Il gaucho (The Gaucho). 1965. Italy/Argentina. Directed by Dino Risi. Screenplay by Ruggero Maccari, Ettore Scola, Tullio Pinelli, Dino Risi. With Vittorio Gassman, Silvana Pampanini, Amadeo Nazzari, Nino Manfredi. In Italian; English subtitles. 116 min.
Three waves of Italian émigrés in Argentina rub and bruise elbows in Risi’s The Gaucho, a film roundly attacked by the real Italian expat community in Buenos Aires (perhaps protesting too much?). A small-time Italian movie crew attends an Argentinian film festival to promote their latest “masterpiece.” Vittorio Gassman, a financially and morally destitute PR flack, leads the way, with a smarmy screenwriter, an aging diva gold digger, and no-name starlets in tow. Amedeo Nazzari is the wealthy Italian engineer who is taken in by their dubious charms, throwing lavish parties for a taste of what he left behind in the old country. The Gaucho makes short work of exotic Latin American cultural stereotypes and the immigrant dream of success. New 35mm print courtesy Luce Cinecittà.