Boccaccio '70 (1962)

Directors:

Vittorio De Sica
Federico Fellini

Writers:

Giovanni Arpino (segment)
Italo Calvino (segment)

Release Date:

26 June 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

Four directors tell tales of Eros fit for a 1970s Decameron. Working-class lovers, Renzo and Luciana...

Plot Keywords:

Surreal | Giant | Episodic | Italian Comedy | Extramarital Affair

Cast

Marisa Solinas	...	Luciana (segment "Renzo e Luciana")
Germano Gilioli	...	Renzo (segment "Renzo e Luciana")
Anita Ekberg	...	Anita (segment "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio")
Peppino De Filippo	...	Dr. Antonio (segment "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio")
Romy Schneider	...	Pupe (segment "Il lavoro")
Tomas Milian	...	Conte Ottavio (segment "Il lavoro") (as Thomas Milian)
Romolo Valli	...	(segment "Il lavoro")
Sophia Loren	...	Zoe (segment "La riffa")
Luigi Giuliani	...	Gaetano (segment "La riffa")
Alfio Vita	...	Cuspet (segment "La riffa")

Also Known As:

Boccaccio '70 (USA)
Boccace 70 (France)

Runtime:

France:150 min (3 episodes) (cut) | 208 min (4 episodes) | Germany:125 min (3 episodes) (cut) | Netherlands:158 min (3 episodes) | USA:150 min (3 episodes) (cut) | Argentina:205 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor/Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hungary:18 | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | UK:X | USA:Unrated | Germany:6 (re-rating) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

E.U.R., Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cineriz

Trivia:

When Mario Monicelli's segment, "Renzo e Luciana", was cut, producer Carlo Ponti offered to finance the Monicelli film as a full-length feature on its own. This was never realized. This segment was apparently cut because Monicelli promised to deliver a "major American star" but failed in this endeavor, thus his film became cast with mostly unknowns. When the film premiered at Cannes, it was jeered by critics and filmmakers after they became informed of the news about Monicelli's unjustly removed segment.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Costumes from the Films of Visconti (1978)

Soundtrack:

La ballata del Cerruti

Luchino Visconti dresses Romy Schnaider plus other stories.

The one thing I remembered about "Bocaccio70" was Romy Schnaider getting dressed in front of a mirror, in front of us. The film in his 4 segments has much more, but nothing better than Romy Schnaider in the Visconti segment. She is exquisite of course but in Visconti's hands she is superlative. Visconti, like George Cukor, knew how to guide actresses to their best. In the Monicelli episode Renzo and Lucia search for their privacy and Monicelli, a remarkable director, today 92 and still at work, manages to give the most straight forward, no frills segment. Fellini goes overboard with a 50 feet tall Anita Eckberg and a rather clumsy indictment at middle class morality. The De Sica episode has Sophia Loren, virgin and whore. When Sophia Loren was in De Sica's hands she was at her best. Her sympathy here takes over the episode and it becomes a joyful tale of nonsensical innocence. But, just as I remembered Romy Schnaider and Visconti are responsible for making this lightweight oddity really worth while.