{"id":15787,"date":"2011-03-09T15:08:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T22:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15787"},"modified":"2021-01-14T16:35:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T23:35:05","slug":"cafe-express-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15787","title":{"rendered":"Cafe Express (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Coffee is the best friend a man ever had.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Poster-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-15788\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Poster-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA one-armed coffee vendor (Nino Manfredi) with a sick teenage son (Giovanni Piscopo) attempts to elude a trio of policemen while illicitly selling coffee on a train.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cat-and-Mouse<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Italian Films<\/li>\n<li>Trains and Subways<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nEssentially an extended cat-and-mouse tale, Nanni Loy&#8217;s surprisingly touching and entertaining comedy takes place primarily within the confines of a moving train. The storyline is simple &#8212; and pretty much covered in the brief synopsis provided above &#8212; but remains compelling viewing throughout given our growing investment in the lead protagonist&#8217;s fate. Indeed, Nino Manfredi anchors the film, and provides it with its essential heart: he&#8217;s wily yet sympathetic, never afraid to call things as they are, and ultimately emerges as an unexpected folk hero of sorts. A minor quibble: one can&#8217;t help wondering why the railroad company isn&#8217;t allowing Manfredi to sell his coffee <em>legitimately<\/em>, given that it&#8217;s clearly desired by the passengers &#8212; but one must simply chalk this up to cultural idiosyncrasies. Not required viewing, but definitely worth seeking out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nino Manfredi as Michele Abbagnano<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Manfredi.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Manfredi.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Manfredi.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Manfredi-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Manfredi-300x165.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A clever, surprisingly hard-hitting comedic screenplay<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Screenplay.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Screenplay.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15792\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Screenplay.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Screenplay-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Cafe-Express-Screenplay-300x165.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s certainly recommended. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0080488\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/05\/03\/movies\/cafe-express-with-nino-manfredi.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Coffee is the best friend a man ever had.&#8221; Synopsis: A one-armed coffee vendor (Nino Manfredi) with a sick teenage son (Giovanni Piscopo) attempts to elude a trio of policemen while illicitly selling coffee on a train. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cat-and-Mouse Comedy Italian Films Trains and Subways Review: Essentially an extended cat-and-mouse tale, Nanni Loy&#8217;s surprisingly touching and entertaining comedy takes place primarily within the confines of a moving train. The storyline is simple &#8212; and pretty much&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15787\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15787"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63332,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15787\/revisions\/63332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}