Os Milhões de Madigan

After a few years in light roles in film and TV, Dustin Hoffman scored stardom in 1967 with "The Graduate." So, why would he be cast the next year in a "spaghetti" comedy? I don't know the machinations of Hollywood, but I'd like to posit a wild guess: He or someone else thought he might score again in a comedy. In this case, a sort of Italian-American "Pink Panther." When you finish laughing, consider the similarities in this film with the 1963 smash hit, "The Pink Panther."

Hoffman's character is similar to Peter Sellers' Jacques Clouseau. Both were government detectives of sorts. Both were bungling characters who fell, tripped or ran into objects and people. Both were disliked by their superiors and cohorts, who considered them incompetent. Inspector Clouseau incessantly corrected people who called him "inspector Clouseau," stating that he was "CHIEF inspector Clouseau." Hoffman's Jason Fister is a U.S. Treasury agent (auditor), whom people keep referring to as "Mr. FAWster." He continually corrects people: "It's FISTer – F, I, S, T, E, R." But amidst their bumbling and bungling, both had some keen insights about their work and the case they were on.

So, maybe it's not so implausible after all – the intentional copying of "The Pink Panther," with obvious redesigning for the later movie? Well, whether or not it was meant to be a copy, "Madigan's Millions" didn't succeed. Hoffman is not Peter Sellers. He doesn't have a naturally funny recovery from his bungling episodes. Hoffman appeared to be having fun at times in the film, but the script, acting, direction and whole thing just seemed too hackneyed. At times, I thought the director and producer must have known and purposely chopped up some scenes.

I gave this four stars only because it is an interesting look at a relatively new actor for the time; and for a cast of other interesting actors. Even with major rewriting and better direction, I'm not sure this movie would work. Surely, it wouldn't establish Hoffman as a comedy actor capable of buffoonery. I think he can do humor, but it's the more serious type – clever, witty, and wry, as in "Rain Man."

OK, so "Un dollaro per 7 vigliacchi" (aka "Madigan's Millions") is pretty much all low humor, with a pre-"Graduate" Dustin Hoffman as a witless government agent sent to Italy to find the million dollars that a murdered gangster (Cesar Romero) kept hidden. Still, the movie elicits a certain charm, as he irks the police, leaves a lawyer in an embarrassing position, and causes a wacky chase through Rome. If absolutely nothing else, it's neat to see Dustin Hoffman in an early role. Personally, I wish that he would do more comedy (think "Tootsie" and "Meet the Fockers").

So, it's worth seeing if only for that. And because Elsa Martinelli was really hot!

There's a reason we never see this shown on ANY channel.... it's just really poor direction. Using the circus background music when people trip... a trick usually saved for movies aimed at children. And for the first half hour, hoffman yells his lines at the microphone. When madigan (cesar romero) is sent back to italy, the feds still want to find out what happened to the cash he stole in the united states. In an early film role, dustin hoffman is fister, the fed official, trying to track down madigan and the missing money. But he's a goof up, pink panther style. Or matt helm. But the awful script and direction just aren't up to even those standards. Where is the missing money? Some great shots of what the coliseum looked like in 1966. Directed by giorgio gentili and filmed in italy and spain. Although wikipedia says the director is standley prager. Odd. Wasn't prager the broadway show director?? Wikipedia also tells us this was filmed in 1966, but not released until 1968. That alone was a warning sign. One of three films directed by gentili. And now we know why! It's just very barely okay. Mostly interesting as how hoffman got his start.

Dustin Hoffman's debut feature isn't as bad as it's reputed to be; a Spanish/Italian co-production filmed in Italy with the director using the pseudonym "Dan Ash"(!), the film is uneven but generally diverting and deals with a plethora of shady characters in search of a $1,000,000 hidden by gangster Cesar Romero (who, despite being third-billed - after Elsa Martinelli and Hoffman himself - expires before the credit sequence has even rolled!).

Hoffman's performance, obviously, is nowhere near as nuanced as in later films but manages to dodge embarrassment by playing what basically amounts to an amiable klutz - an accident-prone American treasury agent of Sicilian descent (named Puzzu, which nobody seems to be able to get right!) sent out by his firm to retrieve the money and told to remain "inconspicuous" but, instead, is forever getting into trouble - though he ultimately proves surprisingly resourceful by finding the loot, foiling the crooks and winning the girl (Martinelli as Romero's daughter, who's somewhat wasted here)!!

Still, the film's best moments are provided by suave gangster Riccardo Garrone: apart from his would-be hard-boiled persona and the hilarious use of dialect, he's flanked by a trio of nitwits who more often than not prove a hindrance in the fulfillment of his various schemes! Also, in view of the story being set in Rome, it's odd that the police officer investigating the case is a Spaniard (doubtless an exigency of the co-production deal)!

Along the years, I've missed out on Hoffman's other Italian comedy - ALFREDO, ALFREDO (1972) - a number of times (I guess, mainly, because Leonard Maltin only rates it *1/2 in his "Movies & Video Guide"...but, then, MADIGAN'S MILLION gets a BOMB!); with Pietro Germi directing and co-starring the luscious Stefania Sandrelli, the credentials of that film are certainly more respectable, and I really hope it turns up again on Italian TV soon...

This slapstick picture contains amusing , funny scenes , fresh and diverting moments but also flaws and gaps . When a deported gangster dies in Italy, the U. S. Treasury Department is very interested in the one million dollars Madigan (Cesar Romero) owed the government, but managed to take to Italy with him. The U. S. Treasury Department is interested in Madigan's one million dollars owed, sending Agent Jason Phister (Dustin Hoffman) to Rome to collect the money, ensuring no one knows he's an agent. Jason arrives in Rome to recover funds swiped from missing gangster and he starts to nose out the million. His criteria for the job is that no one would ever guess he's an agent of the United States government. Jason is a bumbling and conceited agent of the United States Treasury Department who becomes involved in a lot of messes, confusion, chases and mayhem . Meanwhile, he is relentlessly pursued by an Italian commissioner (Gustavo Rojo) and meets a widow (Elsa Martinelli) who was previously related to Madigan.

Fun moments along with embarrassing in this first film from today's established actor Dustin Hoffman. This entertaining, slightly engaging movie is crammed of silly incidents, pursuits, shootouts, moving stunt-work , colorful outdoors and lots of humor. It is just a mildly amusing action comedy with a lot of thieves, mobsters, cops, and other ambitious people. A co-production between Italy and Spain, the interiors were actually shot in the Iberian Peninsula, and the exteriors in idyllic Rome. The movie gets sympathetic and hilarious moments here and there . A simple comedy with action scenes and chases, it was filmed in 1966, but it was not released until three years later, in 1969. The film has the main novelty of being Dustin Hoffman's film debut, with an apparently innocent character and a gentle personality, which reminds us, in some ways, of the role that would launch him to fame the following year in the film: The Graduate. This Hoffman debut is to his career what ¨The Last Chalice¨ was to Paul Newman's and ¨Studs and Kitty¨ was Sylvester Stallone. Here Dustin Hoffman steals the show by parodying the classic character of the stupid and botcher detective, including his ordinary faces , grimaces and gestures; and taking the style of Inspector Clouseau from the long-running Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers . Being a Spanish/Italian coproduction appear Spain actors as Gustavo Rojo, Fernando Hilbeck, Gérad Tichy, José María Caffarel, Alfredo Mayo, Hector Quiroga and Italians: Riccardo Garrone, Franco Fabrizi, Umberto Raho, Daniele Vargas, Remo De Angelis, Luigi Bonos. Despite being third billed, Cesar Romero barely appears in the film.

Il testamento di Madigan (Italy) Agente quasi speciale Frank Putzu 1X7 (Italy) El millón de Madigan (Spain) Sid Pink's Madigan's Millions (United States) Madigan's Million. The motion picture written by José Luis Bayonas was lousily directed by Giorgio Gentilli. He was a director assistant such as: Zanna Bianca alla riscossa, The AntiChrist, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Our Man in Jamaica, Playing the field, The Tough and the Mighty, The Eroticist, The Brotherhood, Roma Bene. And occasionally filmmaker , shooting a few films such as: A Man Called Sledge , Bang Bang Kid and Un dollaro per 7 vigliacchi. Rating: 4/10. Recommended only to the terminally fool-hardy.