Atrocious Tales of Love and Death

It's hard to know what kind of audience the people who made this film had in mind. Riz Ortolani's music, Marcello Mastroianni's naive but good-hearted character and the occasional gags seem to suggest a comedy, but the picture isn't funny enough to be a comedy. The plot (which you will need a scorecard to keep straight, and even then you'll probably fail) and the original Italian title seem to indicate a thriller, but it's not thrilling enough to be a thriller. It has a good cast (including Ornella Muti, who is literally "dreamily beautiful" here - you can barely believe that a woman so beautiful is real and not just a dream), but it wastes it in insignificant roles. Out of respect for these actors, and for one funny scene with Marcello and a beefy hood who's forcing him to walk up some stairs, I give this film ** out of 4.