Children of Hannibal (1998)
"Figli di Annibale" (original title)

A bungling bank robber, an uncooperative hostage with a secret, a gay policeman and a situation which rapidly goes from bad to worse are the ingredients to this very funny and unpredictable... See full summary »

Director:

Davide Ferrario

Writers:

Davide Ferrario (story), Diego Abatantuono (story),

Stars:

Diego Abatantuono, Silvio Orlando, Valentina Cervi

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Diego Abatantuono	...	Tommaso
Silvio Orlando	...	Domenico
Valentina Cervi	...	Rita
Flavio Insinna	...	Orfeo
Ugo Conti	...	Ermes
Elena Giove	...	Carmela
Gianluca Gobbi	...	App. Formelti
Enrico Salimbeni	...	App. Zamboni
Pietro Ghislandi	...	Bank clerk
Caterina Sylos Labini	...	Private policewoman
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Luca Michele Cirasola	...	Poliziotto

Storyline

A bungling bank robber, an uncooperative hostage with a secret, a gay policeman and a situation which rapidly goes from bad to worse are the ingredients to this very funny and unpredictable caper flick. Sad sack Domenico is an unemployed man who decides to rob a Turin bank and then to travel north to Switzerland with his loot. But things don't work out that way: For the heist is messy and he ends up with the tall, patrician Tommaso as his hostage. Tommaso, a businessman who is on the verge of bankruptcy, quickly takes over and convinces convincing Domenico to, instead, head south, get help from a friend of Tommaso and sail off to Egypt. But the plan soon unravels, as Domenico discovers that the friend, Orfeo, is actually Tommaso's lover and a policeman to boot. The odd couple is now the odd triangle and when Tommaso's grown-up daughter decides to come along as well, the likelihood of poor Domenico getting out of the country becomes more and more complicated.

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Plot Keywords:

bank | policeman | hostage | bank robber | gay | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

13 March 1998 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Children of Hannibal

Filming Locations:

Apulia, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Colorado Film Production, Mediaset, Medusa Produzione

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Tommaso and Domenico first enter Tommaso's house, the boom mic is reflected in the glass of the front doors as they walk away from them.

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Soundtracks

"Figli di Annibale"
Written by Gianni Mantice and Gennaro Della Volpe
Performed by Almamegretta

User Reviews

Promising Beginning, Disappointing 2nd Half

This movie had us in stitches for the first half, and I thought, briefly, that it could possibly even aspire to be in the same league as Dino Risi's "Il Sorpasso", the greatest Italian road movie (and much more) of all time. Diego Abatantuono showed many of the qualities of Vittorio Gassman when the latter played the role of "Bruno" in the Risi film, and Silvio Orlando played the Trintignant character to very good effect(allowing for the obvious shifts in social class). But the film sputtered as soon as Valentina Cervi (daughter to Abatantuono's character) was brought back into the story (a forcibly re-introduced pretty face--as if an Italian audience can't make it through a movie without a beautiful female on the screen half of the time--or maybe she was brought back to counterbalance the "gay" theme that had been introduced). Before Cervi's reappearance there had been real magic in the interaction between Abatantuono and Orlando.