Christian de Sica Movies
Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation (Una Breva Vacanza) stars Florinda Bolkan as a downtrodden working woman. Forced to support herself, her children, her physically incapacitated husband and her obtrusive brother and mother, Bolkan contracts tuberculosis. She is granted a brief vacation at a health spa, where a whole new world--and potential new life--is opened up to her. A Brief Vacation was scripted by the prolific Cesar Zavattini, who like De Sica had once been a guiding force in the Italian neorealist movement. Though not De Sica's final film, A Brief Vacation was the last of the director's work to be released in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This sex and science fiction comedy is based on the equation of sexual energy and energy in general. Electrical fixtures have run out of steam, but a love-making pair demonstrates that through the power of their orgasms alone they are able to generate electricity to operate first a light bulb, then a street lamp, then the entire hospital where they are being scientifically observed and ultimately all of society's gadgetry. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agostina Belli
Inside jokes about the film industry dominate this slight tale of ambition and romance at the Cannes Film Festival. Keith Carradine plays a first-time director who has sunk two years and all his money into a movie about the execution of murderer Gary Gilmore. With his last bit of cash, he flies himself and his picture to Cannes, but the film is seized by French customs. The wife of an Italian producer (Monica Vitti) helps him retrieve his work, and the two become embroiled in a passionate, yet ultimately ill-fated, affair. Carradine gets the first-time, self-important director mostly right, but the movie is so specific to the film industry that viewers may lose interest. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Monica Vitti, (more)
- 1981
As an ex-husband (Johnny Dorelli), his wife (Laura Antonelli), and their two children take a vacation on the ex's new yacht, the scene is set for disaster when it becomes clear that the ex-husband knows absolutely nothing about yachting. The crew quickly find out that the Mediterranean has its own challenges, and the wife discovers her particular nemesis in a thoroughly unlikeable playboy (Christian De Sica) who has his sights set a little too firmly on her alone. The interaction between the triad of wife, ex-husband, and playboy reaches a final resolution as the yacht moves closer to its own special fate. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Antonelli, Johnny Dorelli, (more)
- 1982
- R
Sergio (Carlo Verdone) and Nadia (Eleonora Giorgi) are door-to-door sales reps for a recording company that features the popular Italian singer Lucio Dalla. Nadia is attractive and interested in a bigger and better life for herself. Sergio is well-fed and undistinguished, and together they make a most unlikely romantic pair. Still, the romantic sparks ignite for awhile, and then they separate, leaving Sergio determined to capture Nadia's heart. His method for winning over the fair lady is an ancient one -- he does so by pretending to be super-rich. That leads him up more than one blind alley, creating a maze of incidents that can only be resolved in a final series of twists at the end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleonora Giorgi, Carlo Verdone, (more)
- 1984
This clichéd view of the U.S. from the window of an Italian boys' academy tour bus is meant to be a comic romp of a travelogue with potential sexual situations -- but the sex and the comedy never quite materialize. A young priest (Christian De Sica) is chaperoning the tour, and he almost ends up in bed with Mrs. De Romanis (Edwige Fenech) -- by accident, Peo (Jerry Calà) almost ends up in bed with an American -- by intention, and Antonella (Antonella Interlenghi) almost beds down Alessio (Claudio Amendola), but not quite. These near-misses were meant to raise the rating out of "restricted to 18 and above." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Calà, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1985
- PG
Neither the idiotic title Detective School Dropouts nor the film's alternate cognomen Dumb Dicks are worthy of this easy-to-take crime comedy. David Landsberg stars as a likeable schlemiel who is addicted to detective stories. He links up with down-and-out gumshoe Lorin Dreyfuss (brother of Richard--and also, with David Landsberg, the co-writer of this film), hoping that some of Dreyfuss' so-called expertise will rub off on him. This far-from-dynamic duo soon find themselves embroiled in an Italian family feud, a kidnapping, and a murder charge. One of the few Golan/Globus films to lose money, Detective School Dropouts has happily found an enthusiastic audience thanks to multiple cable-TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Landsberg, Lorin Dreyfuss, (more)
- 1986
Perhaps taking a cue from the popular 1970s Brit television comedy "Are You Being Served?," this Italian department store comedy is a series of skits involving customers and store personnel from several departments. In one skit, Elena (Laura Antonelli) and her husband the personnel director, are certain that an inept salesman in the bathroom fixtures department is actually the son of the store's owner. They launch into a campaign to woo him over without bothering to check up on his credentials. In another skit, the famous Italian actress Ornella Muti, playing herself, walks into one of the men's departments and sends a salesclerk into near heart failure. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alessandro Haber, Laura Antonelli, (more)
- 1986
Athina Cenci stars in a double role in this gag-filled comedy about the lives of shallow Italian yuppies who live the high-life -- golfing, playing polo and driving around in their Ferraris. Lorenzo (Massimo Baldo) is a harried husband who is thrown out by his wife (Cenci). Lorenzo goes further into the doghouse when he mistakes Athina's sister the nun for his wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Calà, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1986
This comedy-drama explores the sexual misadventures of a variety of suburban dwellers, including a few straying husbands and wives, and some non-husbands and non-wives too. After Sandro (Christian De Sica) and Lorenzo (Massimo Boldi) pack their wives and kids off for a brief vacation, the two men decide to look for some close encounters of the sexual kind. Sandro goes on several dates while Lorenzo takes up with his less-than-stable secretary, which proves to be a big mistake. Meanwhile, Gianluca (Jerry Cala) is an ambitious advertising executive who has little knack for communicating with the woman he loves. Finally, a car salesman (Enzo Greggio) chases anyone in skirts, full throttle, but gets a surprise in a few instances. None of these stories tends to overlap with the others. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Calà, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1987
This comedy connects three unrelated stories of gamblers as they seek their fortunes in the casinos of Monte Carlo. When Furio (Christian De Sica) wins big but has his money stolen, he is forced to spend the night with an unappealing millionairess. Gino (Massimo Boldi) and his brother are fleeced by the fortune-hunting female Silvia (Florence Guerin). Oscar (Ezio Greggio) is a predatory gambler who find himself devoured by a French card shark. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian de Sica, Massimo Boldi, (more)
- 1988
In this very Italian comedy, the romantic lives of a group of 35 year old former high-school chums go through a series of dramatic changes in the course of a single evening at a reunion dinner party. The film's director Carlo Verdone plays Piero, a schoolteacher who has a frustrating relationship with his nagging wife and a tentative one with his student, Cristina (Natasha Hovey). Things gets complicated for Piero when both show up at the dinner. Hostess Federica (Nancy Brilli makes no secret of the fact that she's a rich man's mistress, hence the stunning villa where the party is held. Among the guests are a sleazy, third rate entertainer (Christian De Sica), a happily unwed mother (Luisa Maneri) and a psychologist forced to listen to everyone's problems (Athena Cenci). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Verdone, Nancy Brilli, (more)
- 1991
Years before, the millionaire Pierre (Alain Flick) destroyed the wealthy nobleman Count Max's fortune. In the present, Alfredo (Christian De Sica), a restless young mechanic who resembles the count, has fallen in love with a model (Ornella Muti) and wants some new adventure in his life. In return for his agreement to get revenge on the Count's old foe, he gets lessons in how to behave like the count himself. He tracks down the model, woos her successfully, and persuades her to join forces with him to go to Morocco and confront the nefarious millionaire. Once there, they lose all their resources. Oddly enough, the so-called villain of the story has fallen in love with Alfredo, and the mechanic allows himself to be joined in matrimony to the other man in an unusual Arab ceremony. This is a remake of a film made popular twice before by Christian De Sica's father, famed actor/director Vittorio De Sica. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian de Sica, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1991
This coarse bedroom farce takes place at the St. Moritz ski resort over a Christmas vacation. Among the couples whose lives intersect are a widowed artist honeymooning with his second wife, a gay man traveling with his son and his lover (and hiding each from the other), a snobbish couple from Milan who have been forced to share a suite with a pair of crass Romans, etc. The movie features a host of popular stars (including Christian De Sica, Ornella Muti and Alberto Sordi) and was wildly successful at the box office in its native Italy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Massimo Boldi, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1993
Ricky (Renato Pozzetto) has been a prosperous businessman, but lately things haven't been going so well, and he isn't sure why. Whatever the reason, he attempts suicide and is saved by Barabbas (Christian De Sica), a very peculiar man with the hereditary vocation of being a hobo (he's the seventh generation). Not only is Barabbas a hobo, but he's got a real talent for living elegantly and well. As Barabbas restores his new friend's spirits, he also investigates the causes for his business reversals and discovers that the culprit is his adulterous wife (Francesca Reggiani), who has been sharing her bed and important business secrets with a business rival. Together, they concoct a scheme to put things right. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Some things never change as this Italian comedy which spoofs government corruption, sports, night clubs, and the Mafia, amply proves. It is set in Rome, circa 71 B.C. and features comic actor Leslie Nielsen as a character similar to those in his Naked Gun series. Just as magistrate Antonio Servilio is arriving in Rome filled with ambition. Whilst travelling via the Appian Way, his chariot is run into by the chariot of Cesare Atticus, a dishonest senator with a love of women. So begins the grudge between the two who with every meeting find reasons to despise each other further. Judge Servilio places Atticus under observation after he receives evidence and information from Atticus's former mistress of his dishonest dealings. To discredit the magistrate, Atticus enlists the help of right-winger Cinico who sets the judge up with a buxom beauty who involves him in an orgy. The publicly humiliated Servilio is banished to Sicily where he encounters the early Mafia. Eventually Servilio and Atticus join forces to expose Cinico, the real villain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The lives of four middle-aged gay men are chronicled in this bittersweet Italian drama. The men are the cynical Dado, who tries to come to grips with his expanding waistline, receding hairline and the thought of spending the rest of his life alone; the catty Tony, a shirt designer who is still too bonded in a complex relationship with his overbearing mother, Sandro, a film producer who only recently came out of the closet after years of feigning heterosexuality, and Vittorio, a heartbroken architect trying to cope with the fact that his beloved went out and married a woman. Their stories are told as brief vignettes and chronicle a six-month period. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
In this lively Italian bedroom farce, the fourth entry in the "Christmas Vacation" series, a compulsive gambler wings off to Aspen to search for his American wife and teen-age daughter. The wife left because she found out that her hubby had engaged in kinky sex with the wife of wicked Remo, the gambler to whom the husband was deeply indebted. The daughter is delighted to go to the famed ski resort, for she is hoping to meet and possibly seduce her idol Luke Perry. The story, filmed on location in Colorado, is fraught with sexual situations and male and female nudity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
This Italian comic fantasy about time travel begins with Ascanio (Christian de Sica), an Italian nobleman, and Walter (Massimo Boldi) a film executive, also Italian, on a deluxe tour of Universal Studios. They sit down side-by-side and are hooked into a virtual reality machine by its inventor, Professor Mortimer (Dean Jones). When something goes wrong, they find themselves hopping around in time, again and again narrowly escaping death. Their first travel takes them to prehistoric times. Then they find themselves in Renaissance Florence under the watchful eye of Lorenzo de Medici, who is highly amused by Ascanio's soccer moves. Narrowly escaping the Inquisition, they jump centuries in time to Venice in the time of Casanova, where their efforts at a romantic liaison with some of Casanova's women are thwarted. In one of the film's highlights, Ascanio jumps into his own past, and attempts to change his personal future. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
