Johnny Stecchino essays

Johnny Stecchino essays 'Johnny Stecchino', released in 1991, proved to be the biggest box office hit in its native country, Italy. The movie stars Robert Benigni, who is also the co -writer and director of the movie. Robert Begnini plays a double role in this movie, one as bus driver Dante and his look- alike gangster Johnny. The movie that runs for 100 minutes is an excellent proof of Robert Benigni's ability to turn an usually serious topic of Mafia into The movie is about a jolly bus driver , Dante in Rome . He hasn't got anything exciting in life, in fact he lives a life of kindhearted loser. His best friend is one of retarded children he transports from school to home and back again, Lillo. He also shoplifts bananas with this friend to discourage him from eating pastries, as he is diabetic. The scene where he steals bananas shows how Begnini can "squeeze more laughs from a simple prop, (in this case a banana), than any other comic in modern movies"(1). At the same time he is tricking the federal government by acting that he got a spastic hand due to some injury in order to get some extra benefits .His love life also paints a pathetic picture: he cant get a single girl in town who is willing to go out with him even those who had been dumped by their men and would go out with anyone to make their ex- Life changes for Dante when, in the first scene, he encounters Maria after coming out of night party who faints as she sees him. Then one afternoon she visits him at his place and asks him to meet her at her room in an opulent hotel. After their meeting, he is convinced that she has deeply fallen in love with him and therefore accepts to come to his villa in Palermo, Sicily. Here her true identity and motives are revealed to the audiences though they remain unknown to Dante, throughout the movie. She is wife of a Mafia leader, Johnny Stechinno or Johnny the tooth pick who looking exactly like Dante a...