Age Movies

The three women in this story have one problem in common: how to balance their need for affectionate relationships with men with their equally strong desire for some kind of freedom and independence. One of the women is overcome by a trapped feeling when her lover of several years announces that he wants to divorce his wife and marry her instead. Luisa (the main character), is an art teacher, and she is between relationships. The third woman has had one short-term relationship after another, which is equally unsatisfying. She is about ready to settle into a more committed relationship. However, when Luisa meets a new man, though the relationship looks promising, her new boyfriend is afraid to go beyond the level of having occasional dates and spending the night together sporadically. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a bungling gang leader and his henchmen attempt to swipe a suitcase full of loot from a soccer pool. The task seems simple enough, but the gang suffers a variety of zany mishaps before the leader finally gets hold of the money. Just as he gets it, he is arrested by the police for jaywalking. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mario Monicelli's classic crime comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (I Soliti Ignoti) features Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as a pair of thieves who head a group of criminals in a break-in attempt. Their plan involves digging an underground tunnel from an apartment that leads to a neighboring business and drilling their way inside. In addition to each of the burglars struggling with individual personal problems, the group must reassess their plans after they find themselves not in the store, but a different room of the apartment from which they started. Big Deal on Madonna Street is a spoof of Jules Dassin's caper classic Rififi. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Marcello Mastroianni portrays the handsome lover Casanova pitted against a thoroughly modern woman. This is a legendary hero often depicted in movies, but this time he is portrayed with a slightly different problem - the only time he's "in the mood" is when he feels that he is in danger. His job as NATO officer offers plenty of opportunity for his sexual arousal problems to be assuaged. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The Pizza Triangle is a freewheeling satire of Italian mores, hilarious despite its outwardly morbid plotline. The murder of flower girl Monica Vitti triggers a long flashback involving Vitti, middle-aged Communist bricklayer Marcello Mastrioanni, and young pizza chef Giancarlo Giannini. The married Mastrioanni falls in love with Vitti, but Giannini gets in the way. A fight results, after which the girl is hospitalized. Declaring a truce, the three lovers move in together, allowing Vitti tie to decide whom she loves best. The subsequent discord nearly results in the girl's suicide; she moves out and takes up with butcher Hercules Cortes, but returns to Gianinni when he attempts suicide. The now unemployed and unmarried Mastrioanni shows up, and when Vitti refuses again to commit herself to any one man, another fight results--this time ending in Vitti's death. Also released as A Drama of Jealousy and Jealousy Italian Style, The Pizza Triangle was originally shown in Italy as Dramma della Gelosia--Tutti i Particolari in Cronaca. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gang-directed comedy combines the talents of Dino Risi, Franco Rossi, and Luigi Filippo Sonego. In "A Decisive Day," Nino Manfredi plays a shy company employee who wins the heart of a longtime flame only to discover she is married. Franco Rossi directs "Complex Of The Nubian Slave" starring Ugo Tognazzi and Claudie Lange. An Italian bigwig faces social ruin when he discovers his wife once appeared nude in a sword-and-sandal epic. Luigi Filippo directs "Toothsome Guglielmo" starring Alberto Sordi in the final episode. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This engaging slice of neorealism stars Marcello Mastroianni as "Il Medico" (The Doctor) and Vittorio de Sica as "Lo Stregone" (The Healer). Setting up practice in a backward, provincial village, Mastroianni finds that he can make no headway with the superstitious townsfolk so long as faith-healer De Sica holds them in thrall. A battle of wills ensues, which at first is won by De Sica. But when a medical crisis arises, it is Mastroianni who comes out on top. The feminine angle is provided by Marisa Merlini. Thanks to the drawing power of its two male stars, Il Medico e lo Stregone was well distributed in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Nome Del Popolo Italiano (In the Name of the Italian Pope) represents the darker edge of Italian filmmaker Dino Risi's satiric sensibilities. Ugo Tognazzi stars as the magistrate of a prosperous Italian community. Completely incorruptible, Tognazzi goes after a crooked industrialist, played by Vittorio Gassman. The film details Tognazzi's subtle descent into toadyism. Dino Risi had often utilized the services of Ugo Tognazzi and Vittorio Gassman in the past, but seldom with such cutting, vicious effectiveness as in In Nome del Popolo Italiano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Italian mystery, a detective journeys into the rarified world of the idle rich to look into a puzzling murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Fernandel plays a French customs sergeant who conducts an ongoing war of nerves with Italian smuggler Toto on the Franco-Italian border. The French sergeant discovers that, through a long-ago hospital mix-up, he is actually an Italian citizen. Now Fernandel is legally prevented from arresting Toto--and to make matters worse, he is the lawbreaker in Italian eyes because of his divorce and remarriage! The publicity attending the long-anticipated teaming of France's favorite funnyman Fernandel (born Fernand Joseph Desire Contandin) and his Italian counterpart Toto (born Antonio de Curtis Gagliardi Ducas Comneno di Bisanzio) helped to make The Law Is the Law one of the most successful films in both comedians' careers. The film, incidentally, was a French production (originally titled La Loi c'est la Loi), so in fact it was Toto, not Fernandel, who was the "alien." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perhaps a little over-ambitious for the casual audience unfamiliar with the Italian world of entertainment and politics, La Terrazza involves a total of eight main protagonists and how they have changed or are changing. All eight are sitting on a terrace talking, while flashbacks and flashforwards fill in their past, present, and future relationships. Enrico (Jean-Louis Tritignant) is a burnt-out screenwriter, Amedeo (Ugo Tognazzi) is a self-made producer, Mario (Vittorio Gassman) is a communist member of parliament who is having an affair with the married Giovanna (Stefania Sandrelli) and is otherwise having a hard time trying to tow the tough, virtuous line the party demands. Giovanna, as well as the other women on the terrace, have all the spirit of people looking forward to the future while the men have been there and found it wanting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This Dino De Laurentiis production from 1965 is actually an anthology of five different directors' work, each telling their own stories about witches. The five stories are "The Witch Burned Alive," "Civic Sense," "The Earth As Seen From The Moon," "The Girl From Sicily," and "A Night Like Any Other." Silvia Mangano appears in all five, with Clint Eastwood starring in the last featured vignette. Like many gang-directed projects, this film is also plagued by a lack of continuity and by the pretentiousness of the individual directors. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide