Avanti! (1972) on Netflix
Wendell Armbruster Jr. travels to Ischia to take his father's body home and learns the industrialist died with his longtime mistress. Pamela Piggott has come for her mother.
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- IMDb7.1/1013,372 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
Wendell Armbruster Jr. travels to Ischia to claim the body of his father, a Baltimore industrialist killed in an automobile accident on the resort island, where the older man spent a month each year, ostensibly for the therapeutic mud baths. Pamela Piggott, a shop girl from London, arrives for the body of her mother, Catherine. The two learn that their parents died in the same crash and that Wendell's father and Pamela's mother had been lovers for ten years. The hotel manager, Carlo Carlucci, helps Wendell with the casket and the Italian bureaucracy.
Cast
- Franco Acamporaas Armando Trotta
- Raffaele Mottolaas Passport Officer
- Lino Colettaas Cipriani
- Harry Rayas Dr. Fleischmann
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Avanti! (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Wilder told Juliet Mills the part required her to gain 25 pounds, and she agreed, as she did to a nude scene. Diamond opposed including one, arguing "I think nudity hurts laughs" because an audience watching somebody's boobs is not listening to the dialogue.
- Marcello Mastroianni declined the role of Carlucci, and Nino Manfredi and Romolo Valli both tested for the part, but Wilder was concerned about their English and cast Clive Revill, whom he had previously directed and knew had a knack for languages and accents.
- Billy Wilder contacted Juliet Mills himself and offered her the role of Pamela Piggott. "I loved Billy Wilder just calling me and asking me to be in his film," the actress recalled, "no lawyer or agent, his voice, not asking for an audition or a screen test."
