Everybody Go Home
Encyclopedia
Everybody Go Home is a 1960 Italian
film directed by Luigi Comencini
. It features an international cast including the U.S.
actors Martin Balsam
, Alex Nicol
and the Franco-Italian Serge Reggiani
. Nino Manfredi
was rejected for the starring role because Alberto Sordi
wanted it.
), junior NCO of the Royal Italian Army is shocked when (in response to the separate surrender signed by the Badoglio government in Cassibile
) the former allies of the Wehrmacht
surround and take by storm the base where he's stationed.
After a comical exchange with a superior command he gets in touch with by telephone ("The incredible has happened, the Germans have joined the Allies and are attacking us!") he, along with some disbanded soldiers, manages to distance the German troops and is thoroughly shocked when, contrary to his plan of finding a higher echelon to which to report, most of the men accept the fact that the war is over for them and "everybody should just go home".
This reaction at first angers him, but in the end he joins army engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani
) and sergeant Fornaciari (Martin Balsam
) in discarding the uniforms for civilian clothes and heading southwards for a veritable odissey along the Italian "boot", cut in two by German and Allied occupation and wracked by partisan warfare, bloody reprisals, German press-ganging and other perils.
The trio meets a band of anti-fascist guerrillas but decline to join them (while an Italian army captain they met along the road does, turning into a partisan resistance fighter). Later Innocenzi, caught in the "everybody for himself" mentality which seems to dominate the landscape succumbs to the temptation of abandoning his mates to help a sultry black marketeer smuggle a load of flour to Rome, as she needs a driver and hasn't room for any other passengers. The deal goes awry due to a mechanical failure in a rubble-strewn town where the famished populace plunders the lorry and, after some recriminations and a brief scuffle Innocenzi rejoins his companions. Embarked on a greyhound they assist to the killing of a rookie, naive Italian soldier who tried to protect a Jewish girl during a German roundup; finally they manage to reach Fornaciari's rural home.
The former sergeant is delighted of having returned to his young wife, children and old father and offers Innocenzi and Ceccarelli hospitality for the night; his wife reveals that the family has been hiding a former U.S. POW (Alex Nicol
) who escaped from the Folpiano prison camp to protect him from the fascist militia patrols and Fornaciari, albeit grudgingly, accepts to keep protecting him.
After a darkly humorous polenta
dinner (served farm-style with salsa over a wooden table, where Innocenzi and the U.S. officer end up arguing over the right of reaching for the sausage length placed at the table's centre) they all go to sleep but a nighttime fascist patrol breaks in and manages to find the allied serviceman. Amidst the children's cries and his wife's weeping Fornaciari is hauled away toward a grim fate and Ceccarelli and Innocenzi flee the premises without being able to help.
The couple manages to reach Littoria (now Latina
) where Innocenzi's widowed father (Eduardo De Filippo
) lives alone, and offers Ceccarelli (who is Neapolitan) to stay a few days before resuming his travel south. Innocenzi is shocked when his father introduces him to a fascist party leader who is recruiting men for the army of the fascist puppet state of Repubblica Sociale Italiana, instituted by the Germans after the liberation of Benito Mussolini
from the Gran Sasso
exile.
His father angrily retorts at his objections, citing the misery he's living in and all the sacrifices he incurred in to make him study and allow him to become an army officer; a deep rift is created between father and son and Innocenzi asks Ceccarelli to take him south to Naples as well, to which the engineer happily consents.
However Naples is in grimmer conditions than Rome, directly on the line of fire after the allied landing at Salerno
, barely kept under control by brutal German detachments who round up able bodied men to send them to Germany as slave workers. To reach the city the duo passes through a roadblock manned by fanatical yet hungry fascists, Ceccarelli, generously chooses to sacrifice a suitcase of delicacies he was meant to deliver to the wife of his Commanding Officer (who had signed his dismissal on health grounds due to his persistent stomach ulcer). The situation (with the offering readily accepted by the roadblock patrol) causes much panic in Innocenzi, who had raided the case during a night-time train trip substituting the goods with stones and newspaper sheets; he urges his companion to run away before the fascists open it but they are unsuccessful.
Innocenzi and Ceccarelli are pressed in an Organisation Todt
rubble-clearing chain gang and manage to escape when the city insurges against the occupiers in the Four days of Naples
.
Desperately trying to reach his home, which is just a few blocks away, Ceccarelli is cut down in a hail of German fire, at which time Innocenzi decides that the real war to be waged is that against nazi occupiers and joins an insurgent band offering to man the Breda
M 37
machine gun they have captured but can't operate.
With a renewed stern look on his face Innocenzi opens fire against the Germans, bringing the movie to a close.
genre, and is set during the Allied invasion of Italy
in 1943. It also belongs to a large genre of Italian films about Italy during the chaos after the invasion and double occupation of September 1943 - others include Rome, Open City
, Paisà
, General della Rovere
, Violent Summer, Long Night in 1943
, Escape by Night
, Two Women
, The Fascist
, The Abandoned, The Four Days of Naples
, and Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
film directed by Luigi Comencini
Luigi Comencini
Luigi Comencini was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the commedia all'italiana genre....
. It features an international cast including the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actors Martin Balsam
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
, Alex Nicol
Alex Nicol
For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...
and the Franco-Italian Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...
. Nino Manfredi
Nino Manfredi
Nino Manfredi was an Italian actor, one of the most prominent in the commedia all'italiana genre....
was rejected for the starring role because Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi, also known as Albertone, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian actor. He was also a film director and the dubbing voice of Oliver Hardy in the Italian version of the Laurel & Hardy films....
wanted it.
Plot
Along the venetian seaside, on the morn of September the eight in 1943, Alberto Innocenzi (Alberto SordiAlberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi, also known as Albertone, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian actor. He was also a film director and the dubbing voice of Oliver Hardy in the Italian version of the Laurel & Hardy films....
), junior NCO of the Royal Italian Army is shocked when (in response to the separate surrender signed by the Badoglio government in Cassibile
Cassibile (village)
Cassibile is an Italian village and civil parish of the city and municipality of Syracuse , in Sicily. As of 2006 its population was of 5,800.-History:...
) the former allies of the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
surround and take by storm the base where he's stationed.
After a comical exchange with a superior command he gets in touch with by telephone ("The incredible has happened, the Germans have joined the Allies and are attacking us!") he, along with some disbanded soldiers, manages to distance the German troops and is thoroughly shocked when, contrary to his plan of finding a higher echelon to which to report, most of the men accept the fact that the war is over for them and "everybody should just go home".
This reaction at first angers him, but in the end he joins army engineer Ceccarelli (Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...
) and sergeant Fornaciari (Martin Balsam
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
) in discarding the uniforms for civilian clothes and heading southwards for a veritable odissey along the Italian "boot", cut in two by German and Allied occupation and wracked by partisan warfare, bloody reprisals, German press-ganging and other perils.
The trio meets a band of anti-fascist guerrillas but decline to join them (while an Italian army captain they met along the road does, turning into a partisan resistance fighter). Later Innocenzi, caught in the "everybody for himself" mentality which seems to dominate the landscape succumbs to the temptation of abandoning his mates to help a sultry black marketeer smuggle a load of flour to Rome, as she needs a driver and hasn't room for any other passengers. The deal goes awry due to a mechanical failure in a rubble-strewn town where the famished populace plunders the lorry and, after some recriminations and a brief scuffle Innocenzi rejoins his companions. Embarked on a greyhound they assist to the killing of a rookie, naive Italian soldier who tried to protect a Jewish girl during a German roundup; finally they manage to reach Fornaciari's rural home.
The former sergeant is delighted of having returned to his young wife, children and old father and offers Innocenzi and Ceccarelli hospitality for the night; his wife reveals that the family has been hiding a former U.S. POW (Alex Nicol
Alex Nicol
For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...
) who escaped from the Folpiano prison camp to protect him from the fascist militia patrols and Fornaciari, albeit grudgingly, accepts to keep protecting him.
After a darkly humorous polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...
dinner (served farm-style with salsa over a wooden table, where Innocenzi and the U.S. officer end up arguing over the right of reaching for the sausage length placed at the table's centre) they all go to sleep but a nighttime fascist patrol breaks in and manages to find the allied serviceman. Amidst the children's cries and his wife's weeping Fornaciari is hauled away toward a grim fate and Ceccarelli and Innocenzi flee the premises without being able to help.
The couple manages to reach Littoria (now Latina
Latina
Latina is the feminine form of the term Latino.Latina may also refer to:*Province of Latina, a province in Latium , Italy**Latina, Lazio, the capital of the province of Latina**Latina Nuclear Power Plant*Latina , a district of Madrid...
) where Innocenzi's widowed father (Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo was an Italian actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria.-Biography:...
) lives alone, and offers Ceccarelli (who is Neapolitan) to stay a few days before resuming his travel south. Innocenzi is shocked when his father introduces him to a fascist party leader who is recruiting men for the army of the fascist puppet state of Repubblica Sociale Italiana, instituted by the Germans after the liberation of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
from the Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso d'Italia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The Gran Sasso forms the centerpiece of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park which was established in 1993 and holds the highest mountains in continental Italy south of the Alps and is part of the...
exile.
His father angrily retorts at his objections, citing the misery he's living in and all the sacrifices he incurred in to make him study and allow him to become an army officer; a deep rift is created between father and son and Innocenzi asks Ceccarelli to take him south to Naples as well, to which the engineer happily consents.
However Naples is in grimmer conditions than Rome, directly on the line of fire after the allied landing at Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, barely kept under control by brutal German detachments who round up able bodied men to send them to Germany as slave workers. To reach the city the duo passes through a roadblock manned by fanatical yet hungry fascists, Ceccarelli, generously chooses to sacrifice a suitcase of delicacies he was meant to deliver to the wife of his Commanding Officer (who had signed his dismissal on health grounds due to his persistent stomach ulcer). The situation (with the offering readily accepted by the roadblock patrol) causes much panic in Innocenzi, who had raided the case during a night-time train trip substituting the goods with stones and newspaper sheets; he urges his companion to run away before the fascists open it but they are unsuccessful.
Innocenzi and Ceccarelli are pressed in an Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt
The Todt Organisation, was a Third Reich civil and military engineering group in Germany named after its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi figure...
rubble-clearing chain gang and manage to escape when the city insurges against the occupiers in the Four days of Naples
Four days of Naples
The Four days of Naples refers to the popular uprising in the Italian city of Naples between 27 and 30 September 1943 against the German forces occupying the city during World War II...
.
Desperately trying to reach his home, which is just a few blocks away, Ceccarelli is cut down in a hail of German fire, at which time Innocenzi decides that the real war to be waged is that against nazi occupiers and joins an insurgent band offering to man the Breda
Società Italiana Ernesto Breda
Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, more usually referred to simply as Breda was an Italian mechanical manufacturing company founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. The firm originally manufactured locomotives and other railway machinery, but later branched out into armaments and aircraft. In 1962,...
M 37
Breda M37
The Breda Modello 37 was an Italian heavy machine gun adopted in 1937. It was the standard machine gun for the Royal Italian Army during World War II...
machine gun they have captured but can't operate.
With a renewed stern look on his face Innocenzi opens fire against the Germans, bringing the movie to a close.
War-themed subgenre within postwar Italian cinema
The film is one of the most famous films of the Commedia all'italianaCommedia all'italiana
Commedia all'italiana or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti in 1958 and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana .-Stars:Vittorio Gassman, Ugo...
genre, and is set during the Allied invasion of Italy
Allied invasion of Italy
The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied landing on mainland Italy on September 3, 1943, by General Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group during the Second World War. The operation followed the successful invasion of Sicily during the Italian Campaign...
in 1943. It also belongs to a large genre of Italian films about Italy during the chaos after the invasion and double occupation of September 1943 - others include Rome, Open City
Rome, open city
Rome, Open City is a 1945 Italian war drama film, directed by Roberto Rossellini. The picture features Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Marcello Pagliero, and is set in Rome during the Nazi occupation in 1944...
, Paisà
Paisà
Paisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini, the second of a trilogy by Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They are set in the Italian Campaign during World War II when Nazi Germany was losing the war against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication...
, General della Rovere
General della Rovere
General della Rovere is a 1959 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a novel by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.-Plot:...
, Violent Summer, Long Night in 1943
Long Night in 1943
Long Night in 1943, The Long Night of '43 or It Happened in '43 is an Italian film of 1960 set during the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 during the Second World War. It was directed by Florestano Vancini and adapted by Vancini, Ennio De Concini and Pier Paolo Pasolini from a novel by Giorgio...
, Escape by Night
Escape by Night
Era notte a Roma is a 1960 Italian war film epic directed by Roberto Rossellini. In France the film is known as Les Évadés de la nuit, and in the USA Escape by Night...
, Two Women
Two Women
Two Women is a 1960 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of a woman trying to protect her young daughter from the horrors of war. The film stars Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown, Carlo Ninchi and Andrea Checchi...
, The Fascist
The Fascist (film)
The Fascist is a 1961 Italian film directed by Luciano Salce. It was coproduced with France. It was also the first feature film scored by Ennio Morricone.- Plot :...
, The Abandoned, The Four Days of Naples
The Four Days of Naples
The Four Days of Naples is a 1962 Italian film, directed by Nanni Loy and set during the uprising which gives its name. It stars Regina Bianchi, Aldo Giuffrè, Lea Massari, Jean Sorel, Franco Sportelli, Charles Belmont, Gian Maria Volonté and Frank Wolff....
, and Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom , commonly referred to as Salò, is a controversial 1975 Italian drama film written and directed by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini with uncredited writing contributions by Pupi Avati. It is based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade...
.
Awards
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Nastro d'ArgentoNastro d'ArgentoThe Nastro d'Argento is a movie award assigned each year, since 1946, for cinematic performances and production by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics...
- Winner: Best Production (Migliore Produzione)- Dino De LaurentiisDino De LaurentiisAgostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
- Winner: Best Production (Migliore Produzione)- Dino De Laurentiis
- Moscow International Film FestivalMoscow International Film FestivalMoscow International Film Festival , is the film festival first held in Moscow in 1959. From its inception to 1995 it was held every second year in July, alternating with the Karlovy Vary festival. The festival has been held annually since 1995....
- Winner: Special Golden Prize