Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)

the audience applauded

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Overrated and overhyped

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

"Big Deal on Madonna Street" is a very funny Italian caper comedy. It's no doubt more humorous to Italians and those who know the language well. The English subtitles may not be able to convey all of what is meant in the dialog. But the caper itself, the circumstances, and the antics of the gang are hilarious at times. The details, planning and preparation for the heist actually seem to be thorough. They couldn't foresee the vacant apartment suddenly being occupied. They got the floor plan before that and couldn't have anticipated interior changes. So, the comedy comes mostly just in their actions and the situations. When they drilled into the wall and hit a water pipe, then went through a false wall into the kitchen. These were riotously funny scenes. An enduring thread during the planning for the heist was that the gang members weren't totally dedicated to the task at hand. Nor was it a do or die heist for them. The sense of the plot was that this is just what they did to try to get ahead. If it worked, fine. If it didn't -- well, maybe next time. That is a definite aspect that is quite different from the more serious gang-centered capers of the U.S. and U.K. Yes, even of those comedies. In the early part of the film, we got a look at the Italian criminal justice system. One suspects there was more than one jab at it in this film. Most Americans are probably surprised to see how it works in Rome, as I was. It's hilarious just to think that someone who is caught in a crime and who has a record, could pay someone else without a record enough money for that person to take the rap and go to jail instead. The film treated that as an everyday thing in Rome. Of course, not all the police officials are to be taken in so easily.Perhaps there was a message that crime doesn't pay toward the end when Cosimo (Memmo Carotenuto) is run over by a truck and killed as he flees the police. Before that, it was hilarious to see that he had been reduced to snatching women's purses as he rode by on a bicycle and then sped off. Of course, his first attempt failed miserably. This is an entertaining and fun Italian comedy that ranks among the best of the caper comedies. It has a fine cast that includes some European stars who would not be unfamiliar to English audiences for very long. Most notable among them are Marcello Mostroianni and Claudia Cardinale.

This movie was a great parody of the various heist films made at the time. I have one question that I hope someone can help me with. I had seen this movie at the time of its release and loved it. About a year ago, I was thinking about it and got it to show to my wife. It was everything that I remembered, except for one thing. I have a distinct visual memory of one of the gang slipping down a coal chute to get into a building and coming out glistening and announcing " they converted to oil". But this scene wasn't in the movie. Am I crazy or was there more than one version? Could they have changed the film at some point during the intervening years? My memory of the scene is so exact I hate to think I've made this up and believed it all these years.

The caper or heist film is surely the second most universally popular subset of the crime genre after the murder mystery, and I wonder if it was ever more in vogue, and more interesting artistically, than in the years after the huge success of Grisbi and Rififi. The late 50s and early 60s saw Melville's Bob le Flambeur, Topkapi, the early Pink Panther movies, and this fine neo-realist/comic effort from Monicelli, a director I've not heretofore been familiar with.It's a rather odd film, with many shifts in tone and a rambling plot that really doesn't coalesce into anything approaching the crime story you might expect until about halfway through. A group of small-time crooks and ex-cons, among them Peppe (Vittorio Gassman), Dante (Toto), and Tiberio (Marcello Mastroianni) hit upon a plan to rob a pawnbroker's safe by going through the wall of a neighboring apartment while the tenants are away; but they are clearly so incompetent and half-hearted about the whole thing that we never really believe they're going to get anywhere with their plans. The real drama to the story lies in wondering just when and how they'll get caught and who will go to jail; the real miracle will be if they get away without losing anything, let alone winning through.It's a portrait of a still desperately poor Italy just a few years after the war....there are still old, war-torn, decrepit buildings everywhere and the new ones we see going up are as ugly as anything being built in Poland at the time....everybody seems to know someone in prison or be a parolee him/herself.....so the comedy has a sombre edge to it, despite the presence of the farcical Toto, and the young and garrulous Mastroianni. Look for a very young Claudia Cardinale in a small role as well. Beautifully shot in a low-rent way in B/W by Gianni di Venanzo.

Two weeks ago, I had never even heard of Big Deal on Madonna Street. Now I consider it one of the very best, most enjoyable films I've ever seen. I loved it! The movie is essentially a spoof of the many Italian (and I like to think other European) heist films so common in the 1950s. Director Mario Monicelli and the many credited screenwriters nail the essence (and absurdity) of the genre perfectly. I actually found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion - and that's quite the accomplishment. While watching Big Deal on Madonna Street, I kept picturing the film Rififi in my mind and replacing the hardened, serious criminals in that movie with this bunch of misfits. It's pure genius. Fans of European heist films owe it to themselves to check out this movie.Other than the comedy, the acting is the highlight of the movie. Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Memmo Carotenuto, Renato Salvatori and the rest seem to perform effortlessly. It's a joy to watch such a talented cast. My only complaint with Big Deal on Madonna Street (and the only reason I didn't rate it a 10/10) is the way Claudia Cardinale's character is used. More Cardinale is always a good thing.