In Italian,
1 hour, 39 minutes
April 27, 2007
To the long list of fine foreign-language films that were barely, or never, distributed in the United States, add 1962's "Mafioso," starring one of the era's equally underappreciated actors, Alberto Sordi.
Sordi, who died in 2003 after a 60-year career, had only a handful of his films released in the United States and was known for his comic roles.
But he was adept at injecting humor in films that were primarily serious, as in this tone-shifter from director Albert Lattuada, which shuffles between dark comedy, stark drama and picaresque travelogue without ever throwing us out of its story.

Sordi is perfectly cast as Antonio Badalamenti, a puffed-up efficiency expert at a Fiat auto plant in Milan, who decides to show his Northern Italian trophy wife (Norma Bengall) and their daughters the Sicilian village where he was born.
Before Antonio knows it, he begins to lose his pretentiousness in the craziness of the place, which is presided over by the beloved Don Vincenzo (Ugo Attanasio). The Don has one little request for "Nini" -- a proposition he can't refuse.

Even as "Mafioso" borders on farce and flirts with slapstick, it mutates into a tense gangster drama. Some say "Mafioso" was the first Italian film to depict the modern Mafia, and it can now be recognized as the model for all the mob films to follow.