There is no doubt about the fact that this is an amusing and entertaining compilation film, that depicts several comedic scenes, some satirical, some silly, other more intellectual, and one even a little more serious than others that deals with terrorism. The film was also surprisingly nominated for an Oscar that year for best foreign language film. I am not sure whether that was a worthy nomination, after all, it wasn’t a first in Italian film comedy history, and it was followed by many others, although I will say that there is reason to believe that this film is the better one of all the other ones of the same kind.
It seems to be, in fact, a smart elegy for all kinds of comedy, from the slapstick to the ironic, from the vulgar to the intellectual one, from the satirical to the empty headed one. The film certainly does pick sides, as in this film certainly does have a constant political viewpoint in which it classifies itself, and being Monicelli, that is an idealism with heavy tendencies towards the left wing. As usual, however, there are ones that work better than others, as in not all the vignettes presented offer the same overall quality. For instance, I did not think autostop with Eros Pagni and Ornella Muti, that portrays a ‘horny’ man picking up a beautiful woman on the motorway, was that good, I found it overstretched and not as amusing as other ones. However, the sequence that follows it, ‘Hostaria’ the one with Tognazzi and Gassman having that fight in the kitchen of a cheap italian restaurant frequented by the upper class was excellent slapstick with hilarious performances by both actors. Also, the short but effective ‘Con i Saluti degli Amici’ which deals with mafia and omerta is very short, but manages to stand out form its brilliant sarcasm.
In fact, I would like to highlight the performances of Tognazzi, Gassman and or course Alberto Sordi as comdic gold. Alberto Sordi in particular, as usual, steals the show. He seems to be comfortable with whatever character he plays in this movie. Whether he plays an upper class nobleman alienated from the world as he carries a dying man in his car to the hospital (only to take him back to wherever he found him because none of the hospitals will take him for one reason or another) or the support of a dead comedy actor of old Italian comdedy amd variety, his performances are gems as usual.
In addition, I should say that there are several cuts of this movie, and that I have seen the televised one that lacks almost half an hour, as some vignettes were left out, one of which was a segment called ‘La Porno-diva’.
WATCH FOR THE MOMENT – It’s hard to pick a particular moment, as the good vignettes are pretty equal in quality, and the bad ones are equally bad too. But I should think that the Gassman/Tognazzi food fight is very a very funny display of slapstick comedy.