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AM NEW YORK |
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Antonio Badalamenti (Alberto
Sordi) is every inch the modern Sicilian. He
is organized and forward-looking; he is married
to a blonde from Bellagio (Norma Bengell),
and they have two blond daughters; he lives
in Milan and works as a foreman at a Fiat plant.
But the call of home is strong, and, when Antonio
drags the family back to his native village
for a vacation, the loyalties of the past rise
up to consume him. “Mafioso,” Alberto
Lattuada’s comedy from 1962, which was
recently showcased at the New York Film Festival
in a restored version that will play in revival
at the Angelika and at Lincoln Plaza starting
Jan. 19, clamors for rediscovery. Filmed in
a hot and bleached black-and-white, it manages
to swerve from
culture-clashing farce to alarming suspense
without losing control; admirers of the Corleones,
or, indeed, of Tony Soprano, will revel in
the fleshy, pontifical presence of Don Vincenzo
(Ugo Attanasio), the head of the local Mafia.
The small favor that he asks of the fawning
Antonio is the movie’s big surprise;
if you give it away, the Don will not be happy. |
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