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Rating: Hello guys, I'm new to this site and this is my first review. I hope you'll be kind to me in your comments, which I've read many times and often seem quite sharp.
The first movie I would like to comment on is "Il bisbetico domato" by Castellano and Pipolo, year 1980, starring Adriano Celentano, one of the best Italian singers, whose seventieth birthday was recently celebrated, and, since the '60s, a leading comic actor in Italian comedies.
Let's say Adriano wasn't an exceptional actor; perhaps his persona overshadowed the types he played in various films. Films that, moreover, are not masterpieces in themselves but aimed primarily to capitalize on Celentano's fame and the character's certain charm (although sometimes even he can be tedious). Certainly, they are highly entertaining films suited for a mainstream audience, without too many embellishments and not too intellectual. Films that, incidentally, have funneled a lot of money into production companies' pockets, allowing for the creation of many other films, possibly of greater depth but with less market appeal.
So let's not spit on these works... it's like spitting on Adidas because we would only want to wear Church's, or going barefoot to be alternative, like those in barefooting — in short: stuff for auteur cinema fetishists and not for informed and conscious feature film consumers.
Getting to the point, the story told in this film is about the wealthy Pavia farmer Elia, a confirmed bachelor who lives with a black housekeeper, reminiscent of the more famous housekeeper from "Gone with the Wind."
Elia lives reclusively, loves only nature, and doesn't even know what TV is. One day, due to a car breakdown, a beautiful young woman played by a young Ornella Muti arrives at his house: she quickly falls for Elia, but winning him over takes quite some time, as the film's protagonist wants nothing to do with commitment and, above all, hates the typical "Milanèse" arrogance of the girl (here, I can't blame him, except for the fact that for a stunner like Muti at the time, we would all overlook that Milanese arrogance).
As already mentioned, it's a film for not-too-discerning tastes and for fans of down-to-earth comedy or popular feuilletons like Grand Hotel: its small bourgeois moral is that differences can be reconciled and that love triumphs, in addition to the fact that a beautiful woman can always tame even the seemingly stubborn (and of course... unless he has other sexual preferences).
A direction that is completely average, besides Castellano and Pipolo (the latter, father of Federico Moccia) were essentially screenwriters who worked without too many frills in films for mass audiences — a bit like modern holiday comedies — so they had no auteur approach to films nor any trademark that allowed for recognizing their style among a thousand others.
Coming to the movie's protagonist, perhaps here Celentano gives his best without becoming overly repetitive: at least remember the scene of the pressing with a nice pastoral musical background (flowers and fantasy/lalalalala/force that's all of us/lalalalala/come on dear Elia/lalalalala/push hard, and you'll see you'll win/you'll win), the scene where he takes away Muti's bed on a tractor, and the basketball game scene.
The character fits the real Celentano: a lover of secluded life, obviously with all the comforts of "countryside for the rich." Here I must afford a digression: in his love for the countryside, Adriano seems to lament the good old days, a world of pure ones, a bit like Pasolini did by extending it to the Roman suburbs and not just to his maternal Friuli; both, however, idealize the past as they came from a life of comfort (especially Pasolini), and in the end, they forget or are unaware that life was very harsh, very pellagra-infested. In short, there's some hypocrisy and snobbism in this love for the fields.
Returning to more down-to-earth matters, I must say that regarding Muti — besides her appeal — I see more appearance than substance in her acting; she was never a great actress, and anyway, she did not give her best in these comedies.
Pippo Santonastaso's characterization is entertaining. There's also a cameo by Milly Carlucci before she was embalmed: a truly beautiful woman.
As a comedy, I'd rate it: 3.5 out of 5.
Overall, using an objective Debaser scale: 2 out of 5.
Your Il_Paolo
PS: Your criticism of my style is welcome, as long as it's polite.
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