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Mafioso (re-release)
Rialto Pictures


8.8

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Alberto Sordi, Norma Bengell, Gabriella Conti, Ugo Attanasio, Cinzia Bruno, Katiusca Piretti, Armando Tine, and Lilly Bistrattin

This re-release of the 1962 classic mob comedy stars award winning Italian cultural icon and actor Albert Sordi. Mafioso explores the regionalisms, preconceptions, and ethnic stereotypes of Italian culture in a witty and often uproarious manner when a slightly foolish factory worker (Sordi) takes his wife on a trip to Italy to meet his Sicilian family.

GENRE(S):	Classic \| Comedy \| Crime \| Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Rafael Azcona Marco Ferreri Bruno Caruso (story) Agenore Incrocci & Furio Scarpelli (Age Scarpelli)
DIRECTED BY:	Alberto Lattuada
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: January 19, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, B/W
ORIGIN:	Italy
LANGUAGE(S):	Italian (with English subtitles)

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

A small comic masterpiece that dares to deal with that of which many Sicilians dare not speak: the Mafia.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A magnificent film almost no one knows about, this hidden classic offers a wider variety of pleasures than most contemporary works can even aspire to.

100

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Lattuada has adapted a gritty neorealist style to suit his dark comedy and is in full command in the final half hour, when he ups the ante in surprising ways.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The film combines farcical and sinister tones, as well as textures of high polish and captured-in-the-raw neorealism, and it simply brims with energy and surprises.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Mafioso does more than cast its fascinating shadow over "The Godfather." It captures, in a stark yet haunting way, the indelible fact that no man is born a mobster.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's a marvelous performance in a marvelous movie, one that sneaks up on you while you're watching it.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The movie is at once a giddy mixture of farce, satire and opera buffa and a closely observed drama of social dislocation and cultural confusion.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Filmed in a hot and bleached black-and-white, it manages to swerve from culture-clashing farce to alarming suspense without losing control.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Sordi is an elegant comic actor in the vein of America's William Powell; the world may confound him, but it can never rumple him.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Mafioso may have been made in another era, but it stands as a classy, even radical rebuke to the film school posers who keep recycling the same tired gangster tropes.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This is the sort of masterpiece that will obliterate memories of lesser, later efforts in the "meeting the parents" comedy lineage. Brilliant.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Mafioso is shaped like a comedy, and it is one, but its intentionally jarring clashes of tone and rhythm are truly out there.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Mafioso is the missing link in the mob movie arc.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Mafioso isn't a straight black satire of Sicilian culture so much as a suspenseful near-tragedy leavened by the zesty, irreverent wit that helped define the golden age of Italian comedies.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

[Sordi] lifts buffoonery to the level of high art.

Chicago Reader Pat Graham

A more visually conscious stylist than most Italian commercial directors of the period, Lattuada remains largely unknown in the U.S., though in Europe he's been touted as the great eclectic talent of the postwar Italian cinema.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

That's the beauty of Mafioso: that what begins as a comedy of disconnection becomes a tragicomedy of connection -- of roots that go deep and branches that span continents.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Alberto Lattuada's tricky-to-parse Mafioso dates from 1962 but, with its abrupt tonal shifts and disturbing existential premise, this nearly forgotten dark comedy could be the most modern (or at least modernist) movie in town.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Mafioso starts out as a comedy of manners before turning into a mob thriller that brings Nino to Bergen County, N.J. When he gets there, look for a man reading The Post on a street corner.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The matchless Alberto Sordi - a contemporary of Peters Sellers and a progenitor of Steve Martin - stars as the buffoon Everyman, Antonio Badalamenti, a perfectly poised figure destined for the pratfall.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Satire is at the core of Mafioso, whether in establishing the by-now-stereotypical images of Sicilian peasants or the gripping arms of the Mafia.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andrew K. gave it a7:
I will admit that I am a child of the nineties, and so my attention span is not great. But I love old films and I always try to be more patient with their slower pace. There were points in this film where I wondered if I'd be able to make it through, but something would always come along to shake my boredom. Some very funny bits with the family, especially Nino's sister with the mustache. I was surprised then at how dramatic it became toward the end. As has been said in the reviews above, the director is somehow able to transition from comedy to suspense. Alberto Sordi is great. I'd never heard of him before. He definitely reminded me of Peter Sellers (not just because he bares a somewhat similar physical appearance). This was a great film, but I doubt many young people like myself will be able to sit through it. One of the coolest parts of this film is when Nino ends up in America and he's being driven through the city. The towering skyscrapers look beautiful and are coupled with perfect music. Go see this one if you enjoy broadening your horizons.

John A. gave it a10:
Hilarious and powerful, this movie got under my skin. The more I think about it, the more I'm impressed. Alberto Sordi is unforgettable. I look forward to seeing it again -- hope for a quick DVD release.

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Mafioso (re-release) Rialto Pictures

Mafioso (re-release)
Rialto Pictures