Il sorpasso (1962)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Dino Risi

Writers:

Dino Risi (story) and
Ettore Scola (story) ...

Release Date:

5 December 1962 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot:

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes...

Plot Keywords:

Rome | Summer | Shyness | Roue | Braggart

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Vittorio Gassman	...	Bruno Cortona
Catherine Spaak	...	Lilly Cortona
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Roberto Mariani (as Jean Louis Trintignant)
Claudio Gora	...	Bibi
Luciana Angiolillo	...	Bruno's wife
Linda Sini	...	Aunt Lidia
Franca Polesello
Barbara Simon
Lilly Darelli
Mila Stanic
Nando Angelini	...	Amedeo
Edda Ferronao
Luigi Zerbinati	...	Il commendatore

Also Known As:

The Easy Life (USA)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | Latin | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Italy:VM14 | Portugal:17 (censored version) | Spain:13 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Castiglioncello, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy

Company:

Incei Film

Trivia:

Among the audience watching the table-tennis game on the beach a very young Vittorio Cecchi Gori (son of Mario Cecchi Gori, producer of this film) can be seen. He eventually became a film producer himself.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Per un attimo

Italians Made Great Films in the 60's

In the hot Roman summer law student Roberto casually runs into Bruno a strange but amusing man who is heading in his fancy sports car to a nearby beach to meet with friends. Bruno insists and Roberto decides to join him for the day. "Il Sorpasso" is about the relationship -of just that day- between two such a characters. Bruno thinks of nothing but enjoying life and is self confident, sort of a person that refuses to admit the pass of time (he's already in his forties and hasn't settled at all yet); Roberto, much younger, is a classic guy, sort of shy and obedient of his family's wishes about his future. At first Roberto doesn't approve of Bruno's idea of fun by insulting and humiliating people, but as they go together he turns into a sort of rebellion against his all planned and predictable life and shows a bit of admiration for the older man who doesn't go along with social premises.

Shot in beautiful Italy in the sort of "pop" early sixties, "Il Sorpasso" is a wonderful film which deals with true life and true characters. Dino Risi carries the film perfectly and shows us a great variation of common real life characters that one way or another get involved with Bruno and Roberto. The movie appears clearly as a comedy -and a real amusing one too- but at the very end it turns into drama and makes you think a lot. Classical 60's Italian music fits perfect.

Gassman is outstanding as the intelligent and sort of mean Bruno (I can't think of any other actor that could have played the role so perfectly) and Trintignant does a very good job too as the insecure and strcture minded Roberto.

A great movie worth seeing. You'll sure enjoy it.