Dino Risi

Il sorpasso

Il sorpasso

The ultimate Italian road comedy, Il sorpasso stars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, Il sorpasso is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.

Film Info

  • Italy
  • 1962
  • 105 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.85:1
  • Italian
  • Spine #707

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New introduction by filmmaker Alexander Payne
  • New interviews with screenwriter Ettore Scola and film scholar Rémi Fournier Lanzoni
  • Interview from 2004 with director Dino Risi, conducted by film critic Jean A. Gili
  • Introduction by actor Jean-Louis Trintignant from a 1983 French television broadcast of the film
  • A Beautiful Vacation, a 2006 documentary on Risi featuring interviews with the director and his collaborators and friends
  • Excerpts from a 2012 documentary that returns to Castiglioncello, the location for the film’s beach scenes
  • Speaking with Gassman, a 2005 documentary on the relationship between actor Vittorio Gassman and Risi, directed by Risi’s son Marco
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate, an essay by critic Antonio Monda (dual-format only), as well as excerpts from Risi’s writings, with an introduction by film critic Valerio Caprara (dual-format only)

    New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New introduction by filmmaker Alexander Payne
  • New interviews with screenwriter Ettore Scola and film scholar Rémi Fournier Lanzoni
  • Interview from 2004 with director Dino Risi, conducted by film critic Jean A. Gili
  • Introduction by actor Jean-Louis Trintignant from a 1983 French television broadcast of the film
  • A Beautiful Vacation, a 2006 documentary on Risi featuring interviews with the director and his collaborators and friends
  • Excerpts from a 2012 documentary that returns to Castiglioncello, the location for the film’s beach scenes
  • Speaking with Gassman, a 2005 documentary on the relationship between actor Vittorio Gassman and Risi, directed by Risi’s son Marco
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate, an essay by critic Antonio Monda (dual-format only), as well as excerpts from Risi’s writings, with an introduction by film critic Valerio Caprara (dual-format only)

    New cover by Eric Skillman
Il sorpasso
Cast
Vittorio Gassman
Bruno Cortona
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Roberto Mariani
Catherine Spaak
Lilli Cortona
Claudio Gora
Bibi
Luciana Angiolillo
Gianna
Credits
Director
Dino Risi
Story and screenplay
Dino Risi
Story and screenplay
Ettore Scola
Story and screenplay
Ruggero Maccari
Dialogue
Ettore Scola
Dialogue
Ruggero Maccari
Produced by
Mario Cecchi Gori
Cinematography
Alfio Contini
Music
Riz Ortolani
Editing
Maurizio Lucidi
Production design
Ugo Pericoli
Costume design
Ugo Pericoli

Current

Alexander Payne on Il sorpasso
Alexander Payne on Il sorpasso
Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso, coming out next week in a Criterion edition, was an inspiration for Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning Sideways. Being such a fan of the film, which is beloved in Italy but underappreciated here in the U.S., Payne agreed to …
Il sorpasso: Italy, Dark and Light
Il sorpasso: Italy, Dark and Light

The Italian cinema expert describes the immense popularity of Dino Risi’s film in its home country, and the way it deepened the commedia all’italiana genre.

By Antonio Monda

Sex and the Italian Driver
Sex and the Italian Driver

This humorous magazine piece from 1970 sheds some light on the meaning of the title of Il sorpasso, along with the way Vittorio Gassman comports himself behind the wheel in it.

By Jackson Burgess

Il sorpasso: The Joys of Disillusionment
Il sorpasso: The Joys of Disillusionment

A leading light of commedia all’italiana, Dino Risi specialized in fleet, satirical takes on contemporary Italian culture, and this road-trip smash was his most trenchant.

By Phillip Lopate

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Remembering Ettore Scola
Remembering Ettore Scola
Last week, we were saddened to learn of the passing, at the age of eighty-four, of the beloved Italian writer and director Ettore Scola. The filmmaker was a luminary of Italian cinema for more than half a century, and his body of work has left an ind…