| Plot:
The son of the owner of a large Italian cheese factory is
kidnapped, but as the factory is on the verge of bankruptcy
the owner hatches a plan to use the ransom money as reinvestment
in the factory. Written by Tony Bowden {tony@tmtm.com}
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A
comment: I
see this film in straight connection with La Strategia del
ragno also directed by Bertolucci 11 years before this one.
Only with characters inversion, meaning that in this one
the father goes along find out things about his son, hidden
things, beyond what he looked like. In the 1970 film it
is the son who finds out the life of his late father, his
hidden secrets. Still I found the older movie much more
appealing, in terms of the plot itself but also in terms
of the direction also. It is obvious that a good plot estimulates
direction but still this one could have been better. It
has from times to times the quality seal from Bertolucci,
but in general it's not as good as others. The end is very
delayed, the film could have less 20 minutes that it would
be better to watch. Some beautiful images along the time,
as usual in Bertolucci, but than again somewhat meaningless
as they are not many times in the context of the story.
Though
the film touches some important issues, such as terrorism
in Italy's 1980'. Also interesting in exploring how a man
can 'use the blood' of his own son just to get himself out
of a difficult financial position. Not much more than this.
It's worth watching if you like Bertolucci or if you have
special interest in italian cinema. But don't judge the
director just on this one. It is unfair, specially if we
think that his second film after this one was The Last Emperor...
(here)
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)
Ugo Tognazzi ... Primo Spaggiari
Anouk
Aimée ... Barbara Spaggiari
Laura Morante ... Laura
Victor Cavallo ... Adelfo
Olimpia Carlisi ... Chiromant
Vittorio Caprioli ... Marshal
Renato Salvatori ... Colonel
Ricky Tognazzi ... Giovanni Spaggiari
Gianni Migliavacca
Margherita Chiari ... Maid
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