My Friends (1975)
"Amici miei" (original title)

Necchi (a bar owner), Perozzi (a journalist), Melandri (an architect) and Mascetti (a broken nobleman) live in Florence. They have been friends since their youngest years and spend every ... See full summary »

Director:

Mario Monicelli

Writers:

Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi,

Stars:

Ugo Tognazzi, Gastone Moschin, Philippe Noiret

5 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ugo Tognazzi	...	Lello Mascetti
Gastone Moschin	...	Rambaldo Melandri
Philippe Noiret	...	Giorgio Perozzi
Duilio Del Prete	...	Necchi
Olga Karlatos	...	Donatella Sassaroli
Silvia Dionisio	...	Titti
Franca Tamantini	...	Carmen
Angela Goodwin	...	Nora Perozzi
Milena Vukotic	...	Alice Mascetti
Bernard Blier	...	Righi Niccolò
Adolfo Celi	...	Professor Sassaroli
Marisa Traversi	...	Perozzi's lover
Maurizio Scattorin	...	Luciano Perozzi
Edda Ferronao	...	Nun
Mario Scarpetta	...	Paolini, the policeman

Storyline

Necchi (a bar owner), Perozzi (a journalist), Melandri (an architect) and Mascetti (a broken nobleman) live in Florence. They have been friends since their youngest years and spend every free moment together organizing complex and terrible jokes to all the people they meet, or just wandering around Tuscany. One of these crazy trips ends up in the hospital run by military-like Professor Sassaroli. Melandri falls in love with his wife, and steals her from the husband, much to the delight of Sassaroli himself. The relationship won't last but the Professor becomes the fifth member of the team of friends, and jokes get even more complicated and powerful.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | joke | journalist | hospital | lesbianism | 

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Taglines:

They played together, they drank together, they whorekistand together and when the semiwattle was in crispation, they had a boobchik of a time!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

18 July 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Friends

Filming Locations:

Calcata, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

R.P.A. Cinematografica, Rizzoli Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technospes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by All My Friends Part 3 (1985)

User Reviews

A little overrated but good

"Amici miei" should be the final movie of Pietro Germi, one of the masters of the Italian comedy. He wrote the script but was unable to direct it because of his illness (he died in 1974, one year before the release of the picture). So the film went to director Mario Monicelli -another excellent "father" of the Italian comedy-, who did a very good job.

A group of 45-50 years old Tuscan men escape the fear of death and the fear of the old age in doing jokes and living as if they were kids. The story is very simple and the film is a chain of several gags -but this is a bittersweet comedy, there are also dramatical moments. The film is very politically incorrect but funny and intelligent.

The group of actors is harmonious (Noiret, Tognazzi, Celi, Del Prete, Moschin) and Mario Monicelli is at ease with this story.

Nevertheless I think "Amici miei" is a little overrated. Even if it is intended so in the script, the characters aren't nice people at all -their jokes sometimes are so heavy and so ferocious that they result hardly funny... These people are very cynical and egoist. I know this film didn't want to be moving in showing middle-age crisis, but I think characters could have been a little bit softer.

Apart from that, this is one of the last great comedies of the Italian cinema and is always worth watching it.