''Ginger and Fred'' () is a 1986

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

and starring

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

and

Giulietta Masina Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (; 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in ''La Strada'' (1954) and Cabiria in '' Nights of Cabiria'' (1957), for which she won the Cannes Fi ...

. The title is a reference to the American dancing couple

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

and

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

. The two leads portray Italian impersonators of Astaire and Rogers who reunite after thirty years of retirement for a vulgar and bizarre television extravaganza. The film was the subject of a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

claim in the United States by

, who claimed in '' Rogers v. Grimaldi'' that the film violated her

Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal statute governing trademark law in the United States. The Lanham Act establishes a national system of trademark registration and grants owners of federally registe ...

trademark rights, right of publicity, and was a "

false light In US law, false light is a tort concerning privacy that is similar to the tort of defamation. The privacy laws in the United States include a non-public person's right to protection from publicity that creates an untrue or misleading imp ...

" defamation. The Second Circuit rejected this claim, finding that "suppressing an artistically relevant though ambiguous ytitle film" on trademark grounds would "unduly restrict expression."

Plot

Amelia Bonetti, whose stage name is "Ginger", and Pippo Botticella, whose stage name is "Fred", were a famous dancing team known for imitating Ginger Rogers' and Fred Astaire's dance routines, and have retired for close to thirty years. They have been chosen for a televised reunion on a Christmas special for the variety show ''We Are Proud to Present''. Amelia, now a widowed grandmother, accepts as another moment in the limelight while Pippo needs the money. As she waits for Pippo to arrive, she dines with a transvestite who has a divination for visiting men in prison. She returns to her hotel room, and as she tries to sleep, she eventually learns Pippo has arrived. The next morning, they board a bus in destination to the television studio, along with a lineup of various acts including a troupe of

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

-dancing midgets, a plastic surgeon, and a couple who tape-records ghost voices. Amelia and Pippo arrive at the studio where they do their dance rehearsal and have their makeup and hairstyling done. As they wait in the wings, various guests appear on the special, including the transvestite, a man who has left the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

and proposes to his fiancée, a manufacturer of edible underwear, and a miracle-performing monk. When Amelia and Pippo begin their number, the television station experiences a blackout. During the outage, Pippo confesses he was institutionalized for a mental breakdown after they had broken up. They accept the outage as a bad omen and attempt to sneak out, but the lights return before they do. They proceed with their dance number, and despite one mishap, they finish their number gracefully. At the train station, Amelia and Pippo kiss and bid their farewells.

Cast

as Amelia Bonetti (Ginger) *

as Pippo Botticella (Fred) * Franco Fabrizi as Show host * Friedrich von Ledebur as Admiral Aulenti * Augusto Poderosi as transvestite * Martin Maria Blau as assistant director * Jacques Henri Lartigue as Brother Gerolamo * Totò Mignone as Totò * Ezio Marano as the intellectual * Antoine Saint-John as bandaged man * Friedrich von Thun as kidnapped tycoon * Antonino Iuorio as TV inspector * Barbara Scoppa as journalist * Elisabetta Flumeri as journalist * Salvatore Billa as

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

* Caterina Vertova

Release

The film opened the 36th Berlin Film Festival on 14 February 1986.

Reception

Critical response

''Ginger and Fred'' has an approval rating of 77% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 13 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.

Awards and nominations

''Ginger and Fred'' was nominated for best foreign film awards in 1986 by the U.S.

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the awards season, film award ...

, as well as the 1987 Golden Globes and BAFTA. Masina received a David di Donatello for Best Actress award for her role (1986).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginger And Fred 1986 films 1986 comedy-drama films 1980s dance films 1980s English-language films 1980s French films 1980s German films 1980s Italian films 1980s Italian-language films 1980s satirical films Cultural depictions of Fred Astaire English-language French films English-language German films English-language Italian films Films about entertainers Films about television Films directed by Federico Fellini Films produced by Alberto Grimaldi Films scored by Nicola Piovani Films set in Rome Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini Films with screenplays by Tonino Guerra France 3 Cinéma films French comedy-drama films French dance films French satirical films German comedy-drama films German satirical films Italian comedy-drama films Italian dance films Italian satirical films Italian-language French films Italian-language German films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Transgender-related films West German films English-language comedy-drama films