Directed by:
Dino RisiCinematography:
Alfio ContiniComposer:
Armando TrovajoliCast:
Ugo Tognazzi, Ricky Tognazzi, Daniele Vargas, Sal Borgese, Michèle Mercier, Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Herlin, Lando Buzzanca, Marisa Merlini, Mario Brega (more)Plots(1)
Punctuated by a perfect pace and fierce and withering incisiveness, I mostri offers a panorama of Italianness in its variations of semi-criminal cunning, hypocrisy, cynicism, oiliness, opportunism, exploitation and systematic deception of others. The deadly sins of a humanity greedy for prosperity (these are the boom years) are described without indulgence or complacency, and with the perfect measure of a black and bitter humor. Ugo Tognazzi and Vittorio Gassman, at times victims and at times executioners, are extraordinary both in their histrionics shades and with the nuances they give their characters. Among the most memorable episodes are La nobile arte, with a clobbered boxer played by Gassman and the simian vulture-manager by Tognazzi, L'oppio dei popoli on the already devastating effects of television, La giornata dell'onorevole in which Tognazzi, a Christian Democrat minister, succeeds in neutralizing an old gentleman who had come to report a wrongdoing, using a strategy of never-ending and Kafkaesque antechambers. (Venice International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Ugo Tognazzi
Italy
Best movies:
Viva Italia! (1977)
Question d'honneur (1966)
All My Friends Part 2 (1982)
Ricky Tognazzi
Italy
Best movies:
The Family (1987)
The Monsters (1963)
The Good Pope John XXIII (2003) (TV movie)
Daniele Vargas
Italy
Best movies:
The Monsters (1963)
Le Coucou (1980)
A Difficult Life (1961)
Sal Borgese
Italy
Best movies:
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Man of the East (1972)
Delusions of Grandeur (1971)
Michèle Mercier
France
Best movies:
Goodbye Again (1961)
The Monsters (1963)
The Annuity (1972)
Vittorio Gassman
Italy
Best movies:
Sleepers (1996)
Viva Italia! (1977)
Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
Jacques Herlin
France
Best movies:
Welcome (2009)
The Monsters (1963)
Le Marquis s'amuse (1981)
Lando Buzzanca
Italy
Best movies:
Ben-Hur (1959)
Divorce Italian Style (1961)
Seduced and Abandoned (1964)
Marisa Merlini
Italy
Best movies:
Like Father, Like Son (1957)
Nini Tirebouchon (1970)
The Monsters (1963)
Mario Brega
Italy
Best movies:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Rika Dialina
Greece
Best movies:
The Monsters (1963)
Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Les Trois visages de la peur (1963)
Marino Masé
Italy
Best movies:
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Fists in the Pocket (1965)
The Monsters (1963)
Mario Laurentino
Best movies:
The Monsters (1963)
Elisa Mainardi
Italy
Best movies:
Nini Tirebouchon (1970)
The Monsters (1963)
Le Marquis s'amuse (1981)
Jean Rougeul
France
Best movies:
Two Men in Town (1973)
The Mattei Affair (1972)
The Monsters (1963)
Mario Cecchi Gori
Italy
Best movies:
The Monsters (1963)
Stay as You Are (1978)
Mario Frera
Italy
Best movies:
Two Women (1960)
The Monsters (1963)
The Professor (1986)
Lucia Modugno
Italy
Best movies:
Il Generale Della Rovere (1959)
The Monsters (1963)
Barabbas (1961)
Antonio La Raina
Best movies:
The Monsters (1963)
Emergency Squad (1974)
To Kill a Jackal (1971)
Veriano Ginesi
Italy
Best movies:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Amarcord (1973)