Themes: Rise To Power, Fighting the System, Life Under Occupation
Main Cast: Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Virna Lisi, Hardy Kruger, Sergio Franchi
Release Year: 1969
Country: US
Run Time: 140 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is the mayor of the hillside village of Santa Vittorio. The wine-loving town leader erases a pro-Mussolini slogan when he hears of the fascist being killed and hanged from a meathook. His wife Rosa (Anna Magnani) throws him out of their wine shop when he and his friends celebrate and he gives away too much wine. When he hears the retreating Nazi Army will soon be in town, hundreds of villagers turn out to hide the wine in an old Roman cave. The people work day and night, hiding 1 million bottles just before the Nazis enter the town. SS officers threaten death to anyone who withholds the wine. Italo presents a single bottle to the irate general (Hardy Kruger), as the hapless Germans are powerless to force the villagers to produce the coveted bottles. Not even a pistol to the head of their beloved mayor is effective as the town stands by, watching in complete silence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Renato Rascel - Babbaluche; Giancarlo Giannini - Fabio; Patrizia Valturri - Angela; Eduardo Ciannelli - Luigi Lunghetti; Leopoldo Trieste - Vittorini; Gigi Ballista - Padre Polenta; Quinto Parmeggiani - Copa; Carlo Caprioli - Giovanni Pietrosanto; Wolfgang Jansen - Sgt. Zopf; Aldo de Carellis - "Old Vines"; Marco Tulli - Mazzola; Peter Kuiper - Sgt. Traub; Dieter Wilken - Hans; Karl Otto Alberty - Otto; Gigi Bonos - Benedetti; Clelia Matania - Julietta; Pippo Lauricella - Pulci; Carlo Capannelle - Capoferro; Renato Chiantoni - Bracolini; Pino Ferrara - Dr. Bara; Curt Lowens - Col. Scheer; Timothy Donnelly - Pvt. Holtzmann; Valentina Cortese - Gabriella; Francesco Mule - Francocci; Chris Anders - Corporal Heinsick
Credit
Joe King - Costume Designer, Ray Gosnell - First Assistant Director, Stanley Kramer - Director, William Lyon - Editor, Earl Herdan - Editor, Ernest Gold - Composer (Music Score), Robert Clatworthy - Production Designer, Giuseppe Rotunno - Cinematographer, George Glass - Producer, Stanley Kramer - Producer, Ferdinando Ruffo - Set Designer, Danny Lee - Special Effects, David Hildyard - Sound/Sound Designer, Ben Maddow - Screenwriter, William Rose - Screenwriter, Robert Crichton - Book Author
This story is set during World War II in the summer of 1943, in the aftermath of the fall of the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini. The German army uses the ensuing political vacuum to occupy most of the peninsula of Italy.
Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn), the mayor of the winemaking hill town of Santa Vittoria, learns that the German occupation forces want to take all of Santa Vittoria's wine with them. The townspeople frantically hide a million bottles in a cave before the arrival of a German army detachment under the command of Sepp Von Prum (Hardy Krüger).
The Germans are given a few thousand bottles, but Von Prum knows there is a lot more. The two very different men engage in a battle of wits. Finally, with time running out, a frustrated Von Prum threatens to shoot Bombolini unless the hidden wine is given, but no one speaks up. Not being a fanatic, Von Prum leaves without harming the mayor.
The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Comedy and was nominated for Best Director (Stanley Kramer), Best Actor Comedy (Anthony Quinn), Best Actress Comedy (Anna Magnani), Best Original Score (Ernest Gold) and Best Original Song ("Stay", Ernest Gold and Norman Gimbel)
