A Hero of Our Times

Alberto Menichetti is a coward. He lives with an aunt and an elderly housekeeper and holds a job at a firm. His boss, the widowed Mrs De Ritis, likes him; Alberto is set on young Marcella and is waiting for her to come of age. But his defining quality is being terrified of everything: the police, a quarrel, signing his name, holding an opinion. He keeps stepping back to protect himself, and that is exactly what lands him in trouble. Mario Monicelli directs, with Alberto Sordi as Alberto and Franca Valeri and Giovanna Ralli as the women. Eighty-five minutes. The title is sarcastic: the hero of these times is the flinching little man of post-war Italy.