You don't catch men with pistols

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title You don't catch men with pistols
Original title La ragazza con la pistola
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1968
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Mario Monicelli
script Rodolfo Sonego
Luigi Magni
production Gianni Hecht Lucari
music Peppino di Luca
camera Carlo Di Palma
cut Ruggero Mastroianni
occupation

The Italian film comedy You don't catch men with pistols (original title: La ragazza con la pistola ) was made in 1968 under the direction of Mario Monicelli . The script was written by Rodolfo Sonego and Luigi Magni . Satirically, they drive southern Italian values ​​of chastity, family honor and revenge, as they were still observed by the population there at that time, to extremes. An unmarried woman who stayed in a man's house without being accompanied by her family was considered “dishonored”. However, if this man married her, honor was restored. Many men took advantage of these mechanisms by kidnapping a young woman who or whose family did not want to hear from him, so that the only thing left to save her honor was to consent to a marriage - unless a member of her family gave her honor by killing this man. This Commedia all'italiana turns the usual image of women as victims into its opposite, in that it is the protagonist who defends these values ​​with determination and violence. She is played by Monica Vitti , who increased her change from a drama to a comedy actress with the role and who has received multiple awards for this.

action

In a small Sicilian coastal town, the young men dance among themselves on a terrace, and some young women dance behind half-closed windows of an apartment. After staring into this window for a long time, Vincenzo orders two crooks to kidnap his covet. When three of the women are walking through the streets, the crooks drag Assunta into the car and take her to a remote building where Vincenzo is waiting. Assunta confesses to him that she has been passionately in love with him for a long time, but her abduction turns out to be a mistake because he actually wanted her cousin. He comes to the conclusion that Assunta, on closer inspection, is not bad either. They go to bed together. But Vincenzo is suspicious, because Assunta is too good a kisser, and disappears. In the absence of male family members who could atone for the shame, Assunta takes a pistol, passport and money into her own hands and sets off for Great Britain, where the villain is said to have gone.

In fact, Vincenzo is busy in the kitchen in the "Capri Restaurant", which sells kitsch Italian folklore in Glasgow, Scotland . Forewarned shortly before they appear, he escapes. To bridge the gap, she takes a job as a maid for a Scottish couple. She is amazed at their liberal morals as well as men in kilts and long-haired hippies . Vincenzo calls her from Sheffield and tells her to leave him alone because he would never marry a "whore" like her. She promptly drives to Sheffield and makes the acquaintance of the Englishman John. He's a car speeder and accompanies her on the search for Vincenzo, who in turn just slips away. In his society she repeatedly stands out because she misunderstands the local manners between men and women. When she rummages in a hospital where she suspects Vincenzo, she sees an operation and faints. In order to earn something, she donates blood for the admitted student Frank, who cut his wrists. The mother’s boy, he another speedster, is now accompanying them on their search. Surprisingly, two Italian immigrants turn up at her house, deliver the news that Vincenzo was killed in an accident, and show her his grave. She is in despair because she can no longer save her honor. Frank proposes to her. She urges the surgeon Osborne, who treated Frank to be best man, but he points out the reason why Frank wanted to kill himself: a man who turned him away. Instead, Osborne advises Assunta to emancipate herself and helps her to settle in England. She takes English courses and works at Osborne's hospital. One day she meets Vincenzo with another woman. In a park, she blindly fires shots at him without hitting him. Having lost hope of a change in her mentality, Osborne puts her on a plane to return to Italy. Instead, she gets stuck on a stop in London and becomes a commercial photo model. There she runs into Osborne, who has just been divorced, and tries to take care of her. But Assunta cannot really warm up to the modern way of life. Vincenzo, who has since become a shoe retailer, reports to her. He declares that he wants a woman who is his and that because of that one night he has a right to her. She swears, grinning slightly, to give up her freedom for him. After the night of love, Vincenzo wakes up alone in bed. Assunta has boarded the ferry that takes her to Osborne. Vincenzo stays behind on the quay and curses her a "whore".

To the work

You don't catch men with pistols appears like an echo of the satire Seduction in Italian (1964), only this time the woman in question succeeds in overcoming the restrictions that Sicilian culture imposed on women. The protagonist Assunta experiences a slow discovery of a world other than her own and a different lifestyle. The main actress also experienced a transformation. Monica Vitti had become known through the sophisticated art of film, the works of Michelangelo Antonioni , where she was confronted as a representative of an upper class of society with people's inability to communicate in the modern world. With this comedy she made the leap into the comic field. She became one of the most important actresses of the Commedia all'italiana, which was otherwise mostly male dominated.

Monicelli's film received some public attention. Among the domestic productions, the comedy took eighth place in 1968 based on the number of visitors. Vitti received both the Nastro d'Argento and the David di Donatello for best leading actress; there was also a "David" for the best production. The comedy was also nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film .

The Italian film magazine Cinema nuovo found the Sicily pictures by cameraman Carlo Di Palma impressive. Vitti plays her roles, the vengeful dishonored as well as the urbane lady, well. However, if you find strange situations in the first part, a strong break-in ensues in the second, and the film "Americanizes" into an indefinite sentimental piece. That is why it is also suitable for a global audience. The catholic film service said that the collision of different cultures creates strange situations, whereby the coincidence "strongly supports" the course of the plot. Aiming at pure, carefree entertainment, Monicelli made little effort with this film and told hastily. The film magazine Positif also gave a mixed assessment . The film rests on the shoulders of Monica Vittis, who creates some moving moments and lets forget the improbabilities in the script, the weakness of satire and Stanley Baker's performance.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Midding: Anything but pink. A rehabilitation of the “Commedia all'italiana” . In: Filmbulletin , No. 4/2010, p. 24
  2. ↑ a b Positif March 1970, p. 62, drawn by "BC"
  3. ^ Jean A. Gili: La comédie italienne . Henri Veyrier, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-85199-309-7 , p. 136.
  4. ↑ Carlo Celli, Marga Cottino-Jones: A new guide to Italian cinema . Palgrave, New York 2007, ISBN 978-1-4039-7560-7 , p. 177
  5. ↑ Cinema nuovo No. 196, December 1968, cit. in: Roberto Poppi, Mario Pecorari: Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Volume III M / Z. Tutti i film italiani dal 1960 al 1969. Gremese Editore, Rome 2007, ISBN 978-88-8440-503-6 , p. 167.
  6. ↑ film-dienst No. 12/1969, drawn by "PH"