Avanti! (1972)

Avanti! (1972)

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“Don’t bother me with details — just do it!”

Synopsis:
When a boorish business magnate (Jack Lemmon) arrives in Ischia to collect his deceased father’s body, he encounters a young woman (Juliet Mills) also there to collect her mother’s body — at which point he learns that their parents were having annual trysts on the island. Will Lemmon — with help from a solicitous hotel manager (Clive Revill) — be able to get his father’s body back to Baltimore in time for a massive memorial service, or will Mills somehow get in the way?

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Billy Wilder Films
  • Death and Dying
  • Grown Children
  • Infidelity
  • Jack Lemmon Films
  • Romantic Comedy

Review:
Billy Wilder’s fourth-to-last film — made just after The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) — was this romantic comedy collaboration with his longtime writing partner I.A.L. Diamond, based on a 1968 play by Samuel L. Taylor. While it’s beloved (or at least appreciated) by all four of the (male) reviewers I cite below, I found this film pretty hard to take, at least at first — especially given what a flaming a**hole Lemmon is when we first meet him (and for quite a while thereafter):

… as well as how frequently the screenplay refers to Mills as some variation of fat (!). (She’s her own worst critic around this topic, but it doesn’t help that Lemmon is quick to agree time and again.) While Mills is quite charming (what does she see in him?):

… and the storyline (and Lemmon) eventually become more tolerable, I was fully soured by this point, and had trouble appreciating either the sporadic humor (some of which works) or the extra-marital romance that eventually blooms (with flagrant disregard, naturally, for Lemmon’s wife and kids back home). The film’s best feature is its fine location shooting, which certainly makes Ischia look like a tremendously appealing get-away.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Juliet Mills as Pamela Piggott
  • Clive Revill as Carlo Carlucci
  • Fine location shooting in Italy

Must See?
No; you can skip this one.

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One thought on “Avanti! (1972)”

  1. First viewing (2/24/22). Not must-see.

    Another mostly unfunny comedy from late in the director’s career. It’s 2 1/2 hours long, normally too long for a comedy – esp. one like this which could easily tell its thin story in under 2 hours. (Something like ‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World’ came in at about 3 hours but that’s understandable; it has a *very* large cast and a very complicated farce plot so it needs more screen time. Oh, and… it’s very funny.)

    Lemmon plays the kind of insufferable bore that he had recently played in ‘The Out-Of-Towners’. Juliet Mills isn’t terrible but I may have liked the movie more if her sister Hayley had played the part (and she certainly would have brought more energy to the role). Maybe Hayley wouldn’t have agreed to the nudity – a first for Wilder? It seems to have been a first for Lemmon (though I’m not sure I needed to see his butt, particularly).

    Clive Revill – a talented performer – does well playing an Italian and he is given some of the better lines. He has rather good timing and delivery – but that doesn’t help to save the movie.

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