Operazione San Gennaro

Perhaps an unknown fact from occidental people is about the whole Italy territory is split in two completely different kind of people, the north rich and advanced and south Italy, where the real people be proud to doesn't make part of the great Italy, Naples should be the south's capital, just an introduction, when arrives at Naples an American gang leaded by Jack (Harry Guardino) and his gorgeous girlfriend Maggie (Senta Berger) willing to do a dared robbery at San Genaro's treasure, they asking for a famous Mob's leader Don Vicenzo (The Funny Totó) sadly he was in jail almost retired, then he suggest your inheritor Dudu (Nino Manfred) as Naple's criminal underworld, when they introduces each other, the American gang didn't tell the target of the robbery, however later they have to talk about of San Genaro's treasure, Dudu a hard passionate of this Saint denies such heresy, should be with his own permission only, then he goes to the church to asking for Saint Genaro itself his concordance, already promising to him all gathered money will be for Naples's poor people, this an ingenious comic picture exploring the Italian faith, almost a hundred colorful characters scattered along the movie, in every single scene, specially Totó and Mario Adorf, the final sequence goes beyond of the human insanity!!

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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Harry Guardino comes to Naples to steal the treasure of Saint Gennaro -- thirty billion, and even in lire, that's a lot of money. Relying on the advice of the city's godfather, Toto, he hires Nino Manfredi to be the straw boss of the Italian crew. However, when Manftedi discovers what they are stealing, he refuses as a true Neapolitan.... until Guardino's moll, Senta Berger, persuades him otherwise. He sees it as a means to help the poor of the city. This, however, being an Italian caper film, things go awry.

With Dino Risi directing from a script he co-wrote, they go awry in a very funny way. This is a frantic comedy that mocks everyone, from Guardino's genius who falls apart when anything goes wrong, the willingness of the sentimental gangsters to drop everything to attend a distant collateral relation's wedding. This is one you should not miss.

One of the funniest films I've seen, it's, at its essence, the classic story of a perfect robbery plan gone wrong in the Italian way, a bit like "I Soliti ignoti" ("Rufufú" for the Spaniards). Indeed it's an impressive meeting of Italian artists: Dino Risi was known for his optimistic realistic films, and the cast includes the great comedian Totó. And it delivers even better than it appears.

A pair of Americans want to do the greatest robbery: the treasure of San Genaro, in Napoli. But, Christ, these are the jewels of a saint, and they must convince religious and a bit superstitious "professionals" to do the job. The fun are spread everywhere: the characters and their acts are the classic Risi people, but there are very good slapstick gags, action parts, and an absurd but somewhat restrained sense of humor that carries the film pretty well. Believe me: with some parts in the theft I bursted out laughing as very few times I've had (some Hawks, some Wilder, some Sturges), and I can recall lively many twists and still laugh at them.

If you come across this movie, please don't miss it. One overlooked one to discover.

No offense. I did not find it entertaining. I recognized no parentage to the modern comedy nor the modern heist movie. Mediocre acting, no comedic timing, light on facial expressions, badly dubbed, and no subtitles.

If you watched the movie without audio, you wouldn't be able to tell what genre it is. However, one may be able to appreciate it for it's intrinsic value if you take into consideration the limitations of the industry then, movie tropes and conventions of the time, historical context and have familiarity with Neapolitan culture from other sources. Because instead of being a lighthearted and faithful representation of Neapolitan culture it represents the state of Italian filmmaking of the time.

In short, a relic. destined to remain in it's time capsule. Inaccessible without Italian fluency, barely comprehensible if you don-t have familiarity with Neapolitan language as some of the humour relies on it. This movie is to be taken out as an object of study

This is your basic "gang of crooks plot and carry out a big heist" and as such, this one is pretty darn good.

The TUBI print (July 2025) is really sharp, and it is the Italian print, so nearly everything is dubbed into Italian. (important later) Best of all, the script makes sense - it moves the plot forward and takes the group to a number of neat locations.

Experienced director Dino Risi keeps the whole thing under control, and lets his cast shine.

The cast is quite a mixture: -Nino Manfredi (Italian, good looking, solid) -Mario Adorf (Swiss-German-Italian coproduction) overacting, but only pleasantly.

-Harry Guardino (Brooklyn) speaking Italian far more than English.

-Senta Berger (Austria) as another American character, but to help establish that, she breaks into English at odd points.

-The rest of the cast, people from everywhere, doing good work. In fact, the extras and background artists are very well directed (focused and appropriate for the scene).

Sure, it has its slow moments, but overall, this one is worth the two hours.