Saw this Italian comedy as it showed on cable recently. The Italian version, must be better than the English one, if one is to believe the only comment on this film at IMDb. Not having a clue about what this picture was about, but the prospect of watching Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni together, it was too much to let it pass.
The film deals with a narcissistic mafioso, one Charlie Coletto, who has no redeeming qualities. Charlie imitates the style of all things American that he saw in movies. When he spots luscious Pupa, a prostitute working on the side of the road adjacent to a construction project he is inspecting from a helicopter, he can't pass the opportunity to take her with him to Milano, where he installs her in his apartment. Charlie sees in her, like all the other women that attract him a Rita Hayworth of his boyhood, when he used to fantasize about the screen goddess.
It is because this attraction to beautiful redheaded women that will be his own downfall.
Directed by Giorgio Capitani, and based on a novel, "Collared" by Cornell Woolrich, this film is a comedy that capitalizes on its two stars, even if there is no love between them. Sophia Loren comes out best. She must have been in her forties at the time and looked sensational. Mr. Mastroianni's Charlie is a more flashy part. The only problem is that his character is obnoxious and our sympathies are with Ms. Loren.
There is a great chase scene at the end all over the city of Milan.
The film deals with a narcissistic mafioso, one Charlie Coletto, who has no redeeming qualities. Charlie imitates the style of all things American that he saw in movies. When he spots luscious Pupa, a prostitute working on the side of the road adjacent to a construction project he is inspecting from a helicopter, he can't pass the opportunity to take her with him to Milano, where he installs her in his apartment. Charlie sees in her, like all the other women that attract him a Rita Hayworth of his boyhood, when he used to fantasize about the screen goddess.
It is because this attraction to beautiful redheaded women that will be his own downfall.
Directed by Giorgio Capitani, and based on a novel, "Collared" by Cornell Woolrich, this film is a comedy that capitalizes on its two stars, even if there is no love between them. Sophia Loren comes out best. She must have been in her forties at the time and looked sensational. Mr. Mastroianni's Charlie is a more flashy part. The only problem is that his character is obnoxious and our sympathies are with Ms. Loren.
There is a great chase scene at the end all over the city of Milan.