Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976)

I have seen this film twice and going I'm to watch it again tomorrow. Known as 'Down By Law' in the states where I first saw it in the early 80's , all I can think to say is I've never seen a funnier movie in my life. If you get the chance to see this one do it! It will have you rolling and give you a bellyache... no I'm not giving away the plot line just a teaser. The family in this film are fantastically portrayed and the setting is hilarious to say the least. From their heads to their footwear the casting was perfect. Don't let subtitles put you off it really is worth watching you wont regret it and I think you will want to watch it over and over whenever you need a good laugh play this film!

Fmovies: This is a great comedy! Extremely funny, warm and insightful. It is one of those movies you can look again and again. In general, I am a big fan of the Italian movies, especially from the period of 50s to early 80s. By the way, if you liked this movie you will almost certainly like the movies by Emir Kusturica.

After all these years I still come back to this movie, enjoying a true art. Although it shows the so-called-life of the people from the bottom, it's still a beautiful portrait of the human race in its essence: we are truly ugly, dirty and evil inside, behind all those masks we wear. This is "human" deprived of all the "civilization". The movie itself is a masterpiece. All those shots, casting, directing, music, dialogs, scenes that make you cry and laugh and disgust you simultaneously, all led by the master Scola. One should not review any movie without previously watching this one. This is what any movie should be: a picture of life. Sometimes funny, but mostly loathsome. And we're all just animals inside, just give us a chance to show it. Highly recommended as "a must".

Ugly, Dirty and Bad fmovies. Nino Manfredi, only professional actor here, shines in this Ettore Scola movie as Giacinto Mazzarella, a former convict with a long series of crimes and a huge, quirky family. He's violent, vulgar, amoral; he lives surrounded by dirt, squalor and poverty. Yet, he's funny. This movie is too funny! Scola directs a group of actors headed by Manfredi, who shows off an irresistible accent, and by Maria Luisa Santella as Iside, Giacinto's mistress, a fat, sweet but silly woman with an "ancient name". But it isn't a carefree comedy: behind the quips and the jokes there's a grotesque depiction of a miserable reality not very far from San Pietro, the most important Catholic building in the world. Not a perfect film, but a very good one.

Just a great film! I think that "Ugly, Dirty an Bad" has more quality than many "Hollywood-made-to-win-Oscars" films. Let's forget by now the humor side of the film; the content brought to the viewer shows as those kind of people try to survive day by day in extreme poverty and illness. Much more than a film to make people laugh, it's a documentary and a "finger-in-wound" in nowadays issues. I hope people after see that movie just don't remember the funniest scenes, but also the human side of the whole story pictured in there. Remember, everywhere we go, even if all around seems to be nice and beauty, somewhere, if we look carefully, we can discover "dark spots"... Recently in an opinion article about another film, in the heading section we could read "[...] Mary, satiated of removing thorns from the rose flowers in local factory [...]" That's the point: there's no roses without thorns! And if you see a rose without them, it's because someone had remove it before...

I saw parts of the movie when i was a child, today i had the pleasure of having a second chance to see it. I grabbed the opportunity... I'm a person o likes cinema in general, maybe more independent, but keeping the attention on the products of the enterprise... The film is a pungent, powerful blow to the modern society... When it premiered it was also in this condition... But nowadays the film balances between the tragic and the comic gender, with a sensitive eye... Very funny... Extremely dramatic... The ironic look, that scola gives to the foundings of European civilization, the ability to survive, how in extreme conditions (poverty, famine, lack of hygienic conditions) the humans have the capability of preserving values has purity, humor, fantasy… And without being afraid in addressing the darkest side of man, the violent being, the amorality, putting aside the fear of shocking th audience… Etore manages a brilliant timing in managing the drama and the comedy… More would take place in this reflection but I don't want to risk sounding (even more…) pretentious…. One of my favorite movies... Até já... ps: I apologize for the quality of my written English...