During the Allied invasion of Sicily, an outfit of U.S. soldiers is assigned to capture the small town of "Valerno", but upon arrival, they discover that the Italian Army garrison led by Captain Fausto Oppo (Sergio Fantoni) have been expecting them. They will willingly surrender, provided they are permitted to complete a soccer match and a wine festival.
Romance and frivolity ensue, as a reluctant, by-the-book Capt. Cash (Dick Shawn) is persuaded by easy-going Lt. Christian (James Coburn) to go along with the locals' wishes. Christian convinces Cash to send a message to headquarters that they have encountered resistance. During an aerial reconnaissance of the town, the Germans mistake the festival for an attack. A nearby German Panzer unit is ordered to come to the Italians' aid, but the Americans accidentally end up conquering all.
The title of the film came to Edwards when he was asked the question by his son Geoffrey. As Edwards was having marital problems at the time, he did not want to leave the United States, so Mirisch Productions agreed to film the movie in Lake Sherwood, California, for $5 million that included the construction of a large Italian village set.[3] In his study of Edwards, Myron Meisel stated that Coburn imitated Blake Edwards' mannerisms throughout the film.[4]
The film was the first of what was originally intended to be six Mirisch-Geoffrey Productions between Edwards and the Mirisch Company. Only one other film, The Party, was completed.
William Peter Blatty recalled that Edwards and he originally agreed to make the film grim and without comedy for the first 20 minutes. This idea was shelved when, during the scene where Captain Cash visits Charlie Company at their chow line, he holds out his hand and one of the GI mess orderlies ladles beans into the captain's hand.[5]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
