''Febbre da cavallo'' (Horse Fever) is a 1976 Italian

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Steno and starring

Gigi Proietti Luigi "Gigi" Proietti (2 November 1940 – 2 November 2020) was an Italian actor, dubber, comedian, singer and television presenter. Early life He was born in Rome to Romano Proietti, originally from Umbria, and Giovanna Ceci, a housewife. Dur ...

. It was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the

67th Venice International Film Festival The 67th annual Venice International Film Festival, was held from 1 to 11 September 2010, at Venice Lido in Italy. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was the jury president for the main competition. The Golden Lion was awarded to ''Somewhere ...

Plot

Bruno Fioretti, known as "Mandrake", is an inveterate gambler who never misses a day at the horse racing track in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He is always at the track together with his friends Armando Pellicci, known as "Er Pomata" due to his use of hair gel, and Felice Roversi. They always bet on the wrong horses and they always end up being penniless. One day the three go to the

Agnano Agnano is a suburb of Napoli, Italy, situated southwest of the city in the Campi Flegrei region. It was popular among both ancient Greeks and Romans and was famed for its hot sulphurous springs. History Lake Agnano formed in the Middle Ages ...

Hippodrome to watch the race, but their horse loses. Back home, Gabriella, Mandrake's girlfriend, tired of the constant shortcomings of her partner, asks for advice from a fortune teller, who, without any purpose, induces her to bet on a Tris race. The three horses indicated by the cards and by Mandrake himself (Soldatino, King and D'Artagnan) are among the worst in circulation; above all Soldatino, the horse owned by lawyer De Marchis, a betting partner of the three friends. Witnessing a horse race in

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, Mandrake seems so determined to follow Gabriella's advice, but is convinced by Pomata to focus on another horse (Antonello da Messina, the superfavorite). The prediction of the fortune teller, however, is correct: Soldatino, King and D'Artagnan win the race and the astonished Mandrake, to save his relationship with Gabriella, shows her a false play by filling it with vain promises for the future. Furious with Pomata for his incorrect prediction, Mandrake begins to wait for him at home, together with "Er Ventresca", a creditor who has long been waiting to collect 300,000 lire from Pomata, managing to find him when he has set up the burial chamber for his late grandmother in her home. The death of the grandmother is actually staged by Pomata to escape his numerous creditors. In the end, the three friends are forced to devise a "super-mandrakata", as Mandrake defines his brilliant scams, together with Pomata, Felice, De Marchis and her friend Mafalda. Given that Soldatino has begun to brilliantly win all his races, the cronies decide that Mandrake will replace the unbeatable Jean-Louis Rossini, jockey of the only true rival of De Marchis' horse, Bernadette, in the imminent Grand Prix of the Aces of Tor di Valle, to slow it down, and bet on Soldatino, whose odds are still very high. De Marchis will also have the opportunity to triumph over his eternal rival Conte Dallara, owner of Bernadette, who has decided to bet on the sure win, since Rossini has never lost a race. The first part of the plan succeeds perfectly, with Pomata, disguised as a police commissioner, kidnapping Rossini and making him believe he is at the centre of a plot, taking him to a farmhouse outside the city. Shortly before the race, Soldatino's former jockey, Stelvio Mazza, fed up with the lawyer de Marchis, who will not pay his arrears, refuses to ride the horse, and he is replaced by self-candid Pomata, a former jockey with a regular license. The race starts and everything seems to go well, until Mandrake, in the heat of the competition and trying not to make the farce evident, forgets to lose and rides Bernadette closer and closer to Soldatino, who is leading. Bernadette wins, arousing the ire of Mandrake's friends and lawyer. The whole gang ends up in court. Here Mandrake tries to dissuade the judge with a gruelling speech on "who is" the horse-player in a broad sense and then ends with the request for total mental infirmity. Gabriella reveals that she secretly bet on the winning horse, but just when the sentence seems obvious, it turns out that the judge is a hardened bettor, and everyone is acquitted. Gabriella finally manages to marry Mandrake, who, with her tacit consent, escapes during the honeymoon to go to the hippodrome of

Cast

as Bruno Fioretti, 'Mandrake', background actor *

Enrico Montesano Enrico Montesano (born 7 June 1945) is an Italian actor, comedian, television host, screenwriter and showman. Career Montesano comes from a family involved in theatre, and he made his debut in 1966 in a show named ''Humor nero'', alongside o ...

as Armando Pellicci, 'Er Pomata', unemployed and gambler *

Catherine Spaak Catherine Spaak (3 April 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a French-Italian actress, singer, model, and media personality. A member of the Spaak family, she was known as an iconic "It girl" in Italy during the 1960s, becoming a star of commedia all'i ...

as Gabriella, Mandrake's girlfriend bar owner *

Mario Carotenuto Mario Carotenuto (30 June 1916 – 14 April 1995) was an Italian actor of film and theatre. Biography Carotenuto is the son of Nello Carotenuto, a silent film actor, and younger brother of the actor Memmo Carotenuto. After the 1943 Armistic ...

as attorney De Marchis * as Felice Roversi a franelero *

Gigi Ballista Gigi Ballista (1 December 1918 – 2 August 1980) was an Italian film and television actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1961 and 1980. Life and career Born in Florence, Ballista graduated in law, then he started working as a PR consulta ...

as Count Dallara, stable owner * Maria Teresa Albani as Fortune-teller * Nikki Gentile (as Nicky Gentile) as Mafalda model and

call girl A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who (unlike a street prostitution, street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by ...

Adolfo Celi Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

* Ennio Antonelli as Otello Rinaldi, the butcher, 'Manzotin' *

Luciano Bonanni Luciano is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese given name and surname. It is derived from Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of ''Lucius'' ("Light"). The French form is '' Lucien'', while the Basque form is '' Luken''. Single name * Luciano (rapp ...

Fatebenefratelli Hospital Fatebenefratelli Hospital (officially Ospedale San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli) is a hospital located on the western side of the Tiber Island in Rome. It was established in 1585 and is currently run by the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John ...

's male nurse and horse gambler *

Aristide Caporale Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theol ...

(as Aristide Caporali) *

Gianfranco Cardinali Gianfranco is a compound Italian given name, consisting of Gian- and Franco. ''Gian-'' comes from Giovanni and is used in compound names. It is closest to John or French Jean. Gianni means "God is gracious" and Franco means "Free man" or "Frenchma ...

Giuseppe Castellano Giuseppe Castellano (September 12, 1893 – July 31, 1977) was an Italian general who negotiated and signed the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 3, 1943. Biography Military career Of Sicilian descent but born in Prato, he was ...

as Stelvio Mazza the

Harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

driver *

Renzo Ozzano Renzo, the diminutive of Lorenzo, is an Italian masculine given name and a surname. Given name Notable people named Renzo include the following: * Renzo Alverà (1933–2005), Italian bobsledder *Renzo Arbore (born 1937), Italian TV host, sh ...

as Jean Louis Rossini French harness racing champion driver * Fernando Cerulli as TV commercial whisky "VAT 69" director * Alberto Giubilo, famous Italian TV announcer of horse races, as himself

Production

In the opening credits,

is credited as Luigi Proietti, his full name. The actor has also stated that following Ghost Whisperer to film, he feared he would really take up the habit of gambling. In the scene of whisky Vat69 spot the actor who plays the director (Fernando Cerulli) is voiced by Steno, while the driver without a license is voiced by Mario Lombardini.

Sequel

The sequel was filmed in 2002, ''

Febbre da cavallo - La mandrakata ''Fever'' (; ) is a 1943 Italian-Spanish drama film. I was directed by Primo Zeglio and starred Paola Barbara, Carlo Tamberlani and Mary Carrillo.Chiti & Poppi p.137 It was made in Madrid as a co-production (media), co-production between the two ...

'' directed by

Carlo Vanzina Carlo Vanzina (13 March 1951 – 8 July 2018) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. Vanzina was born in Rome, the son of Maria Teresa Nati and film director Stefano Vanzina and brother of Enrico Vanzina. Many of his project ...

(son of Steno, whose real name was Stefano Vanzina), again starring Gigi Proietti.

References

External links