Big Deal on Madonna Street  

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Big Deal on Madonna Street (I soliti ignoti}}, also released as Persons Unknown in the UK) is a 1958 Italian crime film, directed by Mario Monicelli. Its title translates as "the usual unknown persons". "Unknown persons" is a bureaucratic phrase for unidentified criminals. The film is a comedy about a group of small-time thieves and ne'er-do-wells who bungle an attempt to burglarize a state-run pawn shop called Monte di Pieta'. The main roles are played by Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman Mario Salvatori, Carlo Pisacane and Tiberio Murgia. Both the careers of Gassman and Mastroianni were considerably helped by the film's success, especially Gassman's since up until then he was not deemed fit for comedic roles. Claudia Cardinale, featured in a minor role, started to build some fame from there.

The production was very skeptical about the movie, the original poster testifies this by featuring the then-famous comedian Totò (who actually had very brief screen time) at its center, suggesting a main role for him, and a titillating swimsuit depiction of Claudia Cardinale for added effect, while in the movie she plays the role of a black-clad Sicilian girl, almost held prisoner at home by her overbearing brother Tiberio Murgia.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Big Deal on Madonna Street" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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