The Beast | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sergio Corbucci |
Written by | Luciano Vincenzoni Sergio Donati |
Produced by | Carlo Ponti |
Starring | Giancarlo Giannini Michel Constantin Giuseppe Maffioli Giuliana Calandra |
Cinematography | Giuseppe Rotunno |
Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso |
Music by | Guido & Maurizio De Angelis |
Production companies | Champion PECF |
Distributed by | Warner-Columbia Filmverleih |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Countries | Italy France |
Language | Italian |
The Beast (Italian : Il bestione) is an Italian comedy directed by Sergio Corbucci and stars Gabriella Giorgelli, Michel Constantin and Giancarlo Giannini. [1]
An older and younger truck drivers, Sandro and Nino, begin to work with each others. They alternate in driving their company's vehicle across central and Eastern Europe. After witnessing the harsh treatment of an older colleague, forced to retire on medical grounds and led to suicide by his illness and indigence after a life of hard work, Nino convinces Sandro to take up loans and start their own delivery company. They struggle however to honor their debt, due to market fluctuations. This forces them to accept smuggling a criminal, originally misrepresented just as a parcel. Abandoning him just beyond the border, the two drivers are pursued by his criminal accomplishes while trying hard to keep their schedule with their customer.
The professional relationship gradually develops into mutual respect and shared background among the two men, with Sandro eventually beginning to date Nino's daughter. Eventually their first trip as independent delivery company is successful, although just barely so. By the end of the movie, three co-protagonists are made very familiar to the audience: the two men, as well as their truck ("il bestione" i.e. "The Beast"), personification of blue-collar work.
The film premiered on 20 November 1974 in Paris and screened in West Germany on 14 February 1975 as Die Cleveren Zwei with an Warner-Columbia Filmverleih distribution. [2]
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