This 1962 Italian release is
charming then funny then sad. An exuberant Sicilian sonâwho moved to Milan to become a factory efficiency expertâtakes his new family to meet his toothless parents,
mustachioed sister, and the local Don, who ensnares him in an improbable plot.
It's sweet with a bitter moral, like crushed aspirin at the heart of a bonbonâwhether in industrial Milan or mafioso Sicily, we cannot escape being part of
vast machines. (
Varsity Theatre, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755. See Movie Times, p. 89, for details.)