Nino Manfredi Movies

This well-acted though conventional comedy-drama by director Luigi Comencini features comic Nino Manfredi in the title role of Giacinto, a father and husband who has been driven to steal in order to survive. His ineptitude lands him in jail where he meets up with slightly more hardened criminals, like Tagliabue (Mario Aldorf), a killer, and Il Sorcio (Raymond Bussieres), an experienced thief. Giacinto is anxious to escape and get back to his family but Tagliabue and the thief also want out as soon as possible. And even if Giacinto escapes, the challenges that wait for him on the other side of the bars may be more than he can handle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A betrayed wife decides to teach her philandering husband a lesson in this riotous farce. Marta (Catherine Spaak) discovers that husband Franco (Nino Manfredi) has been stepping out with her own best friend (Maria Grazia Buccella), and gets revenge by inventing an imaginary lover. Franco takes the bait, leading to improbable but hilarious complications. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this comedy anthology, the sex-capades of several Italian couples are chronicled. In "The Scandal," a dull and insensitive husband is unaware that his lonely wife has been flirting with a young buck at a vacation resort. When the husband finally finds out, he gets jealous and the marriage is renewed. In "Sin in the Afternoon," a movie producer is frustrated because his wife refuses to touch him, and so he winds up picking up a comely woman off the street and taking her to a motel. "The Victim" chronicles the relationship between an insanely jealousy woman and her beleaguered husband, whom she drives away. She, seeking revenge, begins an affair with his best friend. In the final episode, "Modern People," a deeply indebted cheese maker is given the option of paying the debt in cash or allowing the debtor an evening of lovemaking with his gorgeous wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this intellectual drama, Ras (Eli Wallach) is a ruler or dictator who, somewhat like the Biblical King David, covets another man's wife as his own. Unlike David, however, Ras wants to humiliate Marcello (Nino Manfredi), a dedicated musician whose life he has already ruined. He forces Marcello to seek an annulment to his marriage through the Vatican. ~ Clarke Fountain, 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

This entertaining, light comedy is carried on the shoulders of Nino Manfredi, who plays a gypsy coffee vendor illegally selling expresso on trains. Inventive, creative, and needing to stay several steps ahead of the conductors and other bureaucrats out to shut down his operation, the cafe artist often finds himself hiding out in the most unusual places. He needs the money because his young, asthmatic son needs medical attention. That fact casts no shadow on the comedy though, as the coffee vendor continues to dodge his pursuers toward what must surely be an upbeat ending for all concerned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This three-part social satire lampoons the church, television, big business and universities plagued by campus unrest. Riccardo (Vittorio Gassman) is a rebel who causes confusion on campus and at a television station. Part two finds industrial magnate Cavazza (Michel Simon) hounding his subordinate Franco (Nino Manfredi) when the two travel to New York. Franco abandons his boss on Fifth Avenue, where he is arrested for using a phone booth as a toilet. Cavazza gets revenge when both are back in Italy. In part three, Don Giuseppe (Alberto Sordi) is a priest who defends himself against allegations of an illicit affair with a local cashier. After an audience with the bishop, the once-quiet priest demands a car, a wife, and another flock to lead. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This Dutch adventure drama chronicles the birth and preservation of a Flemish legend. The tale begins in mid-16th century Flanders when Spain ruled the area. A peasant revolt is in progress and a gang of rebels is seen lugging the giant head of a statue onto Nettelneck's farm. Just then the Spanish arrive and only one rebel survives the invasion. The rebel makes love to the farmer's wife and then leaves. She later bears a son. A few years later this boy, who is ostracized by the community, meets Campanelli, an Italian minstrel who claims to have witnessed the massacre and the boy's creation. He then fancifully spins a yarn about the curious lad's father, telling him that his father lives and helms a fabulous ship. He also tells the boy, his father can fly. The boy grows up believing this and eventually takes his lover Lotte to begin searching for his mystical father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The business of death provides the framework for this black comedy about a mortician's assistant who wants to marry an executioner's daughter. Her father really wants to change professions, but cannot, as he will lose his new government-sponsored apartment. The young man is persuaded to take over the job, but he swears he will quit before he must kill someone. Unfortunately, an execution is scheduled shortly before the beginning of a major carnival, a time when many executions are halted. The bride and groom travel there, hoping the victim will be pardoned, but he is not and the groom must fulfill his duty. Although he swears he will never do another, his face tells another story, and the old executioner knows that many more state-sanctioned deaths will follow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A straight-laced father and his not-so-straight brother come together under strange circumstances in this comedy from Italy. Only a few days before his daughter Chiara (Elena D'Urso) is to be married, Nicolo Gammarota (Lino Banfi) gets the sad news that his mother has passed on. Now Nicolo must arrange a funeral just as he's putting the finishing touches on his daughter's wedding. Adding to his troubles is the arrival of his brother Francesco (Nino Manfredi) to pay his respects. Forty years before, Francesco came out of the closet with his homosexuality, causing a minor scandal in their community; Francesco moved away, leaving his family to deal with the gossip, and Nicolo hasn't spoken to him since. However, it was their mother's final wish that Nicolo and Francesco come together for her burial, so the brothers embark on an unexpectedly eventful trip through the countryside to grant her last request. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Despite of (or perhaps because of ) its sparse production values and unpretentiousness, the Italian Gli Innamorati was feted at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The bulk of the story takes place in a single Roman neighborhood. In the manner of the 1925 German classic A Joyless Street, director Mauro Bolognini studies the hopes, dreams, successes and failures of the neighborhood's various and sundry denizens. No one subplot dominates the proceedings, though a bit of extra time is afforded the story of a fickle seamstress and her seemingly meek-and-mild boyfriend. The cast is dotted with such reassuringly familiar faces as Nino Manfredi and Gino Cervi. Released in the US as Wild Love, Gli Innamorati was instrumental in bringing international fame to director Bolognini, whose career soon shifted into high drive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide