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.
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.