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Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) - it is a good deal better than the remakes

I got around to watching the original 1958 comedy caper film - the one that "Welcome to Collinwood" was pantomiming.

"Big Deal on Madonna Street" is hilarious. It is 25 minutes longer than the remake and never once did I feel the need to check my watch. I even paused to go refill my water glass. There will be no problem telling who is who or how the story goes - it is well shot and characters are unique. The story is a simple and fun.


Comparing the "BDoMS" and "WtC" - they are identical in terms of characters and scenes. "Big Deal on Madonna Street" street is terrific, and "WtC" is a slog. The biggest difference is seen in the dialog. In "Big Deal" the people just talk, like you might expect people to talk. They are funny, but not odd. The colloquialisms happen, but they aren't hard to see through. In "WtC", they are using a vernacular to make sure you are immersed deep in an Eastern European ethnic neighborhood of Cleveland. This doesn't serve anything for the story and is something of a distracting verbal prop. They box your ears with it constantly such that you need to make up a new language to participate in the scenes.


Additionally, the character definitions/arcs are very different. In "Big Deal", they are just hapless crooks at the beginning and at the end. In "WtC", they are trying to better themselves, and so the audience gets confused - are you supposed to laugh at their nonsense, or are you supposed to "ahhh" their stories.


In addition to how fun "Big Deal on Madonna Street" is, I was pleasantly surprised to find Claudia Cardinale show up in a minor role. I know her from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West" - if you asked me to watch a movie where she sorts recycling, I probably would.

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