Avanti! Amantes à Italiana

This charming and whimsical flick has been a favorite of mine for years, and I am puzzled as to why it so neglected. There are five main reasons the film works so well, not necessarily in order of importance: 1) the cinematography of the isle of Ischia 2) Billy Wilder's direction 3) Jack Lemmon 4) Wilder's and Diamond's script 5) Clive Revill as the hotel manager. Little can be added to the generally favorable comments found here. My favorite scene: Wendell Armbruster's introduction to the Trotta family ("That's a lotta Trottas!"). Well worth a see!

So much has been said about the plot of Avanti it seems pointless to go over the synopsis again- but I can say although I am a lover of Horror films, Thrillers and Westerns- it is Avanti that is my favourite film of all time.Avanti is gorgeous to look at and features a beautiful music score. How I wish I could obtain a soundtrack of this delightful score. The scene when Pamela Pigott ( Juliet Mills ) tours the city on a horse drawn carriage and later running from her new found admirers is beautiful with the music so perfect.Also when Pamela and Wendell ( Jack Lemmon ) have their evening meal together , it is again a beautiful music score. Jack Lemmon as the bombastic Wendell Armbruster is as always great. Juliet Mills as Pamela Pigott looks far too gorgeous to be ridiculed by Armbruster but she shines in her finest ever role. However for me the film is stolen completely by Clive Revill as the hotel manager- what a sublime performance. Watch his every movement, his every expression, his delivery of every line.It is a captivating performance, totally exquisite. Clive Revill is an actor sorely neglected by the film world.Billy Wilder's film is so very neglected and it's a pity as this is the perfect film. Watch the beautiful, poignant sequence at the mortuary as Pamela and Wendell view the bodies of their mother and father respectively. And again watch Clive Revill alongside Lemmon and Mills- acting with only movement, expression and not a word. The lighting in this scene is so wonderful, it is dark and depressing with the exception of a shaft of sunlight penetrating the smallest of windows. Wilder manages to wring excellent portrayals out of even the most minor of characters. Watch Avanti and savour the acting, the music and the scenery.

Years ago I thought I was familiar with all of Billy Wilder's movies and as I thumbed through what might have been an old copy of Playboy, perhaps a Sex in the Cinema article, I came across a picture of a nude Juliet Mills and Jack Lemmon sitting on the rocks in an unknown Billy Wilder film, and was determined to one day see that film and much more of the Nanny from The Nanny and the Professor. VCRs were just coming on the market, so I had to wait a few years till Cinemax showed it in the early morning. I stayed up most of the night to satisfy my prurient interest and what I ended up with was a film I didn't want to end, a tune that played over and over again in my head for days, and one of my most favorite movies.

Yes, this movie is a comedy, sometimes a very black comedy, and sometimes a satire filled with irony. Yes, it's a romance, all about a wonderful romance that sparks up between two seemingly opposite people in the strangest of places at the strangest of times under the strangest of circumstances, the way romance quite often does. And at times there's sadness and pain to tug at your heart. It's all about discovering who you really are when you've lost your way in all life's confusion, and also about perhaps being better than your parents when you get older and more like them.

Lemmon is the consummate cad, Juliet Mills the most charming Englishwoman to grace a celluloid comedy, Clive Revill is perfect in his most Oscar-deserving role as the hotel manager Carlo Carlucci, the Italian cast members never fail to entertain, and the music is as catchy and memorable as any Bernstein or Tiomkin or Goldsmith score. The movie may be 2-1/2 hours long, but the time passes quickly as Lemmon and Mills rediscover love and youth and passion, and I always find myself wishing that I could see the two lovers returning a year later like their parents.

Billy Wilder may have given us dramatic gems like Stalag 17, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard, given us comedic gems like Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot, and romantic gems like The Apartment and Irma La Douce, but it wasn't till the end of his career that he could take qualities from all of those and give them a magical, lyrical feel and atmosphere and come up with a jewel like Avanti!

If you have ever been to Italy, you will love the jokes in this movie that comically describe Italian ways (bureaucracy, long lunch hour, dramatic love behavior), but also admire them (love to good food, music etc.) You will also love the beauty of the setting: gorgeous Italian places, the sea, fishing boats, lively streets and amusing characters. This movie depicts what a good life consists of and it does it in a comic way, so you feel great while watching this movie, even tough there is death, and mourning and trips to the morgue. All these can be beautiful and romantic including the dying itself ("if happened during a high season"). It is also stimulating to see how "perfectly toned body syndrome" was not present in 1972, and the main characters display without guilt their bodies which they love just the way they are.

In a way, it's a typical Jack Lemmon character: Demanding, often unreasonable, aggravated & angry.

In Italy for very personal reasons, he gets entangled in a few messes. There's comedy alright. He just wants to get his business done and return to America. Of course that doesn't happen.

What makes this movie is Juliet Mills. I confess I didn't know she was Haley Mills sister until now. I had seen her on tv decades ago but didn't pay her much mind.

In this vehicle though, she's pretty delightful, and makes the movie. Her character, while fragile, is also sweet, and quite the free spirit at the same time.

Of course I must make mention of the naked scene where the two stars swim out to a rock, and bask in the sun, still in the raw. Now who doesn't love Lemmon? Classic icon American actor. And even if he were 25, I'd prefer to see him clad in some kind of clothing. At 47, even my wife wanted to cover her eyes. If he would've just stayed underwater.

Juliet Mills? The polar opposite. She was 31 here, and just as pretty as a woman gets. The 'girl next door beautiful', which for many of us, is simply the most attractive and alluring. And forgive me, but what a body. Holy cow, was she one vivacious Brit. Just plain hot. It was 1972 so everything was real too!! Could have viewed her all day; whether it be in the raw or in the beautiful dress she donned at dinner.

The movie is fun enough. It hinges on the hi-jinx resulting from the not so ethical, Italian elements around town, all of whom are out for a quick buck from the well-to-do Lemmon. These somewhat cornball bad guys are also the source of much of the comedy. The bad guys have a "Pink Panther" flavored hokeyness to them that keeps everything light. (I speak in general here so as not to spoil it for those who wish to take in this movie for the 1st time.)

I recommend it for a viewing. Jack doing his thing to a tee, and little known Juliet Mills is as charming as she is naturally beautiful.

Thx

Bob R.