Dino Risi
May 16, 2022
In 1962 “Il sorpasso” by Dino Risi was released, a road movie halfway between Italian comedy and social denunciation.
The naive Bruno Cortona, played by Vittorio Gassman, reckless and braggart, drags the meek and shy Roberto Mariani, Jean Louis Trintignant, on an aimless mid-August journey.
Traveling north, after stopping in Castiglioncello, Cortona takes a fatal overtaking in the famous curve of Calafuria. The good Roberto Mariani will be killed in the resulting accident.
The story is symbolic of a vulgar part of Italy that, in the midst of the economic boom, tries to overwhelm and contaminate another humble and honest one.