Mario Monicelli's classic crime comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (I Soliti Ignoti) features Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as a pair of thieves who head a group of criminals in a break-in attempt. Their plan involves digging an underground tunnel from an apartment that leads to a neighboring business and drilling their way inside. In addition to each of the burglars struggling with individual personal problems, the group must reassess their plans after they find themselves not in the store, but a different room of the apartment from which they started. Big Deal on Madonna Street is a spoof of Jules Dassin's caper classic Rififi. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
Like the similarly themed British film The Ladykillers, Mario Monicelli's caper comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street takes a hapless group of misfits on a heist during which everything that can go wrong does. The cast is led by such skilled performers as Vittorio Gassman as Peppe, Renato Salvatori as Mario, and Marcello Mastroianni as Tiberio, and backed by a terrific assortment of Italian character actors. Monicelli's laid-back approach ideally suits the story, as the would-be thieves are continually distracted and delayed in their quest for a seemingly easy-to-snatch safe. Despite being somewhat buffoonish, the leads are also very believable and likable; Monicelli is interested as much in the characters as he is in the story. Among the highlights are when Peppe tricks rival thief Cosimo into giving him the location of a safe; Mario's encounters with Carmela (played by a very young Claudia Cardinale); Cosimo's failed attempt to rob the pawn shop; and the final heist sequence, which is filled with inspired touches. The script gives each cast member a chance to shine, with Carlo Pisacane especially endearing as the old thief Capannelle, and Toto stealing several scenes as the "retired" safecracker who shows them the ropes. The cinematography and production design capture life in the slums of Italy (filmed on striking locations), and there is a whimsical, jazzy score by Piero Umiliani. The influence of Big Deal on Madonna Street can be seen in such films as Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks (2000), and to this day the film remains both charming and very funny. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
Big Deal on Madonna Street (Italian: I soliti ignoti, also released as Persons Unknown in the UK) is a 1958Italian criminal-comedy film, directed by Mario Monicelli,[1] and considered to be among the masterpieces of Italian cinema. Its original title translates as "the usual unknown persons", a journalistic and bureaucratic euphemism for "unidentified criminals". The film is a comedy about a group of small-time thieves and ne'er-do-wells who bungle an attempt to burglarize a state-run pawn shop called Monte di Pietà in Rome. The main roles are played by Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, Carlo Pisacane and Tiberio Murgia. The careers of both Gassman and Mastroianni were considerably helped by the success of the film, especially Gassman's, since before then he was not deemed suitable for comedic roles. Claudia Cardinale also featured in a minor role (a chaste, black-clad Sicilian girl, almost held prisoner at home by her overbearing brother, played by Tiberio Murgia), although she would later rise to fame for other works.
The production was initially very skeptical about the film, and even put some misleading tactics to improve the public's curiosity for it: as witnessed by a rather insincere original poster, which features the famous comedian Totò in a central, prominent position (while he actually had a minor role as the old thief who teaches the protagonists how to break open a safe).
A sequel directed by Nanni Loy followed in 1960, reuniting the entire cast aside from Totò and Mastroianni, entitled Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti (released in English as Hold-up à la Milanaise). A further sequel was directed by Amanzio Todini titled I Soliti ignoti vent'anni dopo (1987). It was released on DVD in the United States as Big Deal On Madonna Street - 20 Years Later by Koch Lorber.
