Dommage que tu sois une canaille

One of the last century's great life forces Sophia Loren is on fine display in this entertaining piece of screwball Italiano as she teams up with Marcello Mastroianni for the first of fifteen pairings. Loren is Lina Stroppiani who along with her father (Vittorio De Sica) are professional thieves. With two male accomplices Lina attempts to steal Paolo's (Mastroianni) taxi but instead of taking her to the police he grudgingly and through much frustration falls for her.

Too Bad's thin and inane plot is brusquely carried along by the energetic, suave and sexy style of its cast. Loren's face, breasts and hips seduce the camera and dominate the scenery as she understandably flusters the comic Marcello. Loren's presence negates anyone stealing the film from her but De Sica as her father shrewdly manipulates with a suave charm, especially in one of the film's final scenes where he all but takes over a police station.

Over a half a century later Too Bad She's Bad retains its comic energy and entertainment value much in part to the ideal melding of opera and screwball and the earthy blinding presence of the stunning Ms. Loren strolling the sidewalks of Rome.

Paolo (Marcello Mastroianni), a Roman cab driver, picks up beautiful Lina (Sophia Loren), who tries to steal his car. The complaint to her father Signore Stropianni (Vittorio De Sica) is no use - he is the head of a whole family of thieves. After Paolo realizes that involving authorities into the criminal doings of the Stropiannis is for nothing, he decides to fall in love with Lina.

It's a zippy, very funny and entertaining comedy with the young screen couple Loren/Mastroianni and veteran De Sica, who really shines in here. Lina is an attractive woman, desired by many men and is never at loss of words. Paolo, a man of integrity and good will (at least it seems like he is), is not as faithful as his rich passengers would have assumed. Together they get deeply enmeshed with each others criminalities.

The film was very successful in Italy and regarded as one of the highlights of the Italian comedy series of the 50s. Mainly the rising star of Sophia Loren (and Marcello Mastroianni), who shaped up well to serious competition to sexbomb Gina Lollobrigida, contributed to the success. And that made Hollywood keeping an eye for her talent (three years later she starred in Kramer's "The Pride and the Passion" among Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra).

A young Sophia Loren momentarily entrances a young Marcello Mastroianni as a ruse for her friends to steal his taxi; he thwarts them and sees her home, only to find out soon enough she's also a pickpocket, and her wily papa works a luggage-stealing scheme down at the train station. Minor yet exquisitely breezy and uncomplicated Italian farce, with sexy asides and feisty banter no doubt charming American audiences who went to see this under the title "Too Bad She's Bad". We never really learn when Mastroianni's cabbie actually falls for the curvaceous Loren, just as we never discover when her feelings for him become anything other than business-related, but that's the beauty of the set-up. No scenes punctuate the weightier issues because the movie is issue-free. The most substantial exchange of dialogue comes late in the film between Sophia and father Vittorio De Sica as they discuss love: "No one ever died from heartbreak," he tells her. "In fact, that is what prolongs life." ** from ****

Wow! Until you hear SOPHIA LOREN speak in her native language, you'd never guess how fast she can talk--especially when it comes to a breezy comedy like this involving a family of thieves run by VITTORIO DeSICA and trying to fleece, among others, MARCELLO MASTROIANNI from his cab while trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities.

Her fast talk is exceptional--and funny--considering the situations she gets into. She has a fluency in Italian that she never showed in her English speaking roles and a terrific sense of timing and humor. She also looks fabulous.

But the real star of the film is VITTORIO DeSICA as the smooth talking and very elegant head of a family of thieves. Grandma is adept at stealing wallets and the kids are handy at stealing tires off cars. From the start, it's obvious that Sophia (as Lina) and Marcello (as Paolo) are bound to fall in love despite the stormy relationship that has them embroiled in arguments over all of their mishaps.

It's amusing from start to finish, which has the predictable ending which has the two of them in a clinch from which they're in no hurry to abandon after a quarrel, not even with a bunch of onlookers wondering why he slapped her first.

It's a pure joy to watch these pros at work, but it's clear that DeSica has to be one of the most consummate actors of Italian cinema--just as wonderful before the camera as behind it. And Sophia and Marcello keep up with him every step of the way.

Watching this with subtitles is worth it, even though they speak so fast that you'll spend a lot of time just reading the English captions.

Marcello Mastroianni is a cab driver hired by Sophia Loren and two guys to take them to a beach out in the countryside. It's a ruse to steal his cab, but when it fails, Mastroianni is left with Loren, who he tries to take to the police. She gets away, but Mastroianni finds his way to her family, a clan of thieves headed by her father Vittorio De Sica. Mastroianni spends the film alternately falling in love with Loren and trying to turn her in to the police.

This is a delightful screwball comedy quite reminiscent at times of "The Lady Eve". Mastroianni and Loren appeared together in 14 films, and their chemistry is magnificent. That said, De Sica steals the film, especially in the climactic scene that sees everyone in a judge's chambers trying to explain what happened.

The "Bingo Bango Bongo" song will stay in your head for days.