask.

Two sets of identical twins, played by Wilder and Sutherland, are accidentally switched at birth. One set, Phillipe and Pierre DeSisi, is aristocratic and haughty, while the other set, Charles and Claude Coupé, is poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigues.

Start the Revolution Without Me authors Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen were nominated for a WGA award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" in 1971.