The Boom

1963

1h 25m

Comedy

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

67%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A man (Alberto Sordi) plans to sell one of his eyes to pay his debts and keep his wife happy.

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

[A] snappy Italian satire, somewhat reminiscent of Billy Wilder's The Apartment.

Sep 28, 2017

Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Imagine Buster Keaton crossed with David Lynch, with a bit of Billy Wilder satire tossed into the mix, and you'll have a rough idea of the wild and crazy tightrope 1963's absurdist "Il Boom" manages to walk.

Jul 20, 2017

Full Review

Glenn Kenny

New York Times

Written by Cesare Zavattini, who did the screenplays for many of De Sica's best-known works, the movie skewers the mendacity inherent in the postwar economic resurgence in his country.

Jun 15, 2017

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

What really reaches through time, though, is the length and sharpness of Il Boom's teeth...

Dec 12, 2020

Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Sordi's character, a middle-class middle manager struggling in vain to keep up with Italy's consumer-happy prosperity in the mid-1960s, finds himself in a familiar pickle.

Sep 20, 2017

Full Review

Eric Monder

Film Journal International

This ostensible farce might be a surprise, but the tragic undercurrent that pervades the storyline fits well into [De Sica]'s longstanding left-wing sociopolitical concerns.

Jun 14, 2017

Full Review

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Iscritto I

Among the top 10 italian movies, ever.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

06/20/20

Full Review

paul d

Watching Il Boom for the first time in 2018 was like getting an inheritance from a long-lost relative, a completely unexpected treasure. In this case the gift comes from director Vittorio De Sica, writer Cesare Zavattini and producer Dino De Laurentis, and it is such a rich and complex film that it is hard to describe. Let's call it a satirical tragi-comedy, since we have to give it a label. The post-war Italian economic miracle is the backdrop for the film, but the human themes faced by the protagonist, and the social commentary of the film, transcend all time and place. Il Boom is entertaining, thought provoking, and disturbing. Chief among the many reasons to watch this great film is Alberto Sordi's outstanding performance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

You know what, I really enjoyed this if for nothing else than the fact that without the music setting the upbeat tone it woulda been depressing as shit. But throw in some excellent comedic timing and suddenly a speech about how you're worthless to the world except for your body organs becomes somehow amusing. This movie exists in that plane between laughter and tears - a perfect satirical send up of money obsessed culture and the true loyalties of the Beautiful Ones on top.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Actually from 1963 - an entertaining example of commedia all'italiana whichh focuses more directly on one of its central themes - the boom years of the 60s and the superficiality of many of those who benefitted.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Vittorio De Sica

Director

Alberto Sordi

Giovanni Alberti

Gianna Maria Canale

Silvia Alberti

Elena Nicolai

Mrs. Bausetti

Ettore Geri

Mr. Bausetti

Mariolina Bovo

Mrs. Faravalli

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Synopsis

A man (Alberto Sordi) plans to sell one of his eyes to pay his debts and keep his wife happy.

Director: Vittorio De Sica
Screenwriter: Cesar Zavattini
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: Italian
Box Office (Gross USA): $57.3K
Runtime: 1h 25m