Big Deal on Madonna Street

1958 "The Story of a Perfect Crime ... Perfectly Hilarious!"
7.9| 1h46m| en| More Info
Released: 26 July 1958 Released
Producted By: Lux Film
Country: Italy
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
SimonJack "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.
sinful-2 I did really like the start of this movie. It was a bit fun in the start and moved fluently along. Problem for me is it took far too long time to get to what I was waiting for which means the big job. There was far too much personal life for the criminals that was not really interesting enough to carry along as long as it carried on. And then finally the job came up that for me was a disappointing experience.All in all I think the actors did a good job with what they had to work with but it seemed like the director tried making a deep drama instead of a light comedy as in the start. The characters were simply not interesting or deep enough for that and not enough was really happening.I felt the start of the movie was very well done.The middle section getting ready for the job took far too long. Half an hour could easily have been cut of here.Not enough time was spend on the job and here I had expected more time spent and more crazy situations and found it silly instead of funny what happened.The end was actually quite fine and all in all a fitting end but at this time I was actually bored and happy the movie was over.Only see this if you are into slow movies. There are much better and more fun caper movies out there both older and newer.
FilmCriticLalitRao As a genre, "Italian comedy films" present a different facet of Italian cinema. These films are about an imperfect Italian society where people would like to get involved in self mockery (auto derision) as it enables them to correct weaknesses related to their behavior. "Big deal on Madonna Street" is about a small group of small time criminals from different backgrounds who make various plans to crack the safe of a pawnshop. After the end of second war world, Italy was in an absolute mess. Its ordinary people suffered the most as they did not have any jobs. This compelled many people to make quick money by stealing whatever that was available to be stolen. Apart from Dino Risi, Mario Monicelli is hailed by critics and public as the undisputed master of Italian comedy films. However, he mixed a great deal of dramatic elements in "I Soliti Ignoti". Monicelli shows how difficult things seem to appear when one is in the planning stages of a crime as people are beset by personal problems. Apart from depicting the universal sociological truth that "crime never pays", Monicelli's film also questions why some people do not want to work ?
Robert Hirschfeld I suspect that it's hard to find this gem for rental purposes, which is a shame. A take-off on the classic French film noir, Rififi, it stands up wonderfully and deserves greater recognition. Monicelli is too little known as a director in the US, I think. Louis Malle attempted a remake of this some years back, to disastrous effect, and now there's a new attempt out, called "Welcome to Collinswood"; my hunch is that, while it might be better than the Malle version, it won't match the original. A group of bumbling small-time thieves plan and try to execute a heist, but nothing goes right. As the gang's leader, a punchy boxer with more attitude than ability, Vittorio Gassmann is wonderful, as is everyone else in the cast. Special notice should be given to the marvelous character comedian, Toto, and--in a small role, buried well down in the credits, the young Marcello Mastroianni. Also featured is another youngster, Claudia Cardinale. If you've seen Rififi, you'll find this comedy a particular joy. If you haven't, you'll like it, anyway. Why doesn't someone rerelease this?