Sharpe's Rifles - General Calvet and his meals

As a matter of fact, there are more scenes of Calvet, however they were played by another actor John Benfield (RIP 2020). In Sharpe's Siege (1996) and Sharpe's Mission (1996), Calvet was portrayed by Olivier Pierre (RIP 2003) and he had done a great job. I wish he had been in more scenes. I remember seeing him with Jeremy Brett in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- The Final Problem" (1985) in a petty role, but a remarkable one. It would have been great seeing him alongside with Sharpe against Ducos in Sharpe's Revenge (1997). As a result, I preferred Mr. Pierre's scenes for this video. Hope you enjoy it... By the way, I really enjoy the "Sharpe community". Watching other Sharpe videos on Youtube, there are always many nice and informative comments. Therefore, I thank the people for sharing their knowledge and best wishes.

"I eat soup with every meal, because I remember when I had no soup." Great line. Reframes his apparent gluttony into a humanizing and deep character trait with only one line.

"I eat soup with every meal because i remember when i had no soup" It hits different once you realize calvet is a veteran of the french campaign against russia.

Pranking your commanding officer with a “poisonous mushroom”. That’s soldiering.

Calvet is actually the best French commander in the entire series. He cares about the lives of his men, he walks with his troops instead of horse riding, He has a sense of honor and is actually a decent tactician he is just forced to listen to and obey incompetent ones.

"In Russia, we ate men like him for breakfast" a little more than a poetic phrase I think...

I love how Calvert and Gaston are always seen eating The hunger they experienced in Russia must have been so horrific that they can't stand the feeling of even being peckish

Calvert used his boorish behaviour and manners as a front, he was very intelligent and could be just as ruthless.

This actually showed how cold Gaston could be. An actual soldier hiding in the guise of a cook

When Napolean picks a General he does not ask "Is he good?", he asks "Is he lucky?" I always loved that line.

The moment where General Calvet tossed the food to the deserters was just brilliant. In a single instant, the General revealed who still maintained dignity as men, and who had degenerated into feral beasts. Thus, he showed who was salvagable versus who was expendable.

I love the end of the first scene, where Major Ducos strides off thinking he's been all decisive and bad ass, and General Calvet and Gaston just watch him go, before settling into a pleasant reminiscence together about the days when they'd just have eaten his gizzards with their gravy.

You can see that general has equal kind of relation with his cook. Even tough the cook is standing to show his respect to him, Calvet doesn't get mad when Gaston dips his bread on general's own soup bowl.

"I eat soup with every meal because I remember when I had no soup"

I would watch a whole series of clueless Colonels and Majors walking into the tent and ultimately not walking out

"I eat soup with every meal, because I remember when I had no soup." This line does a lot to build his character and contextualize the French. After the fall of the monarchy and to the ascension of Napoleon, military rank became determined not by noble birth but by merit. Calvet was clearly someone of low birth who suffered through poverty and starvation, and earned his rank as general through genuine skill and accomplishments, and yet he is still that same person who remembers going hungry and never forgets it. In a way, he is an embodiment of the new society that the French Revolution brought into existence.

As a person who rose from nothing, I empathize greatly with General Calvet. My business break room has poptarts coming out of the rafters, as I remember a time when having poptarts was a luxury. I have a dozen examples of this in my life. Yet Calvet is quite an intelligent and sensible man. I'm glad he was in more than one Sharpe film.

There is a hint of cannibalism in the joking words of Calvet with Gaston.. The Russian Campaign of Napoleon is really horrifying..

Calvet was quite impressionable to me as a child. I felt he humanised the series a bit. Made an adversary likeable. I think that was a nice nod to the human cost of war. I would of hated seeing Calvet killed. Him and his chef were a pleasure in every scene.

As a writer, I adore the first scene with Calvet. It gives so much context and characterization to the audience in such a short amount of time. His constant eating lets the audience empathize with him as a poor man who rose to the top, while at the same subtlety telling us that Calvet must be a fierce opponent having survived the horrors of the Russia campaign.