Peccato che sia una canaglia

Paolo (Marcello Mastroianni), a Roman cab driver, picks up beautiful Lina (Sophia Loren), who tries to steal his car. The complaint to her father Signore Stropianni (Vittorio De Sica) is no use - he is the head of a whole family of thieves. After Paolo realizes that involving authorities into the criminal doings of the Stropiannis is for nothing, he decides to fall in love with Lina.

It's a zippy, very funny and entertaining comedy with the young screen couple Loren/Mastroianni and veteran De Sica, who really shines in here. Lina is an attractive woman, desired by many men and is never at loss of words. Paolo, a man of integrity and good will (at least it seems like he is), is not as faithful as his rich passengers would have assumed. Together they get deeply enmeshed with each others criminalities.

The film was very successful in Italy and regarded as one of the highlights of the Italian comedy series of the 50s. Mainly the rising star of Sophia Loren (and Marcello Mastroianni), who shaped up well to serious competition to sexbomb Gina Lollobrigida, contributed to the success. And that made Hollywood keeping an eye for her talent (three years later she starred in Kramer's "The Pride and the Passion" among Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra).

This film of Alessandro Blasetti is not only extremely entertaining but fascinating in terms of the history of Italian cinema. It was released in the same year as de Sica's masterful 'Gold of Naples' in which Sophia Loren scored a hit under his Svengali-like guidance. Their professional relationship was to prove fruitful to say the least and here they are playing father and daughter. This also happens to be the first time that Loren appeared opposite Marcello Mastroianni who was then in what he later called his 'taxi driver phase', thus beginning a magical screen partnership. Alongside her sexual charisma La Loren shows a keen sense of comedy and improved artistry so one can only assume that de Sica is still a 'guiding hand' here. De Sica's own performance is one of perfect comedy timing and consummate artistry. As is customary in Italian films there is more than one screenwriter and this Roman Tale of Moravia has been adapted by two of the best in the business, Suso Checchi D'Amico and Ennio Flaiano. Blasetti keeps the pace brisk and there is a catchy score by maestro Alessandro Cicogna. There is also good use made of Sigman and Hilliard's 'Bingo Bango Bongo' which once heard, becomes what is commonly referred to as a musical 'earworm'. As a film this is lightweight to be sure but to watch the three leads bouncing off each other is hugely enjoyable especially in light of what is to come.

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.

Whatever the silly story, this has to be watched! And admired!

With Sophia Loren, Vittorio de Sica and the young Marcello Mastroianni noathing can go wrong, and nothing does go wrong. Usually, Sophia alone already plays anyone to the ground, and in here, a masterly de Sica at times even outpaces her. It is a pity that he tends to be forgotten.

The whole plot circles around these two, father and daughter, kind of outdoing each other with petty and not quite so petty crime. De Sica shows enormous talent as a comedian in this movie.

Watch it at least twice, and one time just follow Sophia Loren, and the second time Vittorio de Sica.

And then tell yourself which 'more modern' actors are able to do likewise. Doing almost nothing. Just being there. Actually, in this respect Fernando Rey falls into this same class. But that's another story altogether.

Unfortunately, my copy is dubbed in German. A horrible choice of speakers spoil half of it. Mastroianni dubbed by someone who sounds like a 17-year-old dimwit, and Loren by a 17-year-old nanny.

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 ****