Given this film’s reputation (which soared even higher in the face of the overblown yet bland 1992 Americanization), it’s surprising that it took me so long to catch up with it. Being perhaps the recently-deceased director’s best-known work (though two more – THE EASY LIFE [1962] and IN THE NAME OF THE Italian PEOPLE [1971] – are, at least, equally as good), I chose it as the film with which to conclude my 7-film tribute to him. Coincidentally, it happened on the very day which marked the eight anniversary from the passing of its leading man – the great Vittorio Gassman!
The film (and its protagonist) deservedly received a number of accolades back in the day; it was also singled out to represent Italy in the Best Foreign-Language Film category at the 1975 Academy Awards ceremony where another nod went to the screenplay penned by Dino Risi and Ruggero Maccari. For the record, I’d watched Al Pacino’s Oscar triumph in the remake when it was new: I recall not being enthused with either the endless film (running 157 minutes against the original’s 100!) or the Method actor’s hammy performance. Anyway, for anyone not familiar with the later film, the plot concerns a young cadet being asked to accompany a blinded (yet proud and fun-loving) war veteran for a week; together, they go on a voyage (with the experienced man-about-town teaching the ropes to the rookie, who at first is displeased with the high-handed manners of his ‘charge’) – leading them to a girl, played by the luscious Agostina Belli, who’s devoted to Gassman. Earlier, the boy had discovered a photo of her among the blind man’s things (as well as a gun, whose purpose is revealed towards the end).
Along the way, the cadet (nicely played by Alessandro Momo) is given the task of organizing the veteran’s entertainment and relaxation – which, given Gassman’s debauched values, takes him to the low-life sectors of the cities they visit (one of the prostitutes who renders service is played by, of all people, famous circus owner/ex-peplum starlet Moira Orfei!). By the time they finally reach Belli and her entourage of willing girls ‘waiting’ on another team of crippled officer and naïve cadet, Gassman has become oddly despondent and rejects the girl’s advances; as it turns out, he and his buddy had intended to commit suicide – with the latter ending up in hospital due to a gun wound, while Gassman eventually loses his nerve and retreats with Belli and Momo to a house in the country-side! I don’t recall the 1992 version well enough but, here, it seems that Momo’s role is relegated to the sidelines once Belli turns up; incidentally, I believe that the remake was far more chaste than this!
Risi’s treatment of an undeniably original tale is somewhat low-key but nonetheless impressive – earthy yet insightful and thought-provoking, alternately funny and poignant – which is further graced with a simple but haunting melancholy score from Maestro Armando Trovajoli.
The film (and its protagonist) deservedly received a number of accolades back in the day; it was also singled out to represent Italy in the Best Foreign-Language Film category at the 1975 Academy Awards ceremony where another nod went to the screenplay penned by Dino Risi and Ruggero Maccari. For the record, I’d watched Al Pacino’s Oscar triumph in the remake when it was new: I recall not being enthused with either the endless film (running 157 minutes against the original’s 100!) or the Method actor’s hammy performance. Anyway, for anyone not familiar with the later film, the plot concerns a young cadet being asked to accompany a blinded (yet proud and fun-loving) war veteran for a week; together, they go on a voyage (with the experienced man-about-town teaching the ropes to the rookie, who at first is displeased with the high-handed manners of his ‘charge’) – leading them to a girl, played by the luscious Agostina Belli, who’s devoted to Gassman. Earlier, the boy had discovered a photo of her among the blind man’s things (as well as a gun, whose purpose is revealed towards the end).
Along the way, the cadet (nicely played by Alessandro Momo) is given the task of organizing the veteran’s entertainment and relaxation – which, given Gassman’s debauched values, takes him to the low-life sectors of the cities they visit (one of the prostitutes who renders service is played by, of all people, famous circus owner/ex-peplum starlet Moira Orfei!). By the time they finally reach Belli and her entourage of willing girls ‘waiting’ on another team of crippled officer and naïve cadet, Gassman has become oddly despondent and rejects the girl’s advances; as it turns out, he and his buddy had intended to commit suicide – with the latter ending up in hospital due to a gun wound, while Gassman eventually loses his nerve and retreats with Belli and Momo to a house in the country-side! I don’t recall the 1992 version well enough but, here, it seems that Momo’s role is relegated to the sidelines once Belli turns up; incidentally, I believe that the remake was far more chaste than this!
Risi’s treatment of an undeniably original tale is somewhat low-key but nonetheless impressive – earthy yet insightful and thought-provoking, alternately funny and poignant – which is further graced with a simple but haunting melancholy score from Maestro Armando Trovajoli.