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© DR - LE PIGEON de Mario Monicelli (1959) p9
23/12/2012 08:22
En haut à gauche :le réalisateur Mario Monicelli /à droite Toto
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A tender look at some incompetent incorrigibles
Author: rolee-1 from Davidson, North Carolina
21 July 2005
One character approaches another to get him to take the rap for a crime. But he can't do it, so he suggests someone else. The third character can't do it either. Soon a half dozen people are in search of someone to take the rap. They eventually decide that they need someone without a previous criminal record. But none of them knows anyone without a criminal record.I had no idea it was going to be a comedy when I first started watching it.
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By the end I was laughing out loud. It's a little slow, but many Italian movies are a little slow and caper films usually build slowly. But it is thoroughly enjoyable with some gags that I've never seen anywhere else in film. Cosimo's bank heist was very amusing.If you've just recently watched The Bicycle Thief, and are depressed by the bleakness of life shown there, this movie is the perfect antidote. It shows the lighter side of people who are down on their luck.
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16 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
The Break-in of the Century
Author: aeolianknight from Norwalk Ct.
29 March 2003
I had seen "I Soliti Ignoti" a long time ago and I can't say that I remembered it well. But thanks the the Criterion Collection I came across it on DVD and have to say that it's one of the funniest films that I have ever seen .A bunch of amateurish bunglers believing themselves to be capable thieves attempt a break-in of hilarious proportions. Gassman shines as Peppe the improvised leader of the pack, as these "Usual Suspects" move from one mishap to another.Miss. Cardinale adds some real eye candy, as usual.SEE IT!!!!!!!
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© DR - LE PIGEON de Mario Monicelli (1959) p10
23/12/2012 11:10
Renato Salvatore & Claudia Cardinale
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Who are these guys anyway?
Author: stannotuttibene from United States
30 December 2005
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As is typical in most Italian comedies, Monicelli has taken a cup of post war Italy realism and stirred in a cup of scenes from the human condition along with a dash of physical comedy which makes 'Big Deal On Madonna Street' a bittersweet cake we all can enjoy.
Like DeSica and Visconti, Monicelli uses post war Italy as the atmosphere in which these characters find themselves trying to eke out their lives.The recurring Italian film maker's theme of man against a complicated bureaucratic life is no more evident than here. Throughout the film, the characters impressively quote Italian law by chapter and verse however this does not help them as they all have spent time in jail. The absurdity of knowledge without benefit of improvement is a another theme used. As Toto waxes eloquently regarding the sundry ways to break into a safe (one which the film goer is led to believe he knows nothing about), these men attempt to gain knowledge which they believe will deliver the big score. However even with knowing the apartment is empty, the type of safe the valuables are in and the way to gain access to the safe, their plan is flawed by their inability to execute what seems to them to be a fool proof blue print for success.
While Monicelli's themes ring as clear as the bell that has Peppe il pantera (Gassman) on the canvas, the characterizations of this band of misfits are classic. A stuttering, would be fighter (Gassman), and an out-of-work photographer who has sold his camera to survive (Mastroianni)lead the crew. The scenes played between Gassman's 'everything's easy' attitude and Mastroianni's inquisitiveness provide the viewer with hilarious cat and mouse verbal trade-offs.In the end, 'Big Deal On Madonna Street' strikes a chord for viewers because we have all felt, at times, completely helpless by the absurdity of life and our pursuit for 'the prize' that we perceive will deliver us from our situation. However like this crew at the end of the film, we wake up every morning and realize that it's back to work to grind out another day.
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© DR - LE PIGEON de Mario Monicelli (1959) p11
23/12/2012 11:14
Une erreur de Cinémécouilles :Il s'agit là de Braquage à Milan
une resuscée du PIGEON tourné ultèrieurement
(au centre Nino Manfredi qui remplace Mastroianni)
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A great comedy
Author: cincywalsh from United States
15 May 2011
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This movie was a great parody of the various heist films made at the time. I have one question that I hope someone can help me with. I had seen this movie at the time of its release and loved it. About a year ago, I was thinking about it and got it to show to my wife. It was everything that I remembered, except for one thing. I have a distinct visual memory of one of the gang slipping down a coal chute to get into a building and coming out glistening and announcing " they converted to oil". But this scene wasn't in the movie. Am I crazy or was there more than one version? Could they have changed the film at some point during the intervening years? My memory of the scene is so exact I hate to think I've made this up and believed it all these years.
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© DR - LE PIGEON de Mario Monicelli (1959) p12
23/12/2012 11:20
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© DR - LE PIGEON de Mario Monicelli (1959) p13
23/12/2012 11:25
Madcap petty criminal hijinks in postwar Italy
Author: Dennis Littrell from United States(1)
1 June 2007
Tall, handsome Vittorio Gassman stars as Peppe, the womanizing glass-jawed palooka who, along with several keystone criminals, stumblebum their way to...not much. Also featured in this comedy by Italian film legend Mario Monicelli are Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale, who would go on to fame and fortune, but here have only modest parts.
Mastroianni, who would later star in La Dolce Vita (1960), Il Bell'Antonio (1960), Divorzio all'italiana (1961) and many others, plays Tiberio a photographer without a camera, whose wife is in jail, who has a constantly crying baby to take care of with one of his arms up in a sling with a board under it. Cardinale, who would go on to become one of Italy's most famous beauty bombshells, plays Carmelina, a young woman locked up by her brother in order to protect her honor until she marries.
Also featured are Carla Gravina (Nicoletta), a very pretty 17-year-old who went on to only a modest career, and the veteran Toto who plays the incompetent safecracker, Dante Cruciani. Notable is Renato Salvatori as Mario who wins Carmelina's heart, Memmo Carotenuto as Cosimo who fails at purse-snatching, and Carlo Pisacane as Capannelle who looks like an aged member of the Bowery Boys.
The story begins when Cosimo is caught trying to steal a car. In prison he learns of a nice sting that he can pull off if only he can get out of jail. So he tries to hire a scapegoat to confess to the crime so he can be freed. Finally Peppe, after getting knocked out in the first round of a prize fight, decides he needs the money. However when he goes to confess, the police see through the ruse and throw him in jail without releasing Cosimo.
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