Giancarlo Giannini is a minor Neapolitan hood, a snappy dresser, attractive to all the woman, and the sort of idiot who believes what he's told. He shoots another hoodlum for turning his sister into a prostitute, and then refuses to lie in court because of his honor. He adores il Duce until he he talks with a socialist; he winds up in a German concentration camp, where he seduces gross Shirley Stoler to survives. Even though he's a fool, though, he does learn eventually that it's not honor or beauty or a gun or country that will save and protect him: it's strength.
Lina Wertmuller's movie is probably the peak of her international fame. This garnered two Oscar nominations, including signora Wertmuller as director and Giannini as actor, and well deserved they are. Wertmuller casts her cynical, observing eye on her subject, and makes the audience see clearly. There are gross, distorted, fragmented images of sexuality throughout this movie, like the end of CABARET which will repel the viewer. It's a carefully balanced movie that stubbornly refuses to play anything for comedy, because that's not Wertmuller's aim: she shatters every illusion.
Lina Wertmuller's movie is probably the peak of her international fame. This garnered two Oscar nominations, including signora Wertmuller as director and Giannini as actor, and well deserved they are. Wertmuller casts her cynical, observing eye on her subject, and makes the audience see clearly. There are gross, distorted, fragmented images of sexuality throughout this movie, like the end of CABARET which will repel the viewer. It's a carefully balanced movie that stubbornly refuses to play anything for comedy, because that's not Wertmuller's aim: she shatters every illusion.