The Band of Honest Men (1956)
"La banda degli onesti" (original title)

Antonio Buonocore, portiere di condominio, entra in possesso dei clichès per fabbricare banconote false. Convince gli amici Lo Turco e Cardone e si mettono all'opera. Quando decidono, però,... See full summary »

Director:

Camillo Mastrocinque

Writers:

Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli

Stars:

Totò, Peppino De Filippo, Giulia Rubini

Cast

Credited cast:
Totò	...	Antonio Buonocore
Peppino De Filippo	...	Giuseppe Lo Turco
Giulia Rubini	...	Marcella
Giacomo Furia	...	Cardone
Gabriele Tinti	...	Michele, figlio di Bonocore
Yoka Berretty	...	Marlene, moglie di Antonio
Luigi Pavese	...	Ragionier Casoria
Annette Ciarli	...	Madre di Antonio (as Anita Ciarli)
Lauro Gazzolo	...	Andrea
Salvo Libassi	...	il brigadiere Solmi
Mario Meniconi	...	Un finanziere
Guido Martufi	...	Riccardo, figlio di Lo Turco
Memmo Carotenuto	...	Fernando, l'aspirante portiere
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gildo Bocci	...	Tabaccaio
Nando Bruno	...	il maresciallo Denti

Storyline

Antonio Buonocore, portiere di condominio, entra in possesso dei clichès per fabbricare banconote false. Convince gli amici Lo Turco e Cardone e si mettono all'opera. Quando decidono, però, di metter in circolazione i biglietti contraffatti, si fanno prendere dalla paura e riescono solo a spendere i biglietti originali. Il crimine non è fatto per loro e, così, rinunciano ai loro piani.

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Plot Keywords:

father son relationship | 1950s | rome italy | police | false money | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1956 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Band of Honest Men

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

D.D.L.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

The immortal Totò is at his top in this hilarious farce !

There were a hundred and more Totò comedies on film from 1937 to 1967. Many are worth watching just for the sake of Totò's performance, for he really was one of the greatest clowns in movie history. Yet Italian comic cinema in the post-war years is more than just a collection of funny guys. It's a brand of comedy with a lot, a lot of things in it, and when you start digging under and around the jokes, you suddenly realize what a miracle it was. There are basically two epochs in postwar Italian comic cinema : epoch I, the immediate postwar years, whose protagonists are Totò, Macario, Eduardo & Peppino De Filippo, Renato Rascel, Carlo Campanini; epoch II is the invention of a new comedy genre, commedia all'italiana, which finds its first "complete" expression in 1958 with the Monicelli classic 'I soliti ignoti' (in which Totò also holds a supporting role).

Commedia all'italiana (1958-1978) was so powerful that it is an understandable temptation to read the first wave of Italian comedies (1945-196?) only as a vast prelude for the second wave. But that would be a mistake, because in the domaine of comedy things don't happen orderly, with a preconceived plan, like the way intellectuals would like to have it : on the contrary, when director Monicelli, screenwriters Age-Scarpelli, actors Gassman, Mastroianni and Totò did 'I soliti ignoti' (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), they never thought about inventing a new comedy genre, even though this is what they were doing. They were only doing whatever they could to entertain their (immense) public, and all of a sudden they struck gold. These things happen by chance, by luck, by random, which is why I call it a miracle.

'La Banda degli onesti' (1955) is a true peak, a summum of the first era of Italian comedy. It is an hilarious farce, full of funny details, crazy situations,mad-hatter characterizations, one-liners to die for. Totò is the central funny guy, but his accomplices don't let him steal the show : Peppino de Filippo for one, another titan of comedy, is irresistible; and as usual, chunky secondary characters abound. Comedy is all about timing and the timing here is flawless, thanks to the perfect Age-Scarpelli screenplay. Veteran comedy director Camillo Mastrocinque knew exactly where to put the camera for maximum effect. With guys like him, it's the camera that follows the actor and not the other way around: no lesson of cinema is given here, only a lesson of laugh !