Odd Squad (film)

1981 Italian film

1981 (1981)

CountryItaly

Odd Squad (Italian: Ciao nemico, also known as The Odd Squad and The Bridge Between) is a 1981 Italian war comedy film directed by Enzo Barboni.

Plot

After the Allied landing in Sicily, between the U.S. Army and the Italian Army there is an ancient Roman bridge that both want to blow up; but both Italian and American sappers do their best to not do it. Together, they think an absurd plan to make the invading American division that the Italians surrendered and the War is ended. After they part ways, forty years later the American Lieutenant (now an older college engineer teacher) watches the bridge and prepares to go to theater, because his old same-rank enemy became a conductor and that evening he's gonna direct Verdi's Nabucco.

During the end credits, there are info about the ten soldiers; everyone went back to their previous favorite talents and made a career on it.^[1]

Cast

Johnny Dorelli - Lt. Federico Tocci
Giuliano Gemma - Lt. Joe Kirby
Jackie Basehart - Pvt. Kirk Jones
Salvatore Borgese - Soldier Salvatore Ficuzza
Vincenzo Crocitti - Soldier Tazio Meniconi
Massimo Lopez - Soldier Pasquale Cutolo
Riccardo Pizzuti - Soldier Dario Tognon
Vincent Gardenia - General Brigg
Eros Pagni - Italian Colonel
Riccardo Garrone - Lt. Rondi
Ivan Rassimov - Pvt. Russ Baxter
Carmen Russo - The Girl
Jacques Herlin - French General

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Morando Morandini praised the film as "pleasant and full of comical inventions".^[2] Flaminio Di Biagi described it as a "quite ramshackle little comedy".^[3]

References

^ Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 88-6073-626-9.
^ Laura Morandini; Luisa Morandini; Morando Morandini. Il Morandini. Zanichelli, 2000.
^ Flaminio Di Biagi (2010). Italoamericani: tra Hollywood e Cinecittà. Flaminio Di Biagi. ISBN 978-88-8012-543-3.