Plot

The myths of the sixties are satirized in 20 episodes.

Synopsis of the 20 segments in order of appearance, with their titles in Italian, French, Portuguese, and (informal) English (and approximate running time):

1) L'educazione sentimentale, La bonne éducation, Educação Sentimental, Sentimental Education (7') - A father ('Ugo Tognazzi' (qv)) sends his 9-year-old son ('Ricky Tognazzi' (qv)) to a catholic school in Rome (elementary school Angelo Braschi, at Piazza di S. Salvatore in Lauro) and reads 'Il Giorno' (a pro-socialist newspaper), but his behavior and life lessons are the opposite of a good citizen's; he teaches his son to lie, to rob, to be violent, and to despise the democratic institutions (when they drive past a poster of the Democracia Cristiana). Ten years later, the newspaper presents him as the victim, robbed and killed by his own son.

2) La raccomandazione, La recommendation [Sketch cut from the French version], A recomendação, The Recommendation (6') - Giulio Francusi ('Franco Castellani' (qv)), a jobless stage actor, asks humbly that the great Actor ('Vittorio Gassman' (qv)) humiliates makes a recommendation call to a producer to get him a job. Which he finally does, amid side aparts to his Assistant Carmen ('Carmen Pericolo' (qv)), the production assistant Lucidi, and his co-star Pallocchetta. During the phone call, he changes the recommendation to a different actor that is on the payroll of his company, so he gets free of a financial burden.

3) Il mostro, Le monstre, O Monstro, The Monster (1') - The front page cries out: «In a house of Pontina / Kills five sons and barricades inside / The monster surrenders after exchanging gunshots with the police». At the moment of the arrest, the photo reporters ask the escorting Policemen (Vittorio Gassman and Ugo Tognazzi) to stop, for them to take a snapshot of the frail man - and one wonders who of the thee in the fraze picture is the monster.

4) Come un padre, Comme un père, Como um Pai, Like a Father (7') - After three months of marriage, a young Husband ('Lando Buzzanca' (qv)) knocks at the door of his best friend Stefano (Ugo Tognazzi) - who's like a father to him - in the middle of a stormy night, to tell him of his suspicions about being betrayed by the wife. His friend dismisses all his arguments, recommends him to be calm, and Luchino ends by asking him to speak with the wife, as Stefano is like a father to her... Stefano agrees, and settles for a lunch with the couple next day, with his favorite dish and wine. After the husband leaves, Stefano returns to bed, where Luciana is waiting, and tells her that he is going to have dinner with her the next day.

5) Presa dalla vita, Rapt, Presa pela Vida, Clinging to Life (5') - An old lady Olimpia Ceccarelli ('Maria Mannelli' (qv)) going home after church, is accosted by four men, and the Leader (Vittorio Gassman) address her by name, and suggests she goes with them to have a good time and dinner. She is terrified, tries to run away, is captured and taken by force to a villa with swimming pool - where there is a film crew shooting a scene in which the old lady, tied to a wheelchair, is shoved into the swimming pool, screaming. The Movie Director (Vittorio Gassman in a dual role) is displeased with the extra's performance, and sets for a repeat: take 13.

6) Il povero soldato, Le pauvre soldat, O Pobre Soldado, The Unfortunate Soldier (9') - The 'Momento-Sera', a moderate newspaper, shouts in page one: «The crime of Parioli [popular district of Rome] / The mystery of the murdered girl goes on». 'Il Giornale d'Italia' [a newspaper then competing also for a moderate audience] counters also in page one with: «One week after the mysterious crime of Parioli: Elide's brother crushed by the pain may never again recover from the choc». 'L'Unità - organo del Partito Comunista Italiano' has a mitigated title, but also in page one: «The whodunit Batacchi - Drugs at the origin of the ex-waitress's death?» Batacchi (Ugo Tognazzi) learns from the Police Officer ('Mario Laurentino' (qv)) that his sister was much changed since she had left her home village to be a maid in Rome, and was living above a maid's salary - namely she had a nice apartment and a Fiat 600 car... The broken-heart soldier next visits the chief editor of 'Corriere Sera' [left-wing, large circulation newspaper] and naively tells him that he had found a diary kept by his late sister, with details of what she had done, when and where, and the names she had been with - giving as examples the comendattore Beppe Cocogna, the engineer Mario Cinina... But before handing it to the reporter, he tells him that 'Il Giornale d'Italia' had already offered him three million lire for the manuscript, but of course he had refused. He knew that Elide liked 'Paese Sera' best, and it was in this newspaper she published her ad applying for a maid employment in Rome... So, for 3,5 million he would sell the diary.

7) Che vitaccia!, Une vie de chien, Raio de Vida!, A dog's Life (3') - Nicola (Vittorio Gassman) lives with his old mother, pregnant wife ('Angela Portaluri' (qv)) and eight children in a slum of Rome. The ceiling is falling apart, they have no money for the milkman, nor the doctor and the medicines, but he leaves them behind, and spends the last cents to attend a football match and shout out for Roma [Associazione Sportiva Roma].

8) La giornata dell'onorevole, La journée dun parlementaire, Um Dia de um Honrado Deputado, A Day in the Life of a Member of Parliament (12') - A member of Parliament (Ugo Tognazzi) lives in a convent [implying that he is an MP elected by Democracia Cristiana], attended by a young, effeminate priest, Don Ilario ('Franco Caracciolo' (qv)). Forewarned by a friend from the Ministry of the Public Works that an old general has an appointment with him to deliver facts about a contract that hints of corruption among their party friends, the politician claims to abide only by fairness and his conscience... and arranges to delay his interview with General Olivazzi ('Ugo Attanasio' (qv)) until after the contract has been signed... and he can't do nothing about it.

9) Latin lovers (amanti latini), Sur le sable, Amantes Latinos, Latin Lovers (2') - The young men on the beach exhibit their machismo in the way they look at their female companions in bikinis of various shapes. When a girl ('Luciana Vincenzi' (qv)) sunbathing with a Blonde Latin Lover (Vittorio Gassman) and a dark hair Latin Lover (Ugo Tognazzi), they extend their arms to the place where she was... to intertwine their hands, lovingly.

10) Testimone volontario, Le témoin volontaire, Testemunha Voluntária, Volunteer Witness (12') - A man presents himself as a voluntary witness (Ugo Tognazzi) in a murder case, for his principles of truth and justice, to state a fact he saw, but the cunning defense lawyer (Vittorio Gassman) obtains compromising informations about the witness, and exposes him in court as a lier, thus nullifying his statement - and damaging his marriage and his family at the same time.

11) I due orfanelli, Les deux orphelins, Os Dois Órfãos, The Two Orphans (3') - Richetto (Vittorio Gassman) exploits a blind young man, Michele, who plays violin and sings in front of a church, asking money for charity to his alleged brother. When Professor Pinzuto ('Daniele Vargas' (qv)), an ophthalmology surgeon, offers to see Michele in his clinic, almost certain that he can give him the eyesight again, Richetto lies to Michele about his conversation with the doctor, and leads him away.

12) L'agguato, Lembuscade, A Embuscada, The Ambush (2') - A Trafic Warden (Ugo Tognazzi) hides behind a newspaper kiosk, just in front of a no stopping sign, to quickly pass parking tickets to all drivers who stop to buy a newspaper.

13) Il sacrificato, La victime, O Sacrificado, The Victim (9') - Roberto plays the victim (Vittorio Gassman) while driving home his mistress ('Rika Dialyna' (qv)) to convince her that he's breaking their relationship because of her future, the life she's wasting with him, lying about his wife's pregnancy too, until she feels so guilty that she asks him to leave her. That evening he arrives at another apartment, calls his wife at home with yet another lie, and promises the new mistress, Nieli () he'll have more time for her from then on.

14) Vernissage, Vernissage, Vernissage, Vernissage (4') - At the Fiat stand, a man (Ugo Tognazzi) calls his wife, Margherita, to tell her that he just signed the letters of credit for a Fiat 600, and there was a change of colour; he dismisses her worries about their capacity to pay it, and tells her to send their children to the window, for them to see the car before he goes up to the apartment. Yet, the Fiat 600's vernissage is for Marilina, his favorite streetwalker, ('Thea Fleming' (qv)).

15) La musa, La Muse, A Musa, The Muse (5') - The jury of a literary prize is about to decide not to award the prize, as all the entrants are so bad. Elisa (Vittorio Gassman as a female character) argues in favor of a Debutante Writer ('Salvatore Borghese' (qv)), and imposes his novel despite the opposition of an Outspoken Juror ('Jean Rougeul' (qv)) and a Grammarian ('Jacques Herlin' (qv)). After winning her battle in the jury session, Elisa demands her prize from the Literary Prize Winner... himself, on her bed.

16) Scenda l'oblio, On oublie vite, Esquecimento, Forget the Oblivion (2') - On the theater screen, a detachment of German soldiers under the command of a teenager officer, who smokes nervously, summarily executes a handful of resistant Italians. Among the spectators, a middle-class man (Ugo Tognazzi), smoking nonchalantly, seems distraught by someone coughing in the last row, and directs the wife's ('Maria Luisa Rispoli' (qv)) attention to the wall... just the thing they need to fence their property.

17) La strada è di tutti, La rue est à tout le monde, A Estrada Pertence a Todos, The Street Is for Everyone (3') - A pedestrian (Vittorio Gassman) crosses the street on a studded passage, a man taunts the motorists who roll too quickly to his (very slow) walking. Then, riding in his small Fiat, he rolls like a madman.

18) L'oppio dei popoli, Lopium du peuple, O Ópio do Povo, opium of the People (8') - While the Husband (Ugo Tognazzi) is in the sitting room watching all the TV shows, the Wife ('Michèle Mercier' (qv)) is with her Lover in the bedroom across the hall, leaving the door open to ear the announcement of the station closure and dismiss her lover just in time. Next Thursday, the lovers can not meet, because the husband does not watch the Political Debates. Culture on TV does not seems up to much, as the newscaster reads «La cieca de Benevento» in the program, instead of «La cieca de Sorrento» [a classic civil war drama, three times brought to the screen].

19) Il testamento di Francesco, Le Testament de Saint François, O Testamento de São Francisco, The Legacy of Francisco de Assis (3') - The top newscaster ('Riccardo Paladini' (qv) as Himself) is revising the text he shall read next in RAI's Telegiornale, while the make-up artist prepares him to go live as the stations' top speaker. On the next chair, a man (Vittorio Gassman) is making a fuss about the retouches of his makeup, while also being attended to by the stunned Manicurist ('Elisa Mainardi' (qv)). Then, this man goes on screen... He is the Franciscan Monk delivering the message of Francis of Assisi, «simplicity and humility, because one is not to please the body, but the soul»...

20) La nobile arte, Le noble art, A Nobre Arte, The Noble Art (17') - Guarnacci (Ugo Tognazzi), a boxing trainer in decay, desperate for money, convinces his former heavyweight champion Artemio Altidori (Vittorio Gassman) to make a comeback to the rings after years living a peaceful life with his wife Clara Altidori ('Lucia Modugno' (qv)), working at a beach restaurant. The organizer of the boxing event, Enrico Zappalà ('Nino Nini' (qv)) and his assistant Rocchetti (Mario Brega'' (qv)) accept it because no other boxer wanted to compete against the current champion, Giovanni Bordignon ('Ottavio Panunzi' (qv))... Against their expectation, Altidori survives the first round, only to be humiliated and badly beaten afterwards - and reduced to a wheelchair. On the beach, Guarnacci flies a kite against a gray sky to entertain his friend, as a woman in black comments to Clara, «He became a child again.»