THE USUAL UNKNOWN
Genre: Yellow-comic masterpiece
Direction: Mario Monicelli. With Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvadori, Claudia Cardinale, Carla Gravina. Rai3, 30 July at 15.05
Capannelle, Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni in “I soliti ignoti” (photo Contrasto).
Despite the many proclamations, the cinema seems to be on vacation and so we must once again resort to the television that gives us on Rai3 the best antidote to the heat of this oppressive summer allowing us to (re) see The usual unknown.
For the forgetful or distracted just say that the Italian comedy was born with this filmhistory of five poor people (with Gassman there are Mastroianni, Renato Salvadori, Tiberio “Ferribotte” Murgia and the unforgettable Carlo Pisacane alias Capannelle) I decided to rob the safe of the pawnshop.
But the story, and the surprising ending, are nothing compared to the jokes, the gags, the situations that Monicelli with the screenwriters Age, Scarpelli and Suso Cecchi d’Amico have ringed in the 111 minutes of the film: from the burglary lesson of “professor” Totò to the servant Carla Gravina skilled cook of pasta and chickpeas until the debutant Claudia Cardinale, object of the attention of a Salvadori raised by nuns.
There is even a dead man (which does not prevent you from laughing) but above all there is the spirit of an Italy that saw well-being at hand and tried to grab it in every way. In short: a masterpiece.
For those who want to refresh their eyes and head.
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