Daily Archives: September 28, 2016

Big Deal on Madonna Street (I soliti ignolti)
Directed by Mario Monicelli
Written by Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli et al
1958/Italy
Cinecittá, Lux Film, Vides Cinematografica
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tiberio: Stealing is a serious profession. You need serious people, not people like you. All you can do at your best is work.[/box]

Some of Italy’s stars of the 1950’s get together for this spoof of the era’s heist movies.

Cosimo is in prison for the umpteenth time.  Inside, he hears of a fool-proof plan for robbing a pawn shop and is desperate to get out.  He sends his lawyer to hire a scapegoat who will confess to his crime.  The lawyers try out all his old cronies from the neighborhood but all have previous commitments.  Finally, a boxer (Vittorio Gassman) who has no criminal record agrees.  In the first of many set-backs in the movie, all three men – Cosimo, the boxer, and the lawyer – are thrown in the clink.  Cosimo reveals his plan to the boxer and the boxer steals it from him when he is released on probation.

An old master (Toto), who seems to spend most of his time in a bathrobe, trains the motley gang of losers that the boxer puts together in the art of safe-cracking.  The rest of the movie covers the meticulous planning for and disastrous execution of the job.  With Renato Salvatori, Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale in her film debut.

This film was inspired by Rififí and follows the heist formula perfected in that film to comedic effect.  At the same time, it spoofs neo-realism and makes fun of some familiar Italian stereotypes.  For some reason, I didn’t find it as funny this time as on the first go round.  Still, it is worth seeing.

Trailer

The Space Children
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld; story by Tom Filer
1958/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce. — Winston Churchill [/box]

Not every B-picture directed by Jack Arnold can be The Incredible Shrinking Man.  That said, I thought this was much better than its IMDb rating.

The Brewster family is moving to the seaside so that Dad can work on a not-so-secret satellite capable of dropping an H-bomb from space.  Somehow the beach seems sinister to Mom and she has good instincts.  The two young sons see a blinding flash from the sky but no one will pay attention to them.  On their first outing with the neighbor children, they explore a cave where they discover a glowing brain-like object.  This promptly hypnotizes the kids into doing its bidding.

The film suffers from a miniscule special effects budget.  This means that we have no alien action and, indeed, only a few glimpses of the creature.  So Arnold has to create suspense where none really exists and is only partially successful.  I though it was well-made for what it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ajo4z-0Zs

Trailer