113 Big Deal on Madonna Street

[Martha]

Big Deal on Madonna Street



An all-star cast and jazzy score highlight this charming comedy, a deft satire of classic caper films like Rififi. Big Deal on Madonna Street hilariously details the plight of a sad-sack group of bumbling thieves and their desperate attempts to pull off the perfect heist.

Special Features

- Gorgeous new digital transfer
- Original theatrical trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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[kschell]

What a little gem this film is. I'd never heard of it and picked it up on a whim, and I love this. It's like "Divorce Italian Style" crossed with "Rififi", but with better music.

[Matango]

Agreed. This seems to be a bit of a sleeper in the collection. I didn't really discover it until I watched the Criterion laserdisc version that I bought for a dollar a few years ago and left unopened for ages. After seeing it I went straight out and bought the DVD. Having also seen Monicelli's segment of Boccacio '70 recently, he's getting to be one of my favourite Italian directors, up there with Antonioni and Olmi.

[Narshty]

I have to say I thought this was a pretty sloppy film. A couple of giggles here and there, but it's like watching a rough draft in every sense - massive, crucial sections of the plot are filled in with title cards, literally along the lines of "But what he didn't know was that Mario had just got out of prison and was on the lookout for him", etc, etc. It does this at least three times, each instance shamelessly flaunting a creative laziness that borders on contempt for the audience. And the ending is the limpest thing I've ever seen -

SpoilerShow

everyone just goes home after the bungled robbery - literally, they just say "goodbye" and wander off - and it cuts to a "ho ho" newspaper headline of next morning's paper.

I rented this last December, meant to write about it at the time but forgot, and can't remember anything about it since - never a good sign.

[tryavna]

I caught this film for the first time on TCM last night, and I'm inclined to agree more with Matango and Kschell, though I definitely see where Narshty is coming from. I liked it, and I thought that it got better as it went along. (And personally, I did enjoy the ending: How else could this movie end with such an inept group of would-be master criminals?) But there was certainly a great deal of dead space. I suspect that the script could have been revised -- and especially tightened -- once or twice more. For instance, The Lavender Hill Mob, which is a superior film (and probably the first to parody the heist genre), runs nearly 25 minutes shorter and never sags.

I thought there were two glorious moments of comic genius, though: First, when Cosimo decides to rob the pawnshop himself, the expression on his face when the broker calmly takes and evaluates the hold-up gun for him. Second, the reveal at the climax when the crooks finally break through the wall. (Don't want to reveal too much here.)

In the end, however, I suspect that one's enjoyment of this film is probably going to depend on how much one enjoys Italian comedies in general. There is, for example, an awful lot of insult-comedy going on among the major characters that doesn't do much for me.

[Minkin]

Criterion Contraption

[Mr Sausage]

DISCUSSION STARTS MONDAY, MAY 12th AT 6:30 AM.

Members have a two week period in which to discuss the film before it's moved to its dedicated thread in The Criterion Collection subforum. Please read the Rules and Procedures.

This thread is not spoiler free. This is a discussion thread; you should expect plot points of the individual films under discussion to be discussed openly. See: spoiler rules.

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I encourage members to submit questions, either those designed to elicit discussion and point out interesting things to keep an eye on, or just something you want answered. This will be extremely helpful in getting discussion started. Starting is always the hardest part, all the more so if it's unguided. Questions can be submitted to me via PM.




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[Drucker]

Chalk this one up with The Browning Version in the best discoveries through Film Club category. This is a film I've always had my eye on, and especially had my eye on the director after The Organizer was released on blu, and because of Mastroianni's involvement, but until last night I hadn't seen either.

From the outset, this is clearly a farce. It does such a great job of establishing this early on, with two slow-moving and clearly slow-witted crooks. These guys are too old, too slow, and they aren't dressed correctly to be proper crooks. Sure enough, the initial heist is a bust and one of them is sent to jail. But this initial instinct of mine wasn't exactly right, I realized. The guy who is sent to jail seems to be the man in charge! How can he be so incompetent on the outside (later reaffirmed before his demise) and so in control of his situation when he's inside? I think these contradictions and expectation-upending things are what make the film great. It wasn't just a play on a typical heist/crime film in the sense that these crooks are incompetent mirrors of the guys in a film like Rififi. These guys were funny in their own way without being stupid, while maintaining just enough competence to be believable.

In that sense, and I really, really don't want to open the can of worms here...but...this kind of seemed like a way better version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (I don't have a strong opinion about that movie. I watched it once because I wanted to see what was reportedly a classic movie, I didn't hate or love it, and if not for the thread on this forum probably wouldn't have thought about it since.) This film achieved all the humor and zaniness that film aspires to, but does so in an hour and a half, is a genuinely hysterical movie in so many ways, and again, keeps things in the believable column.

One opinion I'd like to present and stand by is that this film is all about the fantastic performances of the actors. There are some terrific cinematic moments, with actors in the foreground, some tracking shots too (especially when they are first staking out where the heist will occur). Another touch I liked was the build-up to the fight at the dance, where our protagonist is taller than the guy who takes his girl, and then we pull back to reveal that short guy is defended by an even taller guy. It's a really skillful reveal.

But all the little nuances of the actors are brilliant and make the film for me. Mastroianni is hysterical, and I've never seen him so comical in a movie as he is in this one. Again, I'd need to re-watch and keep my eyes off the subtitles, but he has all these funny tics he keeps up throughout the film. The way Carmela's fiancee licks his lips when she is serving him is creepy but in a funny way. The sarcastic comments, like when Mastroianni 1) is ticked the guy relieving him is late for window watching duty and 2) they are at the wrong window!

Did anyone else catch that two scenes from the modern-Ocean's 11 movie are stolen? That same moment, as Mastroianni and his accomplice are explaining the timing of the apartment they are scouting is just like when Matt Damon/Brad Pitt are talking about the timing of Terry's movements as he runs his casino. It even has the Julia Roberts-beautiful woman walk by their path as a distraction! I also found the scene where the guy who was teaching them how to crack a safe to be similar to the scene where everyone gathers at the mansion while George Clooney explains how the heist will go down.

My only problem with this film was how fast it moved. Humorous foreign films with a lot of dialogue and funny facial expressions can be troubling to watch for me! It was kind of like when I watched Elena And Her Men. I feel like I missed a quarter of the dialogue just shifting my eyes from text to image. Overall though, a great film, and now I need to get The Organizer at the next B&N sale.

Ps. Why is this film still in print? It's apparently an SC title?

[jindianajonz]

I recall reading somewhere that each character represents a stereotype of a particluar italian region; does anybody know more about this? I think the most blatant was the Sicilian being overprotective of sister and the way he struts around trying to make himslef bigger than his diminutive stature would suggest. I also figure the older guy who constantly eats has to be ragging on some other region, but I can't remember where he is supposed to be from. Can anyone with more knowledge of Italy explain where each character is from what stereotypes they display?

[Mr Sausage]

No one has anything more to say on this one? Granted only ten people voted for it, but still, I'd have thought it would at least get more discussion than two posts.

[Michael Kerpan]

One would hope it gets posts from at least 10 forum members. ;~}

[Drucker]

We need voter ID laws on the forum.

[ando]

Chalk this one up with The Browning Version in the best discoveries through Film Club category. This is a film I've always had my eye on...

I've had my eye on this one a long time as well but it's been a disappointment. From the first bungled car theft I could see right through the "farcical" performances. Imo, for farce to work the actors need to be deadly earnest but not desperate; the ridiculousness of the situation should impress itself on the audience, not the player. Sure, the actor is flummoxed, but they're still in the situation, not outside it like some of the actors in this film. As a result we self-conscious shenanigans, which are the hallmark of very bad vaudeville routines, for instance. Watching this film I often felt like the judge in the scene where the alibi is faked - it's fake for all concerned so toss em both in! You've got to be in the mood for this sort of thing or it flies by like a 50 foot float.

[Michael Kerpan]

How does this compare with something like "Les Tontons Flingueurs"?

[Shrew]

jindiana's notes about the various regional backgrounds of the team is probably from Criterion Contraption. Like Dessem points out, it's hard for non-Italians to get how diverse/caricatured the group is (except the Sicilian, since he's always the outsider). I certainly didn't get any of that when I first watched it (nor am I even familiar with those regions outside of Rome, Naples, and Sicily).

Nor do I really have much to add that's not covered in the link. It's a funny film, but if often plays broad. Of the characters, I can hardly remember any except Mastroianni's and Toto's. The rest are just too cartoony and abstract to stick. Toto plays the safecracker with the perfect mix of absurdism and sincerity, and Mastroianni at least has a more diverse collection of foibles (baby, photographic pretensions) than the rest.

The film's claim to greatness lies on how it contrasts (or more accurately, how it doesn't) the farce with the straight-faced neorealist cinematography and setting. But so much of the film is about getting all the crew together then breaking them up again that I was worn-out by the time the climactic heist came around.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Les Tontons Flingueurs, or Malle's remake Crackers. I feel like there's a fair number of comedic heist movies, yet I can't recall any I feel are as enjoyable (or even sometimes as funny) as a regular heist film.

[movielocke]

I really enjoyed this one, a smart caper farce that adroitly lampoons the idea of hyper competent criminals rehearsing an elaborate heist for months. Funny, great performances and beautifully timed throughout the film just sails by. I love how the world keeps interfering with all their plans, so often in these films, the heist to be pulled off occurs in a hermetically sealed universe so everything can go perfectly until the one fatal flaw trips people up.

But in this one the entire world seems to conspire against their pathetic conspiracy, it's a wonderful touch and nicely shatters the illusion of planning being the success to crime. And I love the ending, simply too perfect to have them wandering home, totally brilliant