We all remember Al Pacino in the role of the blind Don Juan in Scent of a Woman, for which he received an Oscar. Gassman received the Grand Prix in Cannes 17 years earlier for the same role



As time goes by formerly prominent Italian actors fade away from the public spotlight. This happens quicker and quicker all the time. We remember Marcello Mastroianni whose successes sprawl across a long period between 1955 and 1985, while others have vanished from our memories. This was a national cinema that after WW II ruled the world of film. If we ask ourselves who besides Fellini’s protagonist deserves our attention we may remember a few very popular comedians (Totò, Alberto Sordi, Nino Manfredi and others), and maybe a few others who weren’t comedians. But at that time comedy was the genre of choice.

Vittorio Gassman, whose father was Austrian, graduated from the Academy of Drama Arts and was one of the most popular Italian theatre actors (he was famous for his unconventional interpretation of Hamlet). Later he became a renowned director and founder of the popular theatre group Teatro Popolare Italiano. He did not like film (“...it is chaos”), but nonetheless appeared in many since 1946. He appeared in more than a hundred roles and became a very popular star. In his beginnings he was a lover, even the most famous one (Casanova), but such roles did not bring success anymore and so his brief career in Hollywood, a place which he did not like, failed. He was a strong and virile man who acted in many Italian adventure films, which sadly could not compete with American films. He played a wide range of characters, and was successful as bad guys (Bitter Rice), which rarely brings success and popularity. He was a master of disguise and an outstanding character actor. Even when his films were not very popular, his acting always received praise. And then came comedy. After the huge success of the comedy Obično nepoznati lopovi (1958) by Mario Monicelli, Gassman settled mostly for this genre, the typical subgenre called commedia all' italiana. These were lightly subversive films about ordinary people partly based on the tradition of neorealist films and characters. Characters in these films survived thanks to their ingenuity and their faults - such as laziness, levity, the tendency to cheat, to present themselves falsely and act as parasites - cause more judgment. These characters know very well how to convince themselves that they are different, they often start to believe their own lies but also become victims of poor judgment and petty passions. Therefore, very often their punishment is embarrassment, which from today’s standpoint does not really seem like a punishment. That is why this particular genre has started to stagnate. In brief, the masculine Gassman - who could not count on grimaces a la Totò, or on looks that seem to belong to the fool a la Sordi - was often the most wicked of the characters. However, when he portrayed such wicked characters he always added a dose of humanity to them because otherwise it would not be comedy. He could also be the most bizarre character, which actually concludes the reminiscence of this great actor. We all remember Al Pacino in the role of the blind Don Juan in Miris žene, for which he received an Oscar. Gassman received the Grand Prix in Cannes 17 years earlier for the same role in Dino Risi’s film. There is no doubt that a blind man can be a Don Juan, but if somebody does not believe it, Gassman will certainly persuade them. (Ante Peterlić)