Boccacio 70
My favorite segment of Boccaccio 70 is "The Raffle" starring Sophia Loren. I have been a big fan of Sophia since I was a kid and had only seen stills of this legendary film until Ebay yielded an all Italian language version in VHS. Sophia plays Zoe, who works at a shooting gallery in the Italian countryside in the Po river Valley. Now saddled with extra expenses of an expectant wife, Zoe's brother in law convinces her to offer herself as a top raffle prize every Sunday night. Tickets sell like hot pizza, her shooting gallery now replete with men eager for a glimpse of what could be all theirs for a night. Zoe ends up meeting and actually falling in love with Gaetano (Luigi Giuliani)who tucks his pants into his cowboy boots, Zoe starts to regret her Lottery commitment. The winner is a very meek and mild sexton named Cuspet who refuses to sell his ticket (would ANY guy?) Driven mad with jealousy , Gaetano drives of in the caravan in which Zoe is vainly attempting to raise some response in the totally virginal sexton. Zoe decides to buy off Cuspet and leave with man she now loves. Still she rumples Cuspets hair, kisses his cheeks and all the men think he actually hooked up.Thus Cuspet is carried through the streets, hero of the day ala Metallica, happy to hear the cheers of his fellow man and the cry of "swine" from the women.
More on Boccaccio '70 (1962) is an Italian film directed by Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio de Sica, from an idea by Cesare Zavattini. It is an anthology of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a different aspect of morality and love in modern times, on the style of Boccaccio.
The four original episodes were:
* Renzo e Luciana (by Mario Monicelli) with Marina Solinas and Germano Gilioli.
* Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio (by Federico Fellini) with Peppino de Filippo and Anita Ekberg.
* Il lavoro (by Luchino Visconti) with Romy Schneider and Tomas Milian.
* La riffa (by Vittorio de Sica) with Sophia Loren.
The first episode, by Monicelli, was only present in the Italian distribution of the film. For solidarity towards Monicelli, the other three directors did not go to for the presentation of the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
posted by Amanda and SuperAmanda™ at
Monday, December 12, 2005
9 Comments:
Sophia's got nothing on you.
Hey there...thanks for poppin' over to my blog. Right back at cha!
:)
Yeah, what pizzle said. :)
And yes, you're ridiculously beautiful. You should leave the blogging to us ugly people. hehe
SuperAmanda,
Why was Monicelli's episode only present in the Italian version? Something didn't translate well? I'm going to have to head out to our local indie film shop and see if they can locate the italian version for me, beacause now I'm curious.
Jack
Sophia Loren was quite something else than most female stars: radiant, alive, full of colour - and eating normally, i.e. more than a salad leaf per day.
Quite something else than most female stars of today, I meant to say.
She owes it all to spaghetti!
All of you are so kind, and like John Belushi once said '...I owe it all to little chocolate doughnuts.'
Mini doughnuts will do that? Hang on a sec -- I have to run to the store.
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