"Stealing is a serious business. You need serious people, not people like you." Tiberio
I Soliti Ignoti - Big Deal On Madonna Street (1958) started the comedy spoof films.
Directed by Mario Monicelli.
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, Claudia Cardinale among many others.
Mario created the comedy spoof genre single handily. All modern movie spoof's owe Mario for creating the genre. This movie is so funny, especially if you are Italian. Mario is spoofing Jules Dassin (An American Expat living in Paris) classic French Heist film, Rififi (1954). Jules created the modern crime caper with Rififi.
Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni play brilliantly against each other. Vittorio sees life as easy, Marcello sees it as complex. The dialogue between them is filled with innuendos and biting social commentary.
The film makes fun of Sicilians, Northern Italians, Frenchmen, Americans and anyone who was part of the system. Some of the best comedy is in scenes where the characters knowledge cannot help them through the bureaucracy that engulfs their everyday life. In the scene below Mario is having fun with Sicilians. The absurdity of keeping a woman like Claudia Cardinal at home until she is married is priceless. Anyways, its a fun movie that holds up well with time.
Trivia - I Soliti Ignoti translates into Usual Unknowns or as the police here in America call them The Usual Suspects.
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