Avanti! (1972)

Pretty Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

OMG, WHO KNEW! Juliette Mills has a beautiful and FULL, rounded pair! I mean, you could tell on Nanny & The Professor but REALLY, until AVANIT, who knew. TOUCHE! Needless to say, after watching this film it must have been rated "R" for the time it premiered. An excellent film with a marvelous performance by Juliette Mills. Jack Lemmon was excellent in the part but I can easy see another actor in the role if need be, but NOT in Juliette Mills' role! Juliette's innocent and pure nature reflects the quality of the character needed though the character if far from naive of the ways of the world. Quite a turn-about from Nanny: Phoebe Phigalilly. Gorgeous scenery, clever wit and a story that is as fresh in it's approach to a classic situation as when it was written with NO comparison what so ever to so much of the forgettable junk-food movies of today overloaded with super-heroes and senseless violence! This film depicts the original 'super-heroes' of mankind at their best, a man and a women up against their human nature and sexual instincts with an inspiring back-drop location of the breath taking coast of Italy! Ah, I remember the isle of Capri! ... an avenue to a man and women's dreams and full of glorious emotions. A MUST SEE! 10!

This movie started off slow and never really picked up from there. It's not unfunny but I never really laughed. But it does kind of warmly welcome you into the lives of the main characters. The plot gently flows. Once you get over being bored or annoyed that it's clearly not nearly as hilarious as it's presumably aiming to be, you become quite attached. The people aren't perfect. But they're people. And it's nice to know you're not alone when it comes to simple things like frustration and getting unpleasant things done. Putting up with things you have no control over.The weird thing is, I feel like I'll fondly recall this movie. The feel of it. It's not the kind of movie I'd watch again anytime soon. Maybe what's so nice about it is that it doesn't try so darn hard to be any one thing in particular. Jack Lemmon will never forget that trip. It wasn't an amazing or incredibly original journey but there was something universal about it. Oddly haunting.The score reminds me of the kind the Italians (Rota and Morricone) used to do all the time. Very beautiful, memorable themes (often waltzes) repeated again and again. I don't know if I'd already heard the music for Avanti! (since it sounded familiar so rapidly) but now it doesn't matter I guess. You'll be humming along just about from the get go.So what's the movie actually about? The unattainable? The unpredictable nature of romance? It is kind of clever since you only see a few characters and yet we get a strong sense of the influence of others. What might have seemed to be a tedious task turns out to be an opportunity for something beautiful and unexpected. He's in another country and he's forgotten how to be free. How to enjoy the random situations he finds himself in. Much too stressed.Can't think of much else to say. The location, the story, everything stays with you. It doesn't hit you, it just eases into your mind over the longish running time. If you want entertainment or "great" film-making look elsewhere. If you want casual company for a few hours, Avanti! You'll remember it like an old friend. Flaws and all.

The arrogant and rude Vice-President of the Armbruster Industries Wendell Armbruster, Jr. (Jack Lemmon) travels to Ischia, in Italy, to bring the body of his father Wendell Armbruster, Sr., who died in a suddenly and tragic accident while driving on a road, back to Baltimore. During his trip, the British woman Pamela Piggott (Juliet Mills) tries to start a conversation with him, but the impolite executive does not give a chance to her. In Ischia, the manager of Hotel Excelsior Carlo Carlucci (Clive Revill) welcomes Wendell telling that it is a place that heals everything; he helps him with the Italian bureaucracy and to get a sealed zinc casket in Amalfi to release the corpse from the morgue. When Wendell meets Pamela in the hotel, he discovers that his father and her mother had been lovers for ten years and they had met each other every year from July 15th to August 15th. Wendell offers to help Pamela, who is needy and has weight problem, and they decide to follow the routine of his father and their mother, finding why the couple had had a so long love affair."Avanti!" is another delightful movie of the genius Billy Wilder. This witty, ironic and dramatic romantic comedy has another partnership with Jack Lemmon in the lead role of a rude and tough executive that is surprised with the secret relief valve of his father's life in the wonderful Italy. The sweet and charming Juliet Mills is perfect in the role of the complexed and needy Pamela. And Clive Revill is fantastic in the role of an experienced hotel manager that fixes everything in the Hotel Excelsior and his performance deserved a nomination to the Oscar. The plot is supported by magnificent landscapes and one of the most beautiful soundtracks of the cinema history. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Avanti … Amantes Á Italiana" ("Avanti ...Italian Lovers")

If you have ever been to Italy, you will love the jokes in this movie that comically describe Italian ways (bureaucracy, long lunch hour, dramatic love behavior), but also admire them (love to good food, music etc.) You will also love the beauty of the setting: gorgeous Italian places, the sea, fishing boats, lively streets and amusing characters. This movie depicts what a good life consists of and it does it in a comic way, so you feel great while watching this movie, even tough there is death, and mourning and trips to the morgue. All these can be beautiful and romantic including the dying itself ("if happened during a high season"). It is also stimulating to see how "perfectly toned body syndrome" was not present in 1972, and the main characters display without guilt their bodies which they love just the way they are.