{ "id": "epjvs94arh", "slug": "amici-miei", "title": "Amici miei", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "label": "Released 1970 to 1976", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Amici miei (My Friends), 1975 Italian comedy by Mario Monicelli, completed after Pietro Germi's death; five Florentine friends stage pranks (zingarate); source of the word supercazzola; David di Donatello 1976 winner.", "snippet": "Amici miei (My Friends), 1975 Italian comedy by Mario Monicelli, completed after Pietro Germi's death; five Florentine friends stage pranks (zingarate); source of the word supercazzola; David di Donatello 1976 winner.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "markdown": "# Amici miei\n\n**Amici miei** (internationally released as *[My Friends](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-friends-1975-film)*) is a 1975 Italian comedy directed by Mario Monicelli about five Florentine friends around fifty years old who cope with the disappointments of middle age by staging elaborate pranks, which they call *zingarate*, on unsuspecting victims.[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) • [2](https://www.spuntidicinema.it/amici-miei/) The film is regarded as a late high point of the *commedia all'italiana*, the Italian comic tradition that treats serious social material with bitter humor, and it gave everyday Italian speech the word *supercazzola*.[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director | Mario Monicelli, who took over the project after Pietro Germi's death in December 1974; the opening titles read \"un film di Pietro Germi\" followed by \"regia di Mario Monicelli\"[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html) |\n| Screenplay | Pietro Germi, Piero De Bernardi, Leonardo Benvenuti, and Tullio Pinelli[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) |\n| Principal cast | Ugo Tognazzi (Count Raffaello Mascetti), Philippe Noiret (Giorgio Perozzi), Gastone Moschin (Rambaldo Melandri), Duilio Del Prete (Guido Necchi), Adolfo Celi (Professor Alfeo Sassaroli), Bernard Blier (Righi)[4](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6902/amici-miei) |\n| Running time | 140 minutes; a 114-minute cut and an extended version also exist[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) • [2](https://www.spuntidicinema.it/amici-miei/) |\n| Production | Rizzoli Film and R.P.A. Cinematografica; producer Carlo Nebiolo; distributed by Cineriz in 1975[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) • [5](https://www.cinematografo.it/film/amici-miei-qvf6f8sb) |\n| Awards | David di Donatello 1976 for best film, best director, and best actor (Tognazzi); three Nastri d'argento 1976, including best screenplay[6](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/amici-miei/15475/scheda/) |\n| Sequels | *Amici miei - Atto II* (1982, Monicelli), *Atto III* (1985, Nanni Loy), and the prequel *Amici miei - Come tutto ebbe inizio* (2011, Neri Parenti)[7](https://cinema.fanpage.it/amici-miei-il-film-cult-di-mario-monicelli-compie-40-anni/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and characters\n\nThe group centers on four Florentines who have been friends since school, joined later by a fifth. Count Raffaello Mascetti is a ruined nobleman kept by his friends, who confuses and mocks his interlocutors with nonsense wordplay he calls *supercazzole*. Rambaldo Melandri, the only one of the group never to have married, is an architect employed at the city government, forever searching for a woman. Giorgio Perozzi is a journalist and crime desk editor who hides his lack of seriousness and his extramarital affairs from his family. Guido Necchi runs a bar-restaurant with a billiard room, together with his wife Carmen, which serves as the group's meeting place. The fifth member, Professor Alfeo Sassaroli, is a celebrated physician who directs a clinic in the hills at Pescia; bored with his profession, he joined the four after they were hospitalized in his clinic following a prank that went wrong.[2](https://www.spuntidicinema.it/amici-miei/) • [12](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/amici-miei/15475/scheda/)\n\nTheir pranks target everyone and everything, but above all the retired Righi (Bernard Blier), the butt of their jokes even at a funeral. In one celebrated escapade they slap train passengers from a platform canopy; in another they pose as road technicians and condemn a village's houses and church for a phantom highway; in a third they pose as drug dealers to punish the greedy Righi, who is in fact holding only sugar.[13](https://cinemadvisor.it/film/amici-miei/) • [5](https://www.cinematografo.it/film/amici-miei-qvf6f8sb) Perozzi is the film's narrator, recalling the group's most memorable escapades, and the story closes with his death, which tests the friends' goliardic spirit; even at his funeral they improvise one last cruel prank on Righi.[14](https://www.anni70.net/amici-miei-1975/) • [5](https://www.cinematografo.it/film/amici-miei-qvf6f8sb)\n\n## Origin of the project\n\nThe film began as a project of Pietro Germi, the director of *Divorce Italian Style* (1961), who intended to direct it himself and set the story in Bologna.[8](https://sightlines.media/film/20914/my-friends-1975) • [9](https://www.longtake.it/it/film/amici-miei) Benvenuti, Pinelli, and De Bernardi wrote the screenplay for Germi, who had to give up the film as his illness worsened and asked Monicelli to complete the work; Germi died in December 1974, shortly before turning sixty.[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html) • [10](https://www.tempi.it/amici-miei-preso-sul-serio/) Monicelli, out of respect, insisted that the credits carry the wording \"un film di Pietro Germi\" before his own direction credit.[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html) The Treccani biographical entry on Monicelli describes the film as a wholly Tuscan story that he inherited from his friend Germi.[11](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/mario-monicelli_(Dizionario-Biografico)/)\n\n## Production and style\n\nThe technical crew included Luigi Kuveiller as cinematographer, Ruggero Mastroianni as editor, Lorenzo Baraldi as production designer, and Carlo Rustichelli as composer.[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) Filming took place in Florence and its surroundings; locations identified by the national film-location portal include the bar in via dei Renai in the San Niccolò district, presented in the film as Necchi's bar, the [Santa Maria Novella](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-maria-novella) railway station, and the village of Calcata in Lazio.[4](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6902/amici-miei) • [15](https://www.imdb.com/it/title/tt0072637/) A three-hour version was also prepared for television.[16](https://www.museocinema.it/sites/default/files/allegati_comunicati_stampa/40_comunicato_stampa_mario_monicelli_dal_31.08_al_15.09.2012.pdf)\n\nCritics have read the film's humor as inseparable from melancholy. The film critic Enrico Magrelli, curator and author, has described the playful mask of the group as hiding \"a underlying melancholy that makes the film profoundly existentialist,\" and noted that the film's dialogue is, in today's terms, \"politically incorrect.\"[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html) Monicelli himself explained the genre's mechanism in an interview: \"The subject is dramatic, treated with humor. The ending is not happy. The undertone is always bitter, stinging, at times atrocious.\"\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe initial critical reception was lukewarm, but word of mouth made *Amici miei* the most-seen film of the 1975-76 season, with about seven million spectators; the critic Valerio Pece reports box-office takings of more than seven billion lire, ahead of Spielberg's *Jaws* and *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*.[10](https://www.tempi.it/amici-miei-preso-sul-serio/) • [17](https://oldwww.comune.re.it/cinema/catfilm.nsf/PES_PerTitolo/BCCBEE4EC0F38989C125712D00312DBB?opendocument=) At the 1976 David di [Donatello](https://www.edgepedia.org/donatello) awards the film won best film, best director for Monicelli, and best actor for Tognazzi; at the 1976 Nastri d'argento it won best producer (Andrea Rizzoli), best story, and best screenplay, with further nominations for director, lead actor, and supporting actress (Milena Vukotic).[6](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/amici-miei/15475/scheda/) • [18](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6902/amici-miei) Sources differ on the exact Italian release date: Cineuropa lists 26 July 1975, while IMDb gives 23 October 1975 and Cinemadvisor 24 October 1975.[1](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/) • [15](https://www.imdb.com/it/title/tt0072637/) • [13](https://cinemadvisor.it/film/amici-miei/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film spawned a franchise with mixed fortunes. Monicelli's own *Amici miei - Atto II* (1982), with the same leads except for Perozzi, succeeded at the box office even though critics found the pessimistic vein dominant over the comic one; *Amici miei - Atto III* (1985), directed by Nanni Loy, was judged repetitive, and the 2011 prequel *Amici miei - Come tutto ebbe inizio*, directed by Neri Parenti and set in fifteenth-century Florence during a plague epidemic, was panned as purely commercial.[7](https://cinema.fanpage.it/amici-miei-il-film-cult-di-mario-monicelli-compie-40-anni/)\n\nThe film's linguistic legacy has outlasted the sequels. *Supercazzola*, popularized by Tognazzi's Mascetti, entered the Treccani dictionary as a term for absurd, rambling talk with neither head nor tail, and the *zingarate* and *supercazzole* of the film, together with the style of the contemporary *Fantozzi* series, entered common Italian usage.[3](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html) • [19](https://www.ilnordest.it/vivere-il-nord-est/cultura/cinema-film-amici-miei-fantozzi-1975-confronto-yhtdj5qj) A restored version returned to cinemas in 2015 for the film's fortieth anniversary and the centenary of Monicelli's birth.[5](https://www.cinematografo.it/film/amici-miei-qvf6f8sb) Florence now offers a walking tour through twenty locations from the film, run by the city's cultural office, in which participants follow the sets while watching the film on a smartphone app.[20](https://cultura.comune.fi.it/istruzione/dalle-redazioni/visitare-firenze-con-amici-miei-1)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Amici miei, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/it/film/414767/)\n2. [Amici miei, Spunti di Cinema](https://www.spuntidicinema.it/amici-miei/)\n3. [Enrico Magrelli: \"Amici miei\", o del politicamente scorretto, Rai Cultura](https://www.raicultura.it/cinema/articoli/2025/12/Enrico-Magrelli-Amici-miei-o-del-politicamente-scorretto-06734c2d-e48b-4ef3-b324-d51dd2489a6e.html)\n4. [Amici Miei - Le location del film, Italy for Movies](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6902/amici-miei)\n5. [Amici miei, Cinematografo](https://www.cinematografo.it/film/amici-miei-qvf6f8sb)\n6. [Amici miei (1975), ComingSoon](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/amici-miei/15475/scheda/)\n7. [\"Amici miei\", il film cult di Mario Monicelli compie 40 anni, Fanpage](https://cinema.fanpage.it/amici-miei-il-film-cult-di-mario-monicelli-compie-40-anni/)\n8. [My Friends (1975), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/20914/my-friends-1975)\n9. [Amici miei, Longtake](https://www.longtake.it/it/film/amici-miei)\n10. [\"Amici miei\" preso sul serio, Tempi](https://www.tempi.it/amici-miei-preso-sul-serio/)\n11. [Monicelli, Mario, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/mario-monicelli_(Dizionario-Biografico)/)\n12. [Amici miei (1975), ComingSoon trama](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/amici-miei/15475/scheda/)\n13. [Amici miei, Cinemadvisor](https://cinemadvisor.it/film/amici-miei/)\n14. [Amici miei (1975), Anni70.net](https://www.anni70.net/amici-miei-1975/)\n15. [Amici miei (1975), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/it/title/tt0072637/)\n16. [La verità in commedia. Omaggio a Mario Monicelli, Museo Nazionale del Cinema](https://www.museocinema.it/sites/default/files/allegati_comunicati_stampa/40_comunicato_stampa_mario_monicelli_dal_31.08_al_15.09.2012.pdf)\n17. [Amici miei, Comune di Reggio Emilia film catalog](https://oldwww.comune.re.it/cinema/catfilm.nsf/PES_PerTitolo/BCCBEE4EC0F38989C125712D00312DBB?opendocument=)\n18. [Amici Miei, Italy for Movies premi](https://www.italyformovies.it/film-serie-tv-games/detail/6902/amici-miei)\n19. [Se «Amici miei» duella con «Fantozzi», il Nord Est](https://www.ilnordest.it/vivere-il-nord-est/cultura/cinema-film-amici-miei-fantozzi-1975-confronto-yhtdj5qj)\n20. [Visitare Firenze con Amici Miei, Comune di Firenze](https://cultura.comune.fi.it/istruzione/dalle-redazioni/visitare-firenze-con-amici-miei-1)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Amici miei\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Amici miei](https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei](https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Amici miei\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/amici-miei. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Amici miei, 1975 Italian comedy by Mario Monicelli, completed after Pietro Germi's death; five Florentine friends stage pranks; source of the word supercazzola; David di Donatello 1976 winner." }