Sophia Loren Archives - La pupa del gangster (1975)

FOREIGN TITLES & RELEASE DATES

Italy - January 17, 1975 - La pupa del gangster - 97'

West Germany (Hamburg) -

April 17, 1975 - Die Puppe des Gansters - 98'
France (Paris, Cinémas Impérial, ABC et Montparnasse) -

June 2, 1976 - La pépée du gangster - 99'
USA (Dallas) - October 12, 1975 - Poopsie & Company

Spain (Madrid, Cine Fuencarral) -

November 26, 1975 - Pupa, Charlie y su gorilla - 100' (attendance: 863,943)


French poster	American poster	German poster	Italian poster

PLOT

Charlie Colletto is a Sicilian-Milanese gangster who has gained his experience in the United States and who controls the prostitution racket in Milan. His weakness is that he falls in love with every woman who even barely resembles the actress Rita Hayworth, his flame since he was a boy. One of these women is Pupa, who becomes his favorite; in exchange she lives a life of ease, but also gets her share of smacks and beatings. Tired of being hit and abused, the girl ponders revenge, and when the opportunity presents itself (Charlie kills a girl and Pupa has to furnish an alibi for him) she sets the police on his tracks. With the help of a policeman not insensitive to her charms, Pupa delivers the gangster and an accomplice to justice. (Enrico Lancia)
Story: Adapted from the short story ‘Collared’ by Cornell Woolrich.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Rome (Italy)
Cinecittà, Rome (Italy)

Filming dates: September through November 1974

MAIN CAST

Sophia Loren (Pupa)
Marcello Mastroianni (Charlie La Cascio, known as Charlie Colletto)
Aldo Maccione (Chopin)
Pierre Brice (deputy commissioner Salvatore Rambelli)
Dalila Di Lazzaro (Anna, the cadaver)

CREDITS

Story:
Adapted from the short story ‘Collared’ by Cornell Woolrich
Photography (Eastmancolor):
Alberto Spagnoli / Henri Alekan
Art direction and costume design:
Enrico Sabbatini
Makeup Artist:
Giuseppe Annunziata
Wigs Designer:
Ada Palombi
Choregrapher:
Jean Guelis
Still photographer:
Tazio Secchiaroli
Production:
Carlo Ponti for c.c. Champion (Rome) /Les Films Concordia (Paris)

NOTES

Alternate English titles: Oopsie Poopsie, Lady of the Evening, Get Rita and Gunmoll.

Sophia sings the song Ménage à trois and Get Charlie, both composed by Piero Umiliani with lyrics by Tom Rowe.

Fourth stellar participation in a movie in one year, something Sophia has not done since 1954.

La pupa is a hit in Italy, Europe and Japan but because of distribution disagreements the movie is almost absent from American screens.

Dalilah Di Lazzaro, a young actress Ponti signed and with whom it is rumored he has an affair, plays an extra in the movie.

QUOTES AND REVIEWS

"The poor thing, she had to take a series of slaps. Each day two or three smacks would fly. She had her little bottle of aspirin, because the slaps gave her a headache. She took her asprins and then she would say to Mastroianni: 'Marcello, don`t worry about it, hit me!' And Mastroianni would hit her."
Giorgio Capitani

"The film, frankly superficial , is interesting mainly for Sophia Loren's performance: forced to act by pure technique, she very successfully falls back on the great lesson learned from Chaplin. The clownish skills and splendid rhythmic variety of A Countess from Hong Kong return here, confirmation of a mimetic talent sacrificed to starhood ambitions."
Francesco Savio, Il Mondo, 13 mar 1975