Leo BenvenutiFilmography

Ogni Lasciato E Perso

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Piero Chiambretti, Antonio Catania

Synopsis: Piero C. (Piero Chiambretti) has an unusual knack for meeting beautiful women -- which, in this comedy, turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing. As we first meet Piero, he's just been given his walking papers by his beautiful girlfriend (Vanessa Asbert), and a close friend (Gretha Read More

Teste Di Coco

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Alessandro Gassman, Gian Marco Tognazzi, Manuela Arcuri, Marco Messeri, Philippe Leroy

Die letzte Station

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sergio Rubini, Marion Kracht, Dorel Visan

Synopsis: Italian comedy star Sergio Rubini is top-billed in this story about a country bumpkin making his way in the big city, Central European style. Nelu is a intellectually challenged man from a small village in Romania. He heads to the big city of Bucharest to seek his fortune when his grandfather Read More

Gallo Cedrone

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Regina Orioli, Paolo Triestino, Ines Nobili, Enrica Rosso

Synopsis: Carlo Verdone directed this Italian comedy in which the refers to a capercaillie, a European grouse distinctive for its chest-puffing vanity. The story opens in an Arab country where Islamic fundamentalists condemn Armando Feroci (Verdone) to death, followed by a flashback to 17 years earlier when Read More

Finalmente Soli

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Saying that she needs to "discover herself," Irene has just left her boyfriend, Andrea. Because she was the wealthy one with an apartment, he is now in need of a place to stay. In this comedy, when he goes to see his buddies for sympathy, he finds that they are in even worse straits. Sandro's wife Read More

Metalmeccanico e Parrucchiera in un Turbine di Sesso e Politica

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This Italian political satire from filmmaker Lina Wertmuller will be most enjoyable for those well-grounded in Italian politics. Covering the late March through April general elections of 1994 in which right-wing conservatives routed the incumbent leftists. This is particularly upsetting for Read More

Space Jam

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Theresa Randle, Muggsy Bogues, Billy West, Bill Murray, D. Bradley Baker

Synopsis: Warner Bros. attempted to revitalize its animation division with this family adventure that blended live action and animation in the style of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), reportedly coming in with a price tag of $100 million. Basketball legend Michael Jordan stars as himself, a retired sports Read More

Facciamo Paradiso

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Based on a short story from Giuseppe Pontiggia's popular Italian book Vite di uomini non illustri (Lives of Non-Illustrious Men), this comedy chronicles the many lively phases in the life of Claudia Bertelli, who lived between 1949 and 2011. Born to former radicals turned conservative Read More

Viaggi di nozze

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Italian filmmaker Carlo Verdone both directed and starred in this lightweight comedy comprised of three segments, each dealing with the experiences of three grooms embarking upon disastrous honeymoons. In the first a very proper, fastidious and socially conscious doctor marries a nervous wreck of Read More

I Mitici

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Claudio Amendola, Monica Bellucci, Ricky Memphis, Tony Sperandeo, Ugo Conti

Synopsis: This Italian heist-comedy movie is a revision of Mario Monicelli's 1958 film Big Deal on Madonna Street. This version is set in modern Milan. TV technicians Fabio and Enzo have been unable to find decent jobs. They decide to crack a safe at a Tony Milan jewelry store instead. To help them they Read More

Cari Fottutissimi Amici

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Massimo Ceccherini, Marco Graziani, Giuseppe Oppedisano

Synopsis: This Italian comedy, set in WW II, follows the road trip of a troupe of traveling boxers upon the roads of Tuscany. The story begins in August 1944 after Italy has been freed by the Allies. Dieci is a boxer living in Florence. He got his name (which means "Ten") because of his proclivity for being Read More

The Santa Clause

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz

Synopsis: Television sitcom star Tim Allen made his big screen debut with this light, family-friendly holiday comedy. Allen stars as Scott Calvin, the divorced dad of Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Scott is distressed to learn that his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) and Charlie's psychiatrist stepfather Neal (Judge Reinhold Read More

Fantozzi in Paradiso

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Milena Vukotic, Gigi Reder

Synopsis: Ugo Fantozzi (Paolo Villagio) is a retired accountant who is stunningly ugly, and his ability to suffer having even the most innocent situations turn into unqualified disasters has made his name an Italian byword for a really luckless sad-sack. This is the seventh of the popular comedies depicting Read More

Ciao, Professore!

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Ciro Esposito, Isa Danieli, Gigio Morra, Sergio Solli, Esterina Carloni

Synopsis: Lina Wertmuller's Ciao Professore was released in Italy as Il Speriamo che me la Cavo. Paolo Villago plays an urbane, supercillious schoolteacher who hopes to be assigned to an upper-crust district. Instead, a bureaucratic snafu ships Villago to the impoverished town of Corzano. Of the fifteen Read More

Ricky E Barabba

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Ricky (Renato Pozzetto) has been a prosperous businessman, but lately things haven't been going so well, and he isn't sure why. Whatever the reason, he attempts suicide and is saved by Barabbas (Christian De Sica), a very peculiar man with the hereditary vocation of being a hobo (he's the seventh Read More

Al Lupo Al Lupo

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Francesca Neri, Sergio Rubini, Barry Morse

Synopsis: Their father (Barry Morse) is a wealthy, world-renowned painter, and he brought the three siblings (two sons and a daughter) up in lavish style. The three children have had a falling out over the years, as much due to their differing lifestyles as anything else. Gregorio (Carlo Verdone) is a radio Read More

Stasera A Casa Di Alice

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Ornella Muti, Sergio Castellitto, Yvonne Scio, Beatrice Palme

Synopsis: In this comedy, Saverio (Carlo Verdone) and his brother-in-law Filippo (Sergio Castellitto) both work at a travel agency which is wholly owned by their wives. In effect, they are their wive's employees. In the course of doing his job, Saverio discovers that his brother-in-law is setting up a woman Read More

Volevo i pantaloni

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Giulia Fossa, Lucia Bosé, Ángela Molina, Natasha Hovey, Pino Colizzi

Il Bambino e il poliziotto

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Federico Rizzo, Barbara Cupisti

Synopsis: When policeman Carlo Vinciguerra (Carlo Verdone) arrests everyone attending a party in order to break up a drug ring, he is left with one partygoer he can't arrest: Giulio (Federico Rizzo), the six-year old son of the (relatively blameless) hostess. While his mother is in the slammer, the courts Read More

Sandino

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, Ángela Molina, Victoria Abril

Synopsis: Guerilla wars against the major powers have been a factor in Central American politics for a long time. This biographical drama is based on the life of Nicaragua's prototypical 20th century guerilla, Augusto C. Sandino (born as Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino). His name and life were the Read More

Lo Zio Indegno

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vittorio Gassman, Giancarlo Giannini, Andréa Ferréol, Beatrice Palme

Synopsis: This wickedly funny Italian comedy centers upon a lascivious, fun-loving old uncle who hands out blood-test certificates to potential lovers to prove that he is "clean" and wreaks all sorts of havoc when he must temporarily stay with his wealthy but emotionally constipated nephew. At first the Read More

Fantozzi Va in Pensione

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Milena Vukotic, Gigi Reder

Synopsis: For well over twenty years at the time of this film's release in 1988, the adventures of the hapless innocent Ugo Fantozzi (Paolo Villagio) have amused Italian audiences. In this latest installment of the Fantozzi series, he's about to retire from his job working in the hellish basement of a Read More

Il Volpone

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Enrico Montesano, Renzo Montagnani, Enrico Maria Salerno, Alessandro Haber

Synopsis: Millionaire Volpone (Paolo Villaggio) recruits his new butler Mosca (Enrico Montesano) to fool three heirs to the family fortune in this engaging comedy. Gathering around the deathbed, the potential heirs compete for favors of Volpone. One man offers the keys to his Maserati, a married friend Read More

Io E Mia Sorella

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Ornella Muti, Elena Sofia Ricci

Synopsis: Carlo (Carlo Verdone) is a responsible sibling who deals with his black-sheep sister Silvia (Ornella Muti) in this situation comedy. When Silvia returns after many years to attend her mother's funeral, Carlo deals with the fallout caused by her many love affairs. Carlo is convinced to kidnap Read More

Noi Uomini Duri

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Renato Pozzetto, Enrico Montesano, Isabel Russinova, Antonella Vitale, Alessandra Mussolini

Synopsis: Two men becomes friends when they are among a dozen people attending a two-week survival camp in this amusing comedy. The group gathers in the Amazon rainforest, and Silvio (Renato Pozzetto) and Mario (Enrico Montesano) are the odd couple who are paired together to survive. Silvio is a banker Read More

I Picari

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Enrico Montesano, Giancarlo Giannini, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Giuliana de Sio

Synopsis: In one popular Spanish-English dictionary, "picaro" is defined as "roguish; scheming, tricky; low, vile; mischievous," and when used as a noun it refers to a rogue, a schemer. Yet the word also harkens to the kinds of novels (picaresque) that came out of Spain in the 17th century, including Don Read More

Superfantozzi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Luc Merenda

Synopsis: The Fantozzi character was created by Paolo Villaggio, based on stories he had written, and first appeared onscreen in 1975. Between then and 1987, six films featuring this hapless and much put-upon sad-sack man were made, and their great popularity was such that they continued to be made for Read More

Il Tenente Dei Carabinieri

Crew: Screenwriter

Speriamo Che Sia Femmina

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Liv Ullmann, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, Bernard Blier, Giuliana de Sio

Synopsis: Originally titled Speriamo che sia Femmina, Let's Hope It's a Girl is a multifaceted exploration of the pointlessness of sexual stereotypes. Liv Ullmann is a countess who, after her divorce, takes over the family farm. Realizing that she can't rely on the patriarchal society structure for Read More

Sette Chili in Sette Giorni

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this comedy, the ever-resourceful Alfio (Carlo Verdone) and his pal Silvano (Renato Pozzetto) are medical school graduates who have been unable to find work. The two of them convince Alfio's wealthy wife that she could make a bundle by opening up a "fat farm," or weight-loss clinic, and that Read More

Amici Miei Atto 3

Crew: Screenwriter

I Due Carabinieri

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Enrico Montesano, Massimo Boldi, Paola Onofri

Synopsis: Carrying a patchwork storyline on the strength of their top characterizations, popular Italian comics Carlo Verdone (also the director) and Enrico Montesano portray Marino and Glauco, respectively, two disparate men who find themselves reluctantly forced into joining the carabinieri, Italy's Read More

Once Upon a Time in America

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld

Synopsis: Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their Read More

Fantozzi Subisce Ancora

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Milena Vukotic, Alessandro Haber, Gigi Reder

Synopsis: This is the fourth "Fantossi" comedy by director Neri Parenti and stars Paolo Villaggio again as the out-of-luck office clerk who is the butt of all jokes, the recipient of consistently bad fortune, and the father of an exceptionally ugly daughter. When Fantossi's daughter gets pregnant, he goes Read More

Amici Miei, Atto 2

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi, Adolfo Celi, Gastone Moschin, Renzo Montagnani

Synopsis: In a series of vignettes that serve as a sequel to Amici Miei, director Mario Monicelli brings back several of his stars from the earlier movie to continue their antics in Florence, home of the friends of the title. All five are (or in some cases, were) close companions and have a penchant for Read More

Fracchia la Belva Umana

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Lino Banfi

Synopsis: Fracchia (Paolo Villaggio) is a timid office worker whose life is turned upside-down when a maniacal killer is photographed and looks exactly like him -- unfortunately, the police do not usually hang around long enough to tell the difference between the pallid Fracchia and his double, the psycho Read More

Bianco, Rosso E Verdone

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Elena Fabrizi, Milena Vukotic

Synopsis: The stage comedian Carlo Verdone directed and stars as the three main characters -- Furio, Mimmo, and Pasquale -- in this classic Italian comedy. All three men are driving back to their hometowns to vote on election day, and each has a different story and a different though easily recognizable Read More

Fantozzi Contro Tutti

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Milena Vukotic

La Locandiera

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Claudia Mori, Adriano Celentano, Paolo Villaggio, Gianni Cavina

Lovers and Liars

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Goldie Hawn, Giancarlo Giannini, Claudine Auger, Aurore Clément, Renzo Montagnani, Laura Betti, Andréa Ferréol

Synopsis: A presumptuous American actress falls for a handsome Italian banker before embarking on the misadventure of a lifetime in this comedy of errors starring Goldie Hawn and Giancarlo Giannini. Anita (Hawn) is an American actress vacationing in Rome. When the free-spirited screen star sets her sights Read More

Un Sacco Bello

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Carlo Verdone, Veronica Miriel, Mario Brega, Renato Scarpa

Synopsis: The format of this tripartite comedy by Carlo Verdone and also starring the Italian comic in all three leads worked so well that he did it again in 1981 with Bianco, Rosso, E Verdone. Like the second film, these three stories also take place on one day, August 15th, when Romans leave town en Read More

La Stanza Del Vescovo

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ugo Tognazzi, Ornella Muti, Patrick Dewaere

Synopsis: In this drama, Temistocle Orimbelli (Ugo Tognazzi) is a middle-aged man with a profound appreciation for womankind -- an appreciation that does not extend to Cleofe (Garbiella Giacobbe) his dried up old shrew of a wife. He is much taken with the charms of his sister-in-law Matilde (Ornella Muti) Read More

Quelle Strane Occasioni

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Nino Manfredi

Synopsis: Three films are gathered here under one title, and the general theme of sexual encounters unites them. In "Superman and Lady Godiva," a man working as a bouncer at an Amsterdam sex show is forced to bring his jealous wife to his workplace. She is hired as a performer and becomes a "star," much to Read More

Signore e Signori Buonanotte

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this episodic anthology, written and directed by assorted Italian filmmakers, the political and social aspects of Italian life are chronicled. In one satirical episode, The Bomb, a bogus bomb threat at a police headquarters gradually balloons into a real terrorist plot culminating with the Read More

Amici Miei

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ugo Tognazzi, Philippe Noiret, Gastone Moschin, Adolfo Celi, Duilio del Prete

Synopsis: The famed Italian film director Pietro Germi (his sharply observant and satirical films include The Immoralist, and Divorce Italian Style) began work on this comedy, but died before he could do more than write the screenplay. However, he lived long enough to choose Mario Monicelli as his Read More

Fantozzi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Paolo Villaggio

Synopsis: In a series of different stories, Fantozzi (Paolo Villaggio) is a stoical low-level office worker. He is beset by a world of difficulties which, despite his best efforts, he never overcomes. Villagio enacts these episodes, based on stories from his own book, in a manner which many compared to Buster Keaton Read More

Finche c'è Guerra c'è Speranza

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Alberto Sordi, Silvia Monti

Synopsis: This dark comedy about a frantic arms merchant was a daring film for comedian Alberto Sordi to have made. Not only does he star in it, he also wrote much of the screenplay and directed the film. Shuttling between African nations and Milan, he peddles arms to despots and the revolutionaries who Read More

Claretta and Ben

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ugo Tognazzi, Bernadette Lafont, Franco Fabrizi, Gigi Ballista

Synopsis: In this black comedy, a struggling actor-playwright goes on tour with a play he wrote for himself and his lover. It is about the life and love between Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petracci, his mistress. When his show travels to Italy it meets with a very negative response from the local Read More

Sistemo L'America E Torno

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sterling St. Jacques

Synopsis: Giovanni Bonfiglio (Paolo Villaggio) is a sports agent from Italy, and he has signed black basketball ace Ben Ferguson (Sterling St. Jacques) to his team for a lot of money. He receives an education in American racism because Ferguson, a Black Panther, must tie up a few loose ends before he heads Read More

Lo Chiameremo Andrea

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mariangela Melato, Nino Manfredi

Synopsis: Lo Chiameremo Andrea is an Italian comedy by famed director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of Paolo (Nino Manfredi) and Maria (Mariangela Melato) two elementary schoolteachers whose "biological clock" is ticking. They have been married for some time, and desperately want a child of their Read More

Alfredo, Alfredo

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Stefania Sandrelli, Carla Gravina

Synopsis: This mildly amusing satire of Italian marital customs concerns a meek bank teller (Dustin Hoffman) who has an affair with pretty Carla Gravina, then learns that he is unable to get a divorce from his tiresome wife (Stefania Sandrelli). Hoffman learned his lines in Italian before making Alfredo Read More

Per Grazia Ricevuta

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Per Grazia Ricevuta (released in the US by The Cross-Eyed Priest) is a semi-autobiographical work from Italian actor/writer/director Nino Manfredi. The central character, played by Manfredi, is a young man whose obsessive lifelong devotion to Saint Eusebie has caused him to forego romance and a Read More

La Betia

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Rosanna Schiaffino, Nino Manfredi

Synopsis: This ribald comedy is based on a classic 16th-century play, La Betia, by the playwright Ruzante. The story is simple enough: Zilio (Nino Manfredi), a peasant handyman, agrees to help his friend (Smoki Samardi) marry the woman of his dreams (Rosanna Schiaffino). His stipulation is that when they Read More

Le Castagne Sone Buone

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Stefania Casini, Gianni Morandi

Synopsis: What started out as a one-night stand grows more complicated as television news-reporter Luigi (Gianni Morandi) encounters the traditional values not only of his girlfriend (Stefania Casini), but of the tiny provincial fishing village in which she lives. Through a series of events, he comes to Read More

Contestazione Generale

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Alberto Sordi, Michel Simon, Marina Vlady

Synopsis: This three-part social satire lampoons the church, television, big business and universities plagued by campus unrest. Riccardo (Vittorio Gassman) is a rebel who causes confusion on campus and at a television station. Part two finds industrial magnate Cavazza (Michel Simon) hounding his Read More

Serafino

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Adriano Celentano, Ottavia Piccolo, Francesca Coluzzi, Benjamin Lev, Saro Urzi

Synopsis: Serafino (Adriano Celentano) is an illiterate shepherd who lives in the bucolic splendor of the Abruzis mountains. He takes frequent and amorous forays into the village below where he experiences all the pleasures his solitude cannot offer. He is quickly drafted into the military but is dismissed Read More

Italian Secret Service

Crew: Dialogue Writer, Screen Story, Screenwriter

Actors: Nino Manfredi, Françoise Prevost, Clive Revill, Jean Sobieski, Giampiero Albertini

Synopsis: In this satire, former Italian Resistance hero Natalino (Nino Manfredi) finds himself a total failure as a civilian. He becomes a mercenary when U.S. agents hire him to assassinate a neo-Nazi spy attempting to sneak his soft-drink formula to the communists. The Americans are to pay him $100,000 Read More

Questi Fantasmi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sophia Loren, Vittorio Gassman, Mario Adorf, Margaret Lee, Aldo Giuffré

Synopsis: A couple with marital problems hopes to find new spirit living in a haunted house in this arcical comedy. Pasquale (Vittorio Gassman) and Maria (Sophia Loren) are a couple who are married, but not at all happily; he's a chronically unemployed musician, she can't stand her husband, and they've both Read More

Marriage Italian Style

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Puglisi, Marilù Tolo, Pia Lindström

Synopsis: In flashback, Marcello Mastroianni recalls his wartime romance with Sophia Loren. He is so enamored with her that he finances her escape from the bordello where she lives and sets her up with a good job in the restaurant that he owns, and later finds a place for her on his mother's domestic staff. Read More

Venere Imperiale

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gina Lollobrigida, Stephen Boyd, Raymond Pellegrin, Micheline Presle

Synopsis: This French/Italian historical spectacle was released in the US as Imperial Venus. Gina Lollobridgida, in her considerable prime, stars as Paolina Bonaparte, Napoleon's wanton, sensuous sister. We see Paolina through many affairs and her unhappy marriage of state. Her hot Corsican dalliance with Read More

Dal Sabato Al Lunedi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Geronimo Meynier, Marianne Hold

Synopsis: This tale of fleeting romance is a commendable first-feature effort by documentarian Guido Guerrasio, and it has to do with two young men out on an adventure during one week-end. Enrico (Geronimo Meynier) and Sandrino (Sandro Panseri) decide to escape the noise of Milan to head north to the lake Read More

Girl with a Suitcase

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Claudia Cardinale, Jacques Perrin, Corrado Pani, Luciana Angelillo, Romolo Valli

Synopsis: The title character, played by Claudia Cardinale, is a young woman who heads out alone to the big city after being dumped by her lover. She is befriended and protected by her ex-suitor's younger brother Jacques Perrin, who eventually becomes her new romance, despite the difference in ages (Perrin Read More

Calypso

Crew: Director

Actors: Cary Grant

Synopsis: The culture of a Caribbean island drenched in sun and rhythmic music, and the calypso sounds themselves are the main focus of this thinly plotted drama about a racially mixed family. Popular activities like cockfights and festival occasions interrupt the story of Resy (Sally Neal), the attractive Read More

Amici per la Pelle

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Geronimo Meynier, Luigi Tosi, Vera Carmi, Carlo Tamberlani

Synopsis: Amiel per la Pelle (Friends for Life) is largely told from a child's-eye point of view. The heroes of the piece are Mario (Geronimo Meynier) and Franco (Andrea Seire), young classmates and inseparable buddies. After several "Our Gang"-style adventures, the boys' friendship is threatened when Mario Read More

Casa Ricordi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Miriam Bru, Elisa Cegani, Andrea Checchi

Synopsis: Told in pageantlike fashion, Casa Ricordi is the story of the Ricordi family, the most prestigious music publishers in all Italy. It was the Ricordis who, for better or worse, came up with the "royalty" concept, paying artists (and their families) for their work in perpetuity. As the family's Read More

Bertoldo, Bertoldino E...Cacasenno

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ugo Tognazzi, Maurizio Nichetti, Lello Arena, Alberto Sordi, Annabella Schiavone

Synopsis: This enjoyable parody of classic fairytales about kingdoms and despotic kings is set in the year 1000 and stars Italy's Ugo Tognazzi in top form as Bertoldo, a crafty peasant who has to outwit the king (not necessarily a difficult job) and others in order to stay afloat and alive. Joining him for Read More

Puccini

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Gabriele Ferzetti, Märta Torén, Nadia Gray, Paolo Stoppa

Synopsis: The life of composer Giacomo Puccini is dramatized in this attractively produced biopic. Gabriele Ferzetti plays the title character, from his student days to his still-active 80s. The script is structured in classic "persevering over the odds" fashion, with Puccini recovering from the poor Read More