Gianni Hecht Lucari Movies

In this anthology made up of three shorter comedies, Ugo Tognazzi, Paolo Villaggio and Alberto Sordi each bring their own special brand of humor to the screen. In "Saro Tutta Per Te" (I Will Be All Yours), Tognazzi is Enrico, a dentist who has agreed to vacation with his ex-wife at her lover's villa. All he really wants to do is take her to bed one more time, but he is consistently interrupted in his attempts by the arrival of yet more guests. In "Si Buana" (Yes, Buana), Villaggio is Wilson, a man in charge of a group of tourists in Kenya. One of this segment's highlights is the outspoken homesickness of his "native" black guide for the beauties of his homeland -- Rome. In the final episode, "La Vacanze Intelligenti" (Intelligent Vacation), Alberto Sordi is Remo, a greengrocer who, along with his wife, gets sent on a vacation by their well-meaning children who want to "improve" their parents' minds by sending them off to see Etruscan tombs, hear performances of atonal modern music, and appreciate the wonders of avant-garde modern art. In one of the most amusing vignettes, they see an art exhibit consisting of an enclosure filled with sheep with purple spots painted on their backs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this Italian film, part melodrama and part social/political commentary, two factory workers living in Northern Italy form a romantic connection. The woman, torn between the freedoms of the North and her traditional Sicilian values, slowly allows herself to love, then marry, her co-worker. Soon after her wedding, she dies as a result of industrial pollution from her job. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This Italian comedy shows the gradual enlightenment of an innocent and unsuspecting priest (Alberto Sordi) as he discovers that his extremely generous brother (Richard Conte) is in fact a major American crime lord. It is based on the novel by the Rev. Salvatore Anastasia, brother of ganglord Alberto Anastasia. In the story, set in New York City in the 1940s, the mobster is not only a gangster, but is a sort of Robin Hood figure, protecting the poor Italian immigrants he has taken under his care. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Vittorio De Sica directs the lyrical war drama Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis), based on a book by Giorgio Bassani. In Ferrara, Italy, at the beginning of WWII, anti-Semitism is spreading. Mussolini has passed several laws that forbid Jews from going to public schools, joining the army, or marrying non-Jews. While many middle-class Jewish families flee the country, the Finzi-Continis believe it's safe inside their sprawling estate. As a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish family, they think their luxurious garden walls will protect them from fascism. Micol Finzi Contini (Dominique Sanda) and her brother (Helmut Berger) invite their Jewish friends to join them in the estate for parties, tennis, and games while the war ravages on. Middle-class Jew Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio) attends the parties with his friend Malnate (Fabio Testi). Giorgio and Micol are childhood sweethearts, but she begins to reject him in favor of Malnate. She also refuses to accept that there's a war going on. Eventually they can pretend no longer, and the war closes in on them. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1971. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This romantic situation comedy finds Giovanni (Alberto Sordi) extremely jealous when his wife Raffaella (Monica Vitti) admits her infatuation over their handsome neighbor Valerio (Silvano Tranquilli). Giovanni spies on his wife and recruits their 10-year-old son in an effort to stop his wife's good-neighbor policy. Giovanni's once liberal and progressive outlook changes drastically with his wife's candid revelation. The two eventually consider a temporary separation after a series of incidents which seem to prove their incompatibility. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This wry comedy finds the beautiful Assunta (Monica Vitti) being kidnapped by Vincento (Carlo Giuffre) and taken to his remote home in the country. He plans to "dishonor her" and by doing so, win her hand in marriage. In a hilarious turn of events, Assunta willingly gives in to the amorous advances of Vincento. Finding him to her liking, the innocent girl suddenly turns into an insatiable sex fiend who causes the exhausted abductor to flee for his life. Assunta escapes, but the taunting of the local villagers causes her to leave and pursue the fleeing Vincento. She tracks him down to Britain and sheds her country-girl image for a mod makeover in order to fit into the blue-blooded London society. She plans to murder Vincento until she meets a divorced physician. She and Dr. Osborne (Stanley Baker) fall for each other, and the jilted Assunta is content to slap Vincento rather than shoot him to death. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Yet another entry in a long series of 1960s Italian sex comedies, this one has some clever moments in its study of four beautiful women (Ursula Andress, Marisa Mell, Virna Lisi, and Claudine Auger) who cheat on their husbands to relieve their marital discontent. Jean-Pierre Cassel also stars in this typical anthology written by Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Four different facets of love Italian-style provide the basis of this episodic film. The vignettes are "The Phone," about a woman so busy talking on the phone that she fails to notice that her husband is having sex with a neighbor; "Treatise on Eugenics," the chronicle of a Swedish girl's search for the perfect sire; "The Soup," about a wife's attempts to get rid of her husband's corpse; and "Monsignor Cupid," which follows the attempts of a concierge to seduce a handsome young man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A group of starving Roman artists provides the focus of this episodic drama that tells the often tragic story of each of them. One commits suicide after learning that his only patron is his homosexual lover. Another, a female singer, is a nymphomaniac. A third member gives up art in favor of marrying a German woman who is two decades older than he. As the original group begins to diminish, it is replenished by new, more idealistic young artists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide