Roaring Years (1962)
"Gli anni ruggenti" (original title)

In the thirties, during the Fascist Dictatorship, an insurance broker, Omero Battifiori, reaches a small country town from Rome seeking for new customers. The main authorities, expecting an... See full summary »

Director:

Luigi Zampa

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (story), Ruggero Maccari (dialogue),

Stars:

Nino Manfredi, Gino Cervi, Michèle Mercier

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nino Manfredi	...	Omero Battifiori
Gino Cervi	...	Salvatore Acquamano
Michèle Mercier	...	Elvira Acquamano
Gastone Moschin	...	Carmine Passante
Salvo Randone	...	Il medico antifascista
Angela Luce	...	Rosa De Bellis
Rosalia Maggio	...	Donna Nunzia Acquamano
Linda Sini	...	Elsa
Carla Calò
Annetta Esposito
Gino Brillante
Giuseppe Ianigro	...	Nicola De Bellis
Gaetano Morino
Enzo Petito
Mara Maiello

Storyline

In the thirties, during the Fascist Dictatorship, an insurance broker, Omero Battifiori, reaches a small country town from Rome seeking for new customers. The main authorities, expecting an incognito inspection from the Fascist Party of the capital, suspect him to be the inspector and a very important member of the Party. The misunderstanding leads to a number of equivocals until Omero reveals his identity.

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Plot Keywords:

fascist | broker | fascism | italy | anti fascism | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

21 April 1962 (Italy)

Also Known As:

A hazugság városa

Filming Locations:

Matera, Basilicata, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Incei Film, SpA Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on N. Gogol's play "Revizor."

User Reviews

Comedy of errors on Italian politics

In this masterpiece, freely inspired to "The Inspector General" by Gogol, Zampa gives us one of the best examples of Italian comedy in the period of "neorealismo". This comedy of errors reveals the widespread corruption behind the veneer of Patriotism and Fascism, that was largely the norm under Mussolini.

But it is not simply politics, because by looking at Fascism, Zampa makes us think about some invariables in human society: corruption, malpractice, petty men with petty interests. This general moral stance is one of the movie's strong points: as actor Manfredi says, in our society "Magna tu cche mmagno anch'io", i.e. "grab anything and I'll do the same".