AVANTI, AVANTI - MOVIE [Blu-ray] [1972]

This is not necessarily the most well-known Jack Lemmon film but it is quintessentially Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon,with the delightful addition of charming Juliet Mills and the romance of Italy thrown in. With a wonderful soundtrack entirely suited to the film adapted from Italian songs, Avanti is a romantic comedy which puts most romantic comedies in the shade.Yet, while being an entirely romantic comedy, it is also a black comedy in that the whole reason for the romance which emerges is that the couple are on their way to reclaim the bodies of their father (Lemmon) and mother (Mills) who, it turns out, had been lovers in Italy for years.The film in some ways is a series of perfect comedy moments whether it is Juliet Mills's character pronouncing all the varieties of pasta with their lovely Italian sounds (on the boat on the way to Ischia), or her keeping the band up all night as she - losing her inhibitions - sings and dances to the romantic 'Senza Fine' tune, or the shenanigans with the Trotta family (mock-Mafia) who demand an exorbitant sum in compensation for the fact that the father and mother died in a car accident on their land (another black humour set piece), or when the US diplomat arrives by helicopter from Paris only to find the airport official is having his lunch - you don't interrupt an Italian's lunchtime!The other actor who must be mentioned is Clive Revill, who does a brilliant job as the Italian all-seeing, all-knowing hotel manager whose role acts as a buffer, a go-between, a mentor, an advisor, who manages everything with Italian-style efficiency and aplomb. His delivery and facial expressions are some of the funniest titbits in the film.I think this is Juliet Mills's highlight film. Encouraged by Jack Lemmon (who, you can see, nurtures her through the film) and Clive Revill's consideration, she has obviously responded so well to Wilder's direction. She is absolutely delightful throughout. Jack Lemmon does what he does best, delivers lines with perfect timing, charms the viewer with his disingenuous naiveté, accentuates his Americanism to contrast with Juliet Mills's Britishness, and as always, gives a perfect performance.If you ever feel even a little blue, this is the go-to film. You cannot but help feel much better having watched it. I love it so much that I have bought the soundtrack separately so I can play it in the car and when I'm washing up, or just when I'm not in the best mood. I can guarantee I'll feel fine after listening to it.

When "Avanti!" was released in 1972 (Italian for 'forward') - the world and its cinema had changed irrevocably. This gentle, slightly slow moving romantic comedy about not-so-hip people had no real place in a film world gripped by gritty realism, escalating cursing and the depiction of ultra-violence. Still "Avanti!" was nominated for 6 Golden Globes and won one - Best Comedy Actor for Jack Lemmon.Produced and Directed by the incomparable Billy Wilder, it featured a fabulously inventive and witty script from the dynamite duo of Wilder and his long-time writing buddy L.A.L. Diamond. Check this out. Clive Revill (Nominated as Best Comedy Supporting Actor) is in the Hotel bus on route with Lemmon from the airport telling the busy executive of Armbruster Enterprises (his father's company) that all of Italy closes for lunch between one o'clock and four o'clock in the afternoon. The incensed and jittery Wendell is agog.Jack Lemmon: "Three hours for lunch!"Clive Revill: "Here we take our time...we cook our pasta...we drink our wine...we make our love..."Jack Lemmon: "What do you do in the evening?"Clive Revill: (Frowns) "We go home to our wives!""Avanti!" is full of stuff like this.The story goes as so. Millionaire Wendell Armbrewster from Baltimore USA arrives in a hurry and ill-prepared in Italy to pick up the body of his father, killed in a car accident on the slopes of Naples. What he doesn't bargain for is that his bastion-of-morality father William was not alone in the car as it crashed into a vineyard. He was with his mistress Kate. In fact he'd gone to the beautiful and picturesque resort for 10 years to be with her. Both were in their late Sixties but giddily in love like kids.On route (on the plane, boat and train) Wendell keeps meeting the prim and proper Penny Pritchett (a delightful and lovely Juliet Mills) from London, England. She seems to be everywhere he goes - and when she turns up at his hotel room too - Wendell works it out - she is the daughter of Kate, his father's mistress and there to pick up her mother's body! Italian shenanigans follow one after another to stave off the funeral in Baltimore the following Tuesday - the crafty Hotel staff trying to keep the scandal at bay, the ludicrous legal paperwork, no one works the weekends, missing bodies, more triplicate paperwork, blackmailing porters and vineyard guys, swimming naked to the rock their parents used to frequent and giving the local randy fishermen an eyeful (Mills has lovely breasts which Lemmon suddenly notices). And, of course, they slowly succumb to the magic of the place and fall in love themselves.The humour is constant and the dialogue the same. For instance - two zinc-lined coffins are needed from out of town before the bodies can be released, but the vineyard guys who want compensation for their grapes "poisoned by death" nick the bodies! Lemmon listens to Hotel Owner's crafty and constant updates on their progress with increasing American uptightness. "Great! First we have two bodies and no coffins, now we have two coffins and no bodies!"The two leads are of course part of the secret. As the years pass, your admiration for Jack Lemmon only grows. His range, his subtlety, the way he made it look easy - you realise how truly great an actor he was. He could do witty like no one, crazy, charming, sensitive, uptight - but all the time with that everyman humanity that Jimmy Stewart had. Juliet Mills too - lovely, sexy in her way, sweet. She has a running joke about weight all through the film, which she milks with subtlety and skill and provides exactly the right kind of gentle counter that Lemmon's character needs. Throw in a cast of brilliantly funny Italian locals, romantic locations and silly set-ups and you have a fantastic Sunday afternoon warmer.This is the kind of film that makes me want to put a picture of Billy Wilder and his chunky spectacles on my wall. And every time that I look at it, I'll smile.Do yourself a favour and check it out - or better still - buy it and keep it for that day you need a lift.Arrivederci! Love birds!

Pure escapism

Brilliant!

50 years old but this film is still good entertainment. Jack Lemmon is such a good comic actor.Recommend The Apartment with him in as well.

A lovely, funny romantic comedy from the legendary director Billy Wilder (Some like it hot). Set in beautiful Southern Italy, the film explores amusing differences between the hectic and often unhappy life of an American executive ( Jack Lemmon) against the slow pace of life and huge bureaucracy of 1970s Southern Italy. Juliette Mills plays a kind of go-between between these different worlds who is able to see and appreciate the beauty and romance of Italy, despite its problems. Italy ends up being an escape for both of them.