IMDb user comments for
Sorpasso, Il (1962)

12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Quintessential road-movie is simply miraculous: it's hilarious, moving and seriously thought-provoking, 24 February 2006

Author: debblyst from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Bruno (Gassman), pushing forty, is a no-good con artist, loud, hyperactive, exhibitionist, self-centered, narcissistic, outrageous and...irresistible. He leads the "easy life", his talent to cause trouble is only surpassed by his talent to disentangle himself from trouble — not always unscathed. One mid-summer holiday (the "Ferragosto"), he meets by chance Roberto (Trintignant), a young law student in his early 20s, terribly shy, slightly bored, docile, self-effacing and inexperienced. Bruno practically drags Roberto to his convertible Lancia Aurelia and together they hit the road from Rome to Lazio and Tuscany, an initiation trip for Roberto — and when it's over, you know this movie will remain in your heart and mind forever.

"Il Sorpasso" is THE definitive road movie, and quite simply miraculous: how can a film be so funny AND emotional, light AND thought-provoking, classic AND modern? Well, let me list down some of the reasons:

-- The fabulous script, starting with three-dimensional, flesh+blood characters Bruno and Roberto. Dino Risi (who holds a degree in Psychiatry, as his exploration of ambiguity in his characters shows) and experienced writing duo Ettore Scola and Ruggero Maccari (this was their +-18th joint script!!) create two of the most recognizably human characters in movies, their various layers coming off before our eyes. The film excels in hilarious confrontational situations (the restroom, Roberto's relatives house, the night-club dance, the Ping-Pong dispute); finely drawn supporting characters (including drool-inducing 17y.o. Catherine Spaak as Bruno's sensible, lovely daughter; and Luciana Angiolilo as Bruno's no- nonsense, sensuously mature ex-wife); endlessly quotable dialogs (including the side-splitting remarks on Antonioni's "L'Eclisse" and the very spicy mating dance between Bruno and the Commendatore's wife); the underlying criticism of Italian society (the last breath of the economic boom of the 50s that ultimately increased the gap between rich x poor, bourgeoisie x proletariat, North x South, Industry x landowners, leading to chaos in the 70s); and, surely, the heart-stopping finale.

-- Gassman and Trintignant are nothing less than magical: they KNOW these are once-in-a-lifetime roles and they go for it!! In the Brazilian DVD extras, Gassman says Bruno may well be his all-time favorite film performance.He sketches Bruno with tour-de-force physicality, from water-skiing and doing handstands to highly elaborate body work (just watch his "choreography" as he gets out of the ladies' toilet – it's worth a 1,000 lines). When was a scoundrel so complex and irresistible? Contrastingly, Trintignant (at 32 but completely convincing as a young student) goes inwards, acting with practically his eyes and mouth only, and yet we can see the full blossoming of his joie-de-vivre and his fascination with Bruno (notice the worshiping glow in his eyes as he listens to Bruno at dusk). Was a shy man performed with such intelligence and charm ever before? To top it all, their interplay is wondrous: when they laugh heartily at the riotous hick twist party you know these two men have really bonded!

-- Direction/cinematography: film encyclopedias affirm road movies existed long before "Il Sorpasso", but which, again? THIS is the first MODERN road movie: no back projections, no studio stuff, no dinosaur automobiles, no stunt doubles, but two stars really driving that triumph-of-design convertible Lancia Aurelia (the film's third star and symbol of the Italian boom) on the real desert streets of Rome on a real Ferragosto holiday, and then on real Italian roads doing real "sorpassi". The lighting is carefully handled, since the film takes places in just over 24 hours, and we can see noon turning into dusk into night into morning into noon again.

-- the music: back in 1962, it was not that usual to use pop hits as a commentary for the action. But listen to the words of "Guarda Come Dondolo" (Look How I Swing) and how it perfectly matches Bruno's swinging behavior. Vianello, di Capri, Modugno...who can resist those exhilarating Italian pop songs of the 60s?

In the Brazilian DVD extras, Risi recalls the idea for "Sorpasso" came when he went on a road trip with a trouble-making, hyperactive producer. Risi offered Bruno's role to Alberto Sordi (now, THAT would have been a completely different picture), who declined it for fearing the part of Roberto would outshine Bruno. The finale was controversial: there was an option that had Roberto shoot Bruno -- thankfully discarded -- while the producer wanted a happy ending to save expenses with the last scene (you'll know why). "Il Sorpasso" finally opened to unenthusiastic critical reception and mild box-office but soon became a word-of-mouth fever and a smash hit in Europe, Latin America and the U.S., having influenced hundreds of road movies world- wide, most notoriously Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (from the title to the finale).

Since this is a film to watch over and over again, purchase your own copy and notice the innuendos concerning Bruno and Roberto's sexual profiles. You can either laugh at how sex-driven and sex-deprived they are (Bruno brags a lot but he doesn't score once, not even with the waitress -- he's so sex starved he attacks the Commendatore's wife, his own ex-wife and even his own daughter in a black wig; Roberto is obviously a virgin); or, if you're in such a mood, count the numerous gay undertones (Bruno – the infinitely narcissistic 40ish mamma's boy -- using the ladies' toilet without a blink; Bruno teaching aunt Lidia how to apply cat-eye make-up; Bruno and Roberto's body contact after the night-club fight; Bruno wearing his ex-wife's bath robe; Bruno instantly recognizing Occhio Fino is gay; Bruno to Roberto: "I don't fancy men and if even if I did you're not my type" etc). It's open for debate -- choose your own way to see it.

DO NOT MISS this complex, hilarious, fascinating, timeless film. This one is a full "tenner", a legitimate masterpiece from the time when Italian cinema was probably the best around.

9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
deceptively light-hearted masterpiece, 1 May 2000
Author: David Todd (withnail-4) from New Haven, USA

The first time you see this film, it might just pass you by as light-hearted, but the ending will force you to dwell on it. This is what happened to me. A closer look revealed that this is a profound, double-sided, paradoxical film. Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintagnant project opposite perspectives throughout the film, so that each scene contains both joy and sadness, intoxication and contemplation. As they drive from place to place, Gassman's life force is placed at a critical distance by Trintagnant's presence. Both performances are brilliant. A great film, poetic, bitter-sweet, unforgettable.

11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Tragicomedy at its best!, 11 May 2001

Author: sgurgolo

Italian movies are all the same. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry. No thrills, you never really HANG to your seat. This is an example for what italian cinema was meant to be but never was. This was avant-garde, with powerful acting and a great script. This was universal cinema, while nowadays is all partisan movies and mafia movies and tragic movies, even the world famous benigni gives a poor image of the potentials of Italian cinema. This is one of the BIG movies from italy, and even if Risi filmography aint full of masterworks, this is a movie that can make his name a BIG name in Movies History. Gassman and Trintignant and even Catherine Spaak dominate the scene and the country roads of Lazio and Toscana play their part as well. The tragedy is way before the final, and is all found in the unsatisfying way of life both main carachters are living. Italian tragicomedy at its highest peak, no competition at all! 10 out of ten.

8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Longer review to follow, 6 November 2002

Author: acerf from California

I will only say for now, this is one SERIOUSLY GREAT MOVIE. Dino Risi must have been going through a good period in his life because never before or since have movies under his care (as Director) come out this well.

The story of a middle aged playboy and his short-lived, would be, apprentice, a shy student ... Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, are brilliant and 17 year old Catherine Spaak turns in a mind-blowing performance, surely the best "teenage" performance, ever, (think the Breakfast Club X 100) setting a very high, difficult bar for herself in the process.

As the previous reviewer said, 10 out of 10; now if we can only get a real re-release, not a damn bootleg.

** You know you're watching a ground-breaking movie when a guy, the playboy protaganist, "exhuberant" throughout, suddenly gives the game away. It happens in a scene at a beach shower, where he is singing zestfully - "a man in love with life," and then suddenly stops altogether, the game up and shrugs his shoulder. I don't know such a thing had ever been tried before in all of Cinema. The stunning effect when Vittorio Gassman, as the playboy, drops the mask that all wear (in Italy, literally one's "second face") is overwhelming, like a pistol shot on a deserted street.

Groundbreaking in every way and not a little frightening, like a summer day suddenly ruined by an angry quarrel! (pick a metaphor). SEE IT!

8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the ten best italian movies ever made!, 30 January 2000

Author: giovanni manara (mpvtfm) from Catania, Italy

I've seen this movie hundreds & hundreds of time, and I'm not tired yet to watch it, and this just because this movie represents how we italians were in the sixties and how we still are. It is probably one of the ten best italian movies ever made. If you are able to understand Italian, watch it in its original version.

4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
on the road, a l'italiano!, 3 November 2005

Author: justinedonato from France

What at first seems to be a lighthearted film turns, like so much Italian cinema, into a deeper, more introspective journey. Roberto, a serious law student, is bombarded by Bruno, a 40-ish bon vivant. Fate (or luck) throws the two men together and into Bruno's little convertible Lancia for an 'avventura' leading from Rome to the Tuscan coast. Andiamo! But Bruno's sadness is hidden under the surface of his relentless smooth talking and double-dealing. He constantly beeps the car's horn, a lyrical bap-bap-bad-a-bap, which soon becomes a thread leading them to the end of the line. Once on the coast and crashed out at Bruno's estranged wife's house, Roberto gets a glimpse of a more decadent type of bourgeois good life: beautiful women, bikinis and boats. By the end of the day and despite his button down shirt and loafers, Roberto has succumbed to Bruno's infectious freedom of mind. At a price. This is a beautiful little film that feels ahead of its time, even timeless. Both Roberto and Bruno are sympathetic characters, forcing the viewer to seize life and look inside and behind it. Grazie, Signore Risi!

4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
not an Alfa or Fiat but LANCIA!!!!!, 5 November 2004
Author: freya26 from netherlands

Actually it was a Lancia Aurelia B24 sport....It was one of the three main characters in this movie, so please let there be no misunderstanding about this marvelous car. The car represents the somewhat broken state Bruno is in when Roberto meets him. The paintwork is patched-up and the body is dented, but the the engine, character and spirit are still in top condition! Please also note that all the in-car shots were made on the road and not in the studio. This movie depicts how Italy in the beginning of the sixties was recuperating from the poverty resulting from war and fascism.

(Great movie!!!)

4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A movie milestone!!!, 19 October 2002
Author: Massimolazio from Los Angeles, California

Probably the best "costume satire" film ever made. Vittorio Gassman is perfect in the role of Bruno. Great cast especially the supporting role of J. L. Trintignant. Adorable and very sexy the beautiful teen-ager daughter of Bruno played by Catherine Spaak. Il Sorpasso depicted in great reality the sweet bitter life of the 60's in Italy. The perfect road movie, filled with great locations between Rome (deserted in "ferragosto" summertime and the overcrowded countryside of the coast between the Capital and the Tuscan Riviera. This film is filled with humor and sadness(If you don't understand Italian, you'll miss something but the movie language is international, and the subtitles will help you). DO NOT MISS IT! Bravo Dino Risi!

7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Very interesting film and acting (See the film first and then look at the comments), 12 April 2004

Author: cavanaugh84 from Athens, Greece

My advice is to see the film first and then read any comments for this particular film.

This film stays in my memory as a very good, enjoying, strange and at the same time unique film experience. When I first saw it I was almost twenty two years old . The important thing was that I had never seen Gassman acting and never saw a comments on this particular film. I really enjoyed the story and the whole of Il Sorpasso although I have to admit that I didn't expect the ending. When I go back and let my memory speak and say which films are still vivid in her, she usually brings up this one along with a few others (such as "The remains of the day", "The arrangement", "Sepuku", "Acatone", "Stolen rythmes", "killer of Sheep".....).

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Movie I Could See Every Week and Not Be Bored With It, 4 March 2006

Author: larry garner (rgarner@condor.depaul.edu) from chicago

When Bruno hits the road in his Fiat Spider (or was it an Alfa Romeo?) with the nerdish Roberto, it's a whirlwind ride for the audience as well, with your emotions riding high throughout. Gassman's "Bruno" is as perfect a portrait as one can imagine of the Italian who just floats through life, never taking things or others very seriously, always finding shortcuts and discovering truths that others disparage or fear. He's the classic embodiment of the Italian "furbo" (wise guy), who thinks he knows how to "play" the world and all the people in it. One of the greatest cinematic explorations of the stuff of contemporary life you'll ever see and the possibilities (all too limited) of overcoming the alienation inherent in it.

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IMDb user comments for Sorpasso, Il (1962)

IMDb user comments for
Sorpasso, Il (1962)