Operazione San Gennaro

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.

In this caper movie there are lots of bonafide scenes , comedy , action , tongue-in-cheek and twisted intrigue . An American gangster (Harry Guardino) and his girlfriend (Senta Berger) in Italy enlist a local gang led by Armanduccio 'Dudù' Girasole (Nino Manfredi) and his hoodlums (Pinuccio Ardia , Ugo Fangareggi, Ralf Wolter , Totò as Don Vincenzo, among others) to help him steal the treasure of Naples' patron saint. Winner of the Naples Crime Festival . They planned a crime so perfect that only a miracle could stop it and did. There's no crime like the present. .

This fun flick displays suspense , giggles , slick and not-so-slick criminals , gorgeous dames and results to be very bemusing . From the beginning until ending the good mood and humor is continued . The plot is very amusing and the final has got an extraordinary surprise . Delightful and enjoyable are the perfect words to describe this film . One of the best Italian intrigue/caper movies ever made along with ¨Rififi¨ by Mario Monicelli , ¨Seven Golden Men by Marco Vicario , its sequel : "Seven Golden Men Strike Again¨ and adding the classic ¨Topkapi¨ by Jules Dassin . The highlight and great climax , of course , is the heist which is developed with imposing tension , hilarious scenes and intrigue . This picture along with ¨Topkapi¨ created during the 60s and forward an authentic genre . This decent film deals with a bungling team of robbers undertaking a hard mission and at the same time it describes the Italian reality by that time . It's a comedy/satire with surprising finale and one of the best Italian comedies of the 60s . The picture does a perfect portrayal of the main roles and well accompanied by a charming support cast . The personality of hustler Nino Manfredi/Armanduccio is special , he's a crook who has failed at everything , as he spends all his time planning swindles and mistreats his gorgeous sweetheart , Claudine Auger, as she serves as counterpoint to his disconcerting personality . Other characters are magnificently interpreted by the American mobster Harry Guardino , bombshell Senta Berger and Totó playing in his usual style .

All the screenplay develops a gentle humor but steady, which does to maintain the smile throughout the movie while showing a portrait of a wonderful Naples of the 60s , which includes the sensational musical score by Armando Trovajoli , including some traditional songs , and other sounds of those years, happy and funny . Furthermore , an evocative and colorful cinematography by cameraman Aldo Tonti . It is a motion picture in which I have entertained a lot, a great wisdom of its director and writer Dino Risi along with others as actor/writer Nino Manfredi himself , Baracco and prolific Ennio De Concini . Risi is an expert on ¨Comedia allá Italiana¨, such as he proved in ¨How funny can be sex?¨, ¨Tiger and the pussycat¨, ¨Scent of a woman¨ that had an American remake with Al Pacino , Chris O'Donnell and , of course , ¨The easy life¨ or its original title ¨Il Sorpasso¨, a tragic-comedy that achieved a big success. This fast moving , intrigue thriller yarn titled Operazione San Gennaro (1966) will appeal to comedy enthusiasts and robbery genre fans . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable , though uneven Napolitan comedy . Well worth watching .

The sixties was the decade for heist movies, more or less inspired for most of them by RIFIFI: TOPKAPI, GRAND SLAM (though not really a comedy) GAMBIT, CAPER OF THE GOLDEN BULLS, BIGGET BUNDLE OF THEM ALL, ITALIAN JOB; so this one is in the pure continuity. Dino Risi, one of the greatest Italian directors in terms of satyrical comedies, seems to be very comfortable in this comedy crime caper film, which saves us some surprises in the script, such as the death of one of the lead characters eighteen minutes before the end. Very surprising for a comedy, isn'it? . The Italian trademark is so obvious in this story about a "holy" treasure, the christianity oriented spirit, I repeat, so typical of the Italian culture. Mario Monicelli's famous THE PIGEON spirit is not so far...Italian trademark.

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

Still good 51 years after. We got Toto, Nino Manfredi, Mario Adorf, 3 great great comic actors. Plus Senta Berger, young and sexy, Claudine Auger, also young and very sexy (her best role from all), Harry Guardino. Toto, which was one of greatest comic actors ever, has just a small part. Manfredi and Adorf, other two huge comics, not only of the Italian cinema but also international (mostly Adorf who is still alive), they have more consistent roles.