The Beast

Sergio, a lorry driver years on the road, takes on a very young apprentice. The two cross Italy end to end, eat at stops, talk to women, lie to each other. The life Sergio describes is far bigger than the one he lives. The film is not interested in the road. It is interested in existing by narrating yourself: the man produces story after story, and at some point the apprentice understands they are lies. That is the moment the film stops being a comedy. The form is a road film: motorways, driver's cafés, petrol stations and night driving. The cab is nearly the only set. Sergio Corbucci directed. He had moved into comedy after his western period, and this is among the better-liked examples; he mixes the bitter side of Italian comedy with the hardness of the western. Giancarlo Giannini plays the driver, using a heavy provincial accent for the part, with Michel Constantin in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian road comedy and Giannini. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a story. The film is nearly eventless, the links between episodes are weak and some of the humour leans on the clichés of its time.