Boccaccio '70 (1962)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Vittorio De Sica
Federico Fellini

Writers:

Giovanni Arpino (segment)
Italo Calvino (segment)

Release Date:

26 June 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

Four directors tell tales of Eros fit for a 1970s Decameron. Working-class lovers, Renzo and Luciana...

Plot Keywords:

Billboard | Apostrophe In Title | Digit In Title | Episodic | Amusement Park

Cast

Marisa Solinas	...	Luciana (segment "Renzo e Luciana")
Germano Gilioli	...	Renzo (segment "Renzo e Luciana")
Anita Ekberg	...	Anita (segment "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio")
Peppino De Filippo	...	Dr. Antonio Mazzuolo (segment "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio")
Romy Schneider	...	Pupe (segment "Il lavoro")
Tomas Milian	...	Conte Ottavio (segment "Il lavoro") (as Thomas Milian)
Romolo Valli	...	Lawyer Zacchi (segment "Il lavoro")
Sophia Loren	...	Zoe (segment "La riffa")
Luigi Giuliani	...	Gaetano (segment "La riffa")
Alfio Vita	...	Cuspet (segment "La riffa")

Also Known As:

Boccaccio '70 (USA)
Boccace 70 (France)

Runtime:

Argentina:205 min | Germany:125 min (3 episodes) (cut) | Netherlands:158 min (3 episodes) | USA:150 min (3 episodes) (cut) | France:150 min (3 episodes) (cut) | 208 min (4 episodes)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor/Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Hungary:18 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | UK:X | USA:Unrated | Germany:6 (re-rating) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

E.U.R., Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cineriz

Trivia:

Federico Fellini's segment, "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio", was his first work in color. It and Fellini's contribution to L'amore in città (1953) along with his co-directed "Variety Lights" are the "1/2" alluded to in the title of 8½ (1963).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

'I te vurria vasa'

Luchino Visconti dresses Romy Schnaider plus other stories.

The one thing I remembered about "Bocaccio70" was Romy Schnaider getting dressed in front of a mirror, in front of us. The film in his 4 segments has much more, but nothing better than Romy Schnaider in the Visconti segment. She is exquisite of course but in Visconti's hands she is superlative. Visconti, like George Cukor, knew how to guide actresses to their best. In the Monicelli episode Renzo and Lucia search for their privacy and Monicelli, a remarkable director, today 92 and still at work, manages to give the most straight forward, no frills segment. Fellini goes overboard with a 50 feet tall Anita Eckberg and a rather clumsy indictment at middle class morality. The De Sica episode has Sophia Loren, virgin and whore. When Sophia Loren was in De Sica's hands she was at her best. Her sympathy here takes over the episode and it becomes a joyful tale of nonsensical innocence. But, just as I remembered Romy Schnaider and Visconti are responsible for making this lightweight oddity really worth while.