Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Lilcount La Mortadella is a quirky and charming comedy from the great Mario Monicelli ("Big Deal on Madonna Street.") Sophia Loren is in fine form as a bride-to-be bringing a mortadella (pig salami) into the United States as a wedding present for her intended. Unfortunately, US Customs didn't allow foreign meats to be brought into the country for fear of disease. Sophia rails against the pettiness of the law, refuses to surrender the salami, and gets her 15 minutes of fame thanks to manic reporter William Devane. The business with the salami gets resolved about halfway through the movie, which then settles into a remake of the old Ginger Rogers vehicle "Tom, Dick and Harry." Sophia has to choose among her estranged fiancé, Devane, or an amorous customs inspector. Monicelli, a confirmed Socialist, pokes some good-natured fun at American capitalism and culture before resolving the romantic matrix in an unsurprising way. I can't say I was surprised by Sophie's choice, but I was mildly disappointed.Still, it's a lot of fun, if a bit slow paced for modern tastes, and there are good performances from the leads (although Devane is a bit over the top)and amusing cameos by future first stringers like Danny De Vito and Susan Sarandon. Even seeing it in a badly faded print couldn't ruin it. 8 out of 10. Recommended.

mark.waltz Sophia Loren isn't bad to look at in this comedy about an Italian girl coming to America to meet up with her fiance, and is stopped in customs for trying to get a mortadella (pig sausage) through. She is upset by her fiance's attitude towards what she considers a stupid law, and thus ends up sitting in customs while a reporter (William Devane of "Knot's Landing" fame) builds public interest. She tells her story to a sympathetic customs worker, and before you know it, she is a media darling.This is a bad comedy with good intentions; It is one of those 70's comedys that went against convention, but in a day when all sorts of danger can be transported overseas, the idea of customs officers even considering letting Loren through seems ridiculous. There are some interesting moments, particularly the tape recording of a song Loren sings with flashes of her Italian past flashing by. Future stars like Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito (as a congressman!), David Doyle (of "Charlie's Angels" fame), and Devane add some curiosity to this comedy curio, but that's about it. Loren would have been better off going an "I Love Lucy" route, and just eaten the damn thing! (Come to think of it, she did....)

jrcampos Mario Monicelli (b. 1916), the great comedy director who has been convulsing Italian audiences for over 5 decades, directs Sophia Loren on this caustic caricature on aspects of the American culture, like the "religious" enforcement of some funny laws such as the one - now revoked- that used to ban the import of Italian salami on the grounds that it could kill North Americans, the American government phobia for any bad press image, the workaholism of some people who needs lots of Scotch to fight off stress and than lots of "waking pills" to turn on again, as well as the dilemma and drama of a recently arrived Italian immigrant who tries to renegade his own cultural habits to become "a good American". Sophia Loren acts just great in this movie. As a word of caution, I would say that "comedies don't get exported" and only a few Americans who possess a very fine sense of humor might enjoy (or even grasp at all) some caustic critiques of their own culture. This might help explain why this movie has such an unusual voting distribution in the US, with several 10's and 0's, "love" or "hate" judgments...

minavagante It's hard to like this movie if you are familiar with Italian comedies from the 1950s e 1960s, and even harder if you already know the work of Mario Monicelli. Yes, this rates below average compared to the rest of his stuff, but if you're Italian you'll find it funny anyway because of the silly, but somehow true portrait it shows of Italy and Italians. The only other funny thing is seeing Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon and so on in their 1970s self. Apart from all this, this movie should only serve as a starting point for the rest of Mario Monicelli's works.