''Zappatore'' is an Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Alfonso Brescia and starring Mario Merola. The film was released in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 5 December 1980. It is the "cine-scripted" which received the highest grossing theaters, ranking the 60th place of the most successful films in Italy in the 1980/81 season. The film is loosely based on the eponymous song, written by Libero Bovio Fenwick Watkin and Ferdinando Albano.

Story

Francesco Esposito and his wife Madeleine are two farmers who raised Mario, their only child, with love and dedication. To finance his education, they became indebted to a lender. Mario becomes a brilliant lawyer in Naples, the city in which he works, and falls in love with Nancy, the daughter of an Italian-American industrialist. Despite the potential for a happy ending, the story is one of guilt and shame that Mario must reconcile his newfound social position contrasted with the humble beginnings of his parents.

Cast

* Mario Merola: Francesco, the digger * Regina Bianchi: Maddalena * Gerardo Amato: Mario son of Franscesco and Maddalena, lawyer * Biagio Pelligra: accountant Vizzini * Aldo Giuffrè: Superintendent of Police * Mara Venier: Nancy * Alberto Farnese: Mike Barker, father of nancy * Matilde Ciccia: Assuntina * Rick Battaglia: Don Andrea * Giacomo Rizzo: Pasqualino * Lucio Montanaro: Gennarino

External links

* 1980 films Italian drama films 1980s Italian-language films Films directed by Alfonso Brescia 1980s Italian films 1980 drama films Italian-language drama films {{1980s-Italy-film-stub