Luciana Angiolillo

The ultimate Italian road comedy, IL SORPASSO stars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, IL SORPASSO is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.

Trojan hero Aeneas battles to save his city from the Greeks, but once Troy falls, he leads the 600 survivors to Italy and founds the city of Rome.