PROFILPELAJAR.COM

The Beautiful Summer
The Beautiful Summer
Directed by	Sergio Martino
Screenplay by	Sauro Scavolini; Sergio Martino
Story by	Luciano Martino; Sauro Scavolini
Produced by	Luciano Martino
Starring	Alessandro Cocco; Senta Berger; John Richardson
Cinematography	Giancarlo Ferrando
Edited by	Daniele Alabiso
Music by	Alberto Pomeranz; Luciano Michelini
Production; company	Dania Film
Distributed by	Titanus (Italy); Toho Towa (Japan)
Release dates	December 6, 1974 (Italy); September 27, 1975 (Japan); June 13, 1978 (USA);
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Beautiful Summer (Italian: La bellissima estate) is a 1974 Italian melodrama film directed by Sergio Martino.^[1]^[2] It stars Alessandro Cocco, Senta Berger and John Richardson.^[1]

The film is part of the genre of melodramatic films known as "lacrima movies" or "tearjerker movies". It has been best remembered for the soundtrack piece "Il barone rosso" by Luciano Michelini, which would eventually become the theme song of the comedy show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was originally released in the United States as Summer to Remember, with other titles such as Smile of Love and Never Ending Love.

Plot

Gianluca, son of Emanuela and Vittorio Bennati, is in Versilia for the summer holiday. His father, to whom he is very attached, often stays away both for business (he is an engineer and owner of an industry) and because he has a hobby of car racing as an amateur, secretly from his wife. Consequently, when his mother announces that they will not return to Milan in the autumn, Gianluca suspects that it is because of an imminent divorce between his parents: the misunderstanding isn't helped by Manuela's friendship with the architect Giorgio Savona, with whom he often meets. The difficulties of being accepted by his fellow villagers and his friendship with little Olga, the daughter of millionaires like him, are not enough to calm the boy who one day, secretly from his mother, manages to escape to Milan, in search of his father, with the help of his friend Marco and the bizarre "The Red Baron". There he discovers that his father died in an accident during a car race. Distraught, Gianluca returns home, but a few days later he crashes with a toy cart and suffers serious injuries: admitted to hospital, he dies in the arms of his desperate mother, who still dreams of reuniting with his father.

Cast

Alessandro Cocco as Gianluca Bennati
Senta Berger as Emanuela Bennati
John Richardson as Vittorio Bennati
Lino Toffolo as "The Red Baron"
Caterina Boratto as The princess
Mario Erpichini as Giorgio Savona
Renzo Marignano as Pietro, the driver
Duilio Cruciani as Marco
Brizio Montinaro as The Teacher
Sabina Gaddi as Olga
Gildo di Marco as Giuseppe
Carla Mancini
Bernardo Toccaceli
Lorenzo Piani

Release

The Beautiful Summer was originally released in Italy on December 6, 1974 where it was distributed by Titanus.

In Japan, the film was released on September 27, 1975, and was retitled Smile of Love; it was released by Toho-Towa. Through 1978, the film was released in other countries, and on June 13, the film was released in the United States, and other countries, and was given the title Summer to Remember.

References

^ ^a ^b Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059350.
^ Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 8860736269.