esrosedotblog

TODAY'S MOVIE

I SOLITI IGNOTI (BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET) (1958): NYTimes1176BestFilms; the young Vittorio Gassman, Claudia Cardinale, and Marcello Mastroianni in a hilarious caper film after RIFIFI (1955). Only, in this one it is more like the Three Stooges return as Italian screwups. It is intended as a satire of the caper film itself but comes across utterly original.

The way-handsome Gassman is a glass jawed, stuttering, and dim-bulb boxer. He is excellent and so are the others; but it is the ensemble that makes this film such a treat. The twists and turns of the plot are more or less beside the point. There is a lot going on.

The visual jokes are unremitting. In one scene, a principal goes to hold up a pawn shop and when he takes out his gun and says 'do you know what this is'; the pawnbroker takes it from him and says 'yes it is a 1948 Beretta and not in very good condition—6000 lire'. This is an old joke, but it is said that most of these cliche situations were first seen in this film and imitated in later ones. In any event, a lot of cliches are funny; that is why they get repeated over and over. No one stops to think that they saw it before. That comes after the laugh.

Those in the know bemoan the fact that the writer/director Mario Monicelli is not better known in this country. He has over 60 films to his credit; an auteur if there ever was one. But then, we do not get 'foreign' films here any more and have not for many years. How would we know? Although Monicelli is working since the 30's.