User reviews

This is one of the most famous and loved pictures of the late Alberto Sordi. He plays the role of Nando Meniconi, a young man crazy about U.S.A., in line with the post-war attraction for the country that wins the comflict and "free" Italy. Wearing in denim with a basketball hat, crazy about Joe DiMaggio, Nando is a living danger for all is around him; parents, girlfriend, occasional partners. The plot is confused and low budget; some of the situations are only a veichle for the non-stop improvisative vein of the master actor but this movie is very memorable because is Sordi state-of-art. This is a portrait in which a lot of italians would be recognized. And, if you know italian language, you can laugh all the time. Is a counterpoint for the neorealism school; where you have realism and social critic here you have innocent but funny and realistic parody of costumes and mentality of the italian boys of the '50; chewing gum, toy guns and...hopes for a far, young, winner land...Noew is different but I think that America craze exist the same today!!! w Nando and his spaghetti!!!

Spaghetti is called worm which is funny, funny stuff, great charming sequences and the title at first is like pedestrian but then you realize oh yeah it is a clever title, the guy Alberto is a great cosmic entity of awesomeness, epic ness, a just excellent picaro character portrayal of this sequences of heightened reality, improbable but not impossible events of craving for America while conjuring up ideas in Roma, the is a craving I already read about in other biographies of italian directors around this era so this is a well known craving and shown here awesome as they use the best thing while in some place craving for something else, imagination.

Its greatest asset is Alberto Sordi whose histrionic displays of temper make the movie a successful platform for humor. Nando Moriconi is a young Italian who loves everything American; he tries to dress, walk, talk, and think like an American. From the start, a voice-over introduces him, and we're allowed to explore his American-memorabilia-filled room. This serves as a very good character introduction. Without meeting him yet, we already have a good idea of who he is, an idea that the film will emphasize time and again by Nando's desire to cross the Atlantic and visit the U. S. A.

Un Americano a Roma captures the Italian culture of the 1950s' and the post-war fascination many youngsters had for the United States culture. The Golden Age of Hollywood was what positioned the U. S. A. As the leading force in entertainment, and it's no surprise echoes of this would reach across Europe. There are many hilarious scenes in this story where Nando's italo-american way of speaking, he randomly uses words in English while talking in Italian, stands out among his fellows, but also when his opinion of mastering the American language clashes with reality, producing bad communication and misunderstanding.

I find his interpretation of the young "romano" who wants to be "americano" fantastic, and although I did not like Alberto Sordi when I first came to Italy (1970) I realize I did not understand the humor or the culture, but since then I have seen many of his films , and this remains one of my favourites. It is lively, funny, relaxing, and also shows how the "americanisation" has really come about (cereals for breakfast, fast food, cars, blue jeans) which were a joke then, are everyday reality today) However one thing has however survived, the love for spaghetti by the Italians, in fact one of the scenes I prefer is when Alberto decides to destroy his huge plate of spaghetti, as I like to destroy them in the same way. It is a film that can be seen over and over again . If you want to learn more about the Italians from the "inside" Alberto sordi is the actor to follow in the last 50 years