Dino Risi - Il gaucho aka The gaucho (1965)

THE GAUCHO was made two years after Vittorio Gassman's collaboration with Dino Risi in IL SORPASSO (THE EASY LIFE), perhaps their best of many films together. Although not as strong as the earlier film, this is a movie of substantial merit and deserves to be much better known. Gassman plays Mario Ravicchio, a financially-strapped press agent who accompanies an Italian production company on its trip to Buenos Aires to present a film at a festival there. He spends much of his time, when not seducing women, trying to accumulate some money, whether by gambling or attempting to finagle capital from expatriate Italian Marucchelli (Amedeo Nazzari), now a rich industrialist in Argentina. He gets friendship, nice words, but no money. Mario tries to tap another former friend from Rome, Stefano, but the guy turns out to be more impoverished than he is. The man is played by comic actor Nino Manfredi (of BREAD AND CHOCOLATE fame) in a short but magnificently acted supporting role as a down-and-out emigrant who has given up hope of success. The first encounter between Manfredi and Gassman with the exuberant exchange of affection between old friends is a treasure to behold. Italian actress Silvana Pampanini does a nice turn as an over-the-hills actress trying to marry a well-off Argentine who has been courting her for some time. Mario returns to Italy disillusioned but not without that saving `gioia di vivere' that characterizes him throughout this likable film with its many little rewards for the viewer. Ettore Scola, who later directed Gassman in DOWN AND DIRTY, lent his hand to the screenplay.





Marco es un inmigrante italiano en Argentina, que recibe la agradable misión de guiar a un grupo de compatriotas que vienen a participar al Festival de Cine de Mar de la Plata.
Con tono nostálgico y sentido del humor se explora la añoranza por el terruño. Dino Risi y Vittorio Gassman acababan de rodar La escapada, pero este film no alcanza el nivel de aquel. No obstante hay algún gag divertido, como cuando ven a un criollo que tiene cierto parecido a Hitler y comentan "Hay muchos nazis en este pais".