Dommage que tu sois une canaille

One of the last century's great life forces Sophia Loren is on fine display in this entertaining piece of screwball Italiano as she teams up with Marcello Mastroianni for the first of fifteen pairings. Loren is Lina Stroppiani who along with her father (Vittorio De Sica) are professional thieves. With two male accomplices Lina attempts to steal Paolo's (Mastroianni) taxi but instead of taking her to the police he grudgingly and through much frustration falls for her.

Too Bad's thin and inane plot is brusquely carried along by the energetic, suave and sexy style of its cast. Loren's face, breasts and hips seduce the camera and dominate the scenery as she understandably flusters the comic Marcello. Loren's presence negates anyone stealing the film from her but De Sica as her father shrewdly manipulates with a suave charm, especially in one of the film's final scenes where he all but takes over a police station.

Over a half a century later Too Bad She's Bad retains its comic energy and entertainment value much in part to the ideal melding of opera and screwball and the earthy blinding presence of the stunning Ms. Loren strolling the sidewalks of Rome.

I was going to start this review off by calling Too Bad She's Bad an early Sophia Loren film, but then I looked at all the stuff she's been in and this was her 30th role... and her first was only in 1950, so I guess she was in-demand right from the start. She also only would've been 19 in this film, so take that information how you will. I don't imagine she had the easiest start in the industry, being as young and beautiful as she was, but she sure ended up earning her stardom and status as a pop-culture icon. She's very charismatic and likable on-screen, even in movies like Too Bad She's Bad, which otherwise feels just a bit ordinary and nothing all that special.

Well, I guess Marcello Mastroianni is in this too, and he's pretty good as always. The plot kind of feels like watching a farce with all the big jokes taken out. What remains is something that feels like an Italian screwball comedy with lots of fast wordplay, but if that's the case, much of it gets lost in translation; the subtitles just aren't the same. Still, it's a breezy watch and it's still a little bit of fun, plus the charisma of the two stars, Loren and Mastroianni, kept me fairly engaged throughout.

That ending sure was something, though. Much of it hasn't aged too horifically until the literal final minute!

Mama Mia! La Gran -Sophia- at the tender age of -20-. Moreover in the kind of role she'd almost never be able to play in America at -any- age, let alone at the pinnacle of her astonishing sexual impact. The costumer put her in one understated but thoroughly boggling outfit after another.

The role suits the wardrobe and vice-versa. The Body going bawdy is exactly what the title infers, but with sufficient "screwball comedy" dialog to make it entertaining as well as educational. (The teacher -will- command your attention here. Yow.) Marcello is on top of his pre-Fellini game as the almost crafty-enough romantic lead, and De Sica does a fine local godfather. As a genre, post-war Italian cinema is almost always reliable, and this is no exception.

Guys (of any age): If you've got -any- sort of a masochistic yen for being manhandled by a world-class, hormone-heating, trick-or-treater, -this- will make your day. Hahahaha.

Marcello Mastroianni is a cab driver hired by Sophia Loren and two guys to take them to a beach out in the countryside. It's a ruse to steal his cab, but when it fails, Mastroianni is left with Loren, who he tries to take to the police. She gets away, but Mastroianni finds his way to her family, a clan of thieves headed by her father Vittorio De Sica. Mastroianni spends the film alternately falling in love with Loren and trying to turn her in to the police.

This is a delightful screwball comedy quite reminiscent at times of "The Lady Eve". Mastroianni and Loren appeared together in 14 films, and their chemistry is magnificent. That said, De Sica steals the film, especially in the climactic scene that sees everyone in a judge's chambers trying to explain what happened.

The "Bingo Bango Bongo" song will stay in your head for days.

A young Sophia Loren momentarily entrances a young Marcello Mastroianni as a ruse for her friends to steal his taxi; he thwarts them and sees her home, only to find out soon enough she's also a pickpocket, and her wily papa works a luggage-stealing scheme down at the train station. Minor yet exquisitely breezy and uncomplicated Italian farce, with sexy asides and feisty banter no doubt charming American audiences who went to see this under the title "Too Bad She's Bad". We never really learn when Mastroianni's cabbie actually falls for the curvaceous Loren, just as we never discover when her feelings for him become anything other than business-related, but that's the beauty of the set-up. No scenes punctuate the weightier issues because the movie is issue-free. The most substantial exchange of dialogue comes late in the film between Sophia and father Vittorio De Sica as they discuss love: "No one ever died from heartbreak," he tells her. "In fact, that is what prolongs life." ** from ****