Fatso

Plot synopsis:
Luca Lucchesi is a single man who lives in his late grandmother's house. He keeps himself busy by translating instruction manuals from German into his native Norwegian. He occasionally phones his German clients to tell them "Ya gotta Eat", but apart from that his social contacts are reduced to a friendship with a show-off named Fillip who patronises him. Rino is very attracted to a till girl but each time he sees her in the supermarket he is dumbstruck and breaks into sweat. He expresses his fears by secretly drawing kafkaesque comix which are accessible for the film audience. One day after a night of watching porn and consuming plenty of convenience food he learns that his father has rented out a room to female foreigner. When the woman arrives,she explains to him she was from Sweden and intended to start over again in Norway. He doesn't ask why but he gets that information anyway when he eventually finds her helplessly drunk on the stairs to their flat. She tells him she had fallen in love with a family man who had returned to the mother of his children and she had hereby just repeated her big mistake. Next morning she sees him masturbating and later she even finds his comix. But when she leaves he has learnt enough from her to talk to his true love, the till girl, and ask her out successfully.

Tags: romantic

Review:
I still tell stories from the movie - the support group intervention is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
I have to admit that I didn't even remember that the lead was played by Dom Deloise, as it is a very different role than the Burt Reynolds films I know him for.
Anne Bancroft, a multi-talented lady sorely missed, wrote and directed a picture here on a topic not ever before focused on, overeating.
Maybe it's just too close to home.The funny thing is that DeLuise himself, unlike some of the bit players in the picture, is not all that fat, seriously chubby, to be sure, not bathing suit material, but not really obese.
Directed by the late Anne Bancroft, Fatso is as funny and humane as anything her very funny husband, Mel Brooks, directed.
Bancroft evidently tapped into her Bronx background for this story of an Italian American, played sympathetically by Dom DeLuise, who runs a greeting card shop and is struggling with weight and shyness in courting a young women who opens an antique shop in the neighborhood.
Bancroft plays his sister who is always nagging him about his weight (but does an hilarious dance with him in his shop) and there are many wonderful family scenes, especially the funeral near the beginning of the film of the hero's morbidly obese cousin who "always had something good to eat on him".
A scene where DeLuise and his diet-support group ("Chubby Checkers") break out and go on an orgy of eating is alone worth the price of the movie.
I say this because I myself was in a relationship with a lovely gentleman who happened to be of ample body contour, and the courtship scenes with Dom and Lydia reminded me of my courtship with my own hefty, handsome boyfriend.
Also, gotta love Anne Bancroft as Our Hero's shrewish sister FAVORITE SCENES: Our Hero sneaking a wedge of his nephew's birthday cake, and his sister blowing a gasket!
This is one of the all-time great comedies in movie history.
Anne Bancroft does a splendid job of direction, and her character in the film is vivid, and colorful.
The funeral scene at the beginning was so raw and real, it was hard to watch - the grief of the Aunt and of Anne Bancroft is so intense!Though the family members are quirky, and very dramatic, you can tell that they really care for each other.
But the reason to watch is the film's honesty - Dom's pain, confusion,guilt and self-loathing regarding his overeating, his failed though sincere attempts to change, and his fear that this will lead to an early death.
The actress who played Lydia was good, too.This movie touched my heart and strengthened my program of recovery.
In "Fatso", he plays Dominick, a obese man who has a love/hate relationship with food.
My Italian side of the family adores this movie and it's been one of our favorites for over 20 years.
Dom DeLuise is great from beginning to end.
Amazingly Anne Bancroft wrote and directed this hilarious film, which makes me wish she had done more Italian-American comedies.
If you've got a sense of humor and you love to eat, don't miss this movie!.
The performances are all right on target, especially DeLouise and Bancroft.I'm here to say you DON'T have to be Italian or from NY to appreciate the movie.
This is THE BEST movie about Americans and their unique--dare I say perverse?--relationship with food.
This is a wonderful satire not only on the weight-consciousness of society, but on what it is like to be part of a close-knit Italian family.
I remember seeing Fatso for the first time in Madison, WI in 1980 and I thought it was a sad but funny movie.
It was sad throughout several portions of the movie, including the opening scene when the DiNapoli family gathered at the funeral of cousin Sal, who died of obesity, motivating Dom's sister Antoinette (hysterically portrayed by Anne Bancroft in her movie debut as writer and director) to persuade him to make an appointment with the diet doctor.Things go well until he threatens his brother (Ron Carey) with a knife and goes nuts and starts crying in self-pity and binges with his Chubby Checkers Sonny and Oscar.
Meanwhile, things get back on track when he falls in love with Lydia, played by the lovely Candy Azzara but one day she's not home and Dom is so distraught so he eats a humongous order of Chinese food.
The scene where Dom bought a birthday cake for his nephew Anthony and he ate part of it, causing Antoinette to get hysterical and throw the cake around.It's a shame that Dom DeLuise, who played Dom so well in his first starring role in a movie, Bancroft and Carey are gone.
Maybe being overweight isn't the best thing for a persons health, but being one's self and being happy is all that really matters in life - "I'm not so bad the way I am," says Dom DiNapoli, the portly subject of the movie, who loves food and a girl he thinks he can't have.
With a delightful blend of New York Italian culture and the human problem of overeating, Fatso makes for an entertaining movie experience.
Loaded with some of the funniest comedy gags I have ever seen, Fatso is a very humorous and yet serious movie about a very touchy subject, obesity!
I really lost it when his "Chubby Checkers" (diet comrades) came over to help him get through a hunger crisis, only to succumb to their own cravings for rich food and end up having a chocolate binge party.
Anyone who has ever struggled with being overweight and dieting will appreciate this movie, and judging by the worldwide obesity news lately, this probably includes most people..
This movie is very heartfelt and is able to capture how painful it is to have a passion for eating.It is easy to relate Dom and his struggle.
I love this movie and i don't feel it should be viewed as a comedy but more of a drama.There are some very funny moments but they are also subtle It is not a laugh a minute but I think it shows how dramatic Dom DeLuise can be.
So If You are Italian-American and or overweight or just love any movie withRudy Deluca or Ron Carey (Mel brooks Movies).in my opinion it is a very nice love story and It makes me cry..
It never got the respect it deserved when it was new.Someone has already noted the scene where Dom and his putative saviors discuss food as many men would discuss women.
This film manages to be very funny, while remaining warm and insightful.It's so good, one is tempted to wonder if Ms. Bancroft's husband Mel Brooks had an uncredited hand in its creation...though I hasten to add that I have no evidence to that effect whatsoever.
The "Chubby Checker" scene is classic, the checklist of what not to eat, Dom in line at the bakery, sneaking a slice of ice cream cake from his cousin's birthday are hilarious...then there is the tragedy of the untimely death of his obese cousin and the family grief.
This film captures the dynamics of the Italian-American family like no other.
Poignant, sweet, touching, yet hysterically funny this is one film worth owning so that you can watch it year after year.Brilliantly written,(and directed and starring), Anne Bancroft has given the world a timeless classic that stays with one forever..
It is, however, presented as sympathetic and is good for alot of laughs along the way.Particularly funny is the scene where Dom's "chubby checker" is talking him down from starting an over-eating binge.
You need to be Italian and from NY to appreciate this ,movie, I am sorry if I offend you but it is the truth.
the portrayal of a Italian NY family in this movie was superb-I feel you can only enjoy it to the fullest if you are just that-the lines in the beginning of the movie with the funeral scene and the clock as a flower piece can only be known from Italian Ann Bancroft to us on the screen.I would like to end this with "Rest in peace Antionette" REST IN PEACE ANN BANCROFT YOU WILL BE MISSED..
I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid, and the scenes that killed me then still did when I saw it again recently: Dom crying his way through birthday cards after his cousin's death, meekly proclaiming his fatness in chorus with his fellow "Chubby Checkers', waking up his brother Franky with a toy gun to his head, later threatening to slice him from his throat to his balls, the appetite breakdown of Sonny Awfullotta.
Obesity is funny again and Dom DeLuise exploits his own physical and mental weakness to make us love him for it.
Anne Bancroft writes, directs and acts in this Italian tale of love.
Dom DeLuise makes us laugh at his antics all while telling a cautionary tale of the pit falls of over eating.
While Dom DeLuise is far from that weight, his pudgy weepy face can be fascinating to watch as his tears roll down his face while he is told by a doctor that his eating habits much change drastically or his fate might follow his cousin's untimely death.
Very Funny most people on diets would relate to this movie..
Very Good acting by Dom Delouise and extremely funny to anyone on a diet.
A funny movie about a man and his love for food.
This is one of the funniest movies i ever saw, the funniest seen is when the chubby checkers sonny apalato and oscar lapedius) come over to help Dom DiNapoli but end up loosing it and go crazy in the kitchen, one funny line is said by the chubby checker sonny to dom (did u ever suck the jelly ouit of a jelly donut then fill it with the chocolat swirled ice cream, and then when doms brother asks the chubbey checker if he wants some lemon in his water, and the checker asks for orange juice, when he finds out they don't have any he becomes dissapointed he says the line ( ooook,,,, then lemon)in a very sad matter.....SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!.
Delicious the scene in which Dom DeLuise, invites the woman with curly white hair like an angel, to have coffee, milk and various cakes.
And the scene when Dom, his younger brother and the other two fat guys talk about what they like to eat is very funny.
Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks's wife and Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate"(1967), is directing with talent the movie and she's starring in it.
In addition to her writing and directing, Anne also co-starred in front of the camera.THE STORY IS a very personal one; being an account of what the main character, ably portrayed by comedian Dom Deluise, has to contend with from the rest of the world if one is "horizontally challenged." The private hurt of the cold and heartless barbs tossed out by unthinking persons is portrayed in a highly serious and near Chaplinesque manner by the heretofore unsuspected high tragedian side of Mr. Deluise.THE STORY IS obviously highly infused with a strong dose of Italian American ethnicity and some drawing on personal observations of the creator's own life.
Writer/Director Anne Bancroft, you see, was born Anna Maria Italiano.ON A PERSONAL note, we could relate to this story, even though not being of Italo-American extraction.
Anne Bancroft wrote, directed, and acted in this uneven comedy that doesn't know quite what it wants to be.
It's somewhat about a likable fat man (Dom DeLuise) who loves his food, but it's also about him yearning for a young woman (Candice Azzara).
When Dom's younger brother Salvatore drops dead at only age 39 from being morbidly obese, Dom is pestered by his overbearing sister (Bancroft) to get his butt to a doctor and lose some weight.
The best funny scene occurs one evening when Dom cannot control his appetite and maniacally awakens his sleeping brother (Ron Carey) while brandishing a gun and a knife if he won't unlock the fridge.
But the comedy here simply isn't funny, and it often seems that no one is trying that hard to deliver laughs.
Add feeble direction and inept editing, and you get a movie that lumbers slowly like a real fat person.
And as Roger Ebert said, Dom DeLuise isn't THAT fat.Maybe I'm the wrong person for this movie.
Judging from the other user comments on this movie, it seems it really hits home for overweight and/or Italian families.
If you're overweight or Italian, you might like this movie.
It is impossible for me to watch this movie (I have now seen it at least 10 times)without completely breaking down particularly at the hospital where he asks her to marry him and she says "YES!!!" The montage of pictures during the final credits showing their growing family is a real heart toucher as well.I had the extreme good fortune of meeting and visiting with Anne Bancroft a number of times.
For Our Italian-American Family, Funny Fond FATSO is a Documentary!
Occasionally, the Fox Movie Channel (FMC) airs a letterboxed version of the 1980 comedy FATSO, Anne Bancroft's only big-screen foray into writing and directing.
Having grown up watching the films of leads Bancroft, Dom DeLuise, and Ron Carey, I can hardly believe they're no longer with us.
Heck, I still remember the movie poster from FATSO's original theatrical release: a mournful DeLuise standing against a long list of foods under the bold heading "Do Not Eat." DeLuise stars as Dominick DiNapoli, an overweight 40-year-old bachelor living in New York City's Little Italy.
His happy life revolves around his family: sister Antoinette (Bancroft) and her husband and kids; "baby" brother Junior (Ron Carey, best known and loved in our household from his roles in HIGH ANXIETY and JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY); countless cousins -- and food, glorious food!
Dom's misadventures on the road to weight loss include the support group Chubby Checkers (featuring Estelle Reiner, the "I'll have what she's having" scene-stealer in director son Rob's ...WHEN HARRY MET SALLY), as well as good-intentioned but overzealous family haranguing that only makes Dom feel worse about himself.
I love watching appealing character actors get to have lots of hot kissing scenes!
But I digress...) Our family's favorite scene is the attempted intervention of two Chubby Checkers when Dom tries to head off a binge, only to erupt into the most spectacular binge of all time for all concerned.
By turns bittersweet, zany, romantic, and warm-hearted, FATSO may be too shrill and sentimental for some tastes, but my family and I absolutely loved it from beginning to end!
While many of the film's ideas about the best approaches to weight loss are dated now, it was surprisingly ahead of its time in portraying emotional eating and its tragicomic aspects -- making it all the more devious that Bancroft and director of photography Brianne Murphy film the tempting, luscious-looking foodstuffs in an inviting, sensual way that brings to mind WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE?
and JULIE & JULIA.Having grown up in NYC as part of a boisterous, food-loving Italian-American family (on Dad's side; Mom's side was Irish-American.
It's like a lively Sunday dinner with my Grandma Josie and/or our other food-loving drama queen relatives and Italian-American friends in our old Bronx neighborhood -- and I mean that as a compliment!
The title is misleading because this is not only about Dom's struggle with his weight but a love story and a tale of family.
I am overwhelmed at the talent of Anne Bancroft and Dom Deluise.
Weight-watchers who have a hard time staying on their dietespecially when they are exposed to the sight of delicious foodwill probably sympathize with the plight of Dom DeLuise in director Anne Bancroft's "Fatso," an entertaining comedy about the rigors of weight loss, co-starring Anne Bancroft, Ron Carey, and Candice Azzara.
The multi-talented Broadway actress and film star Bancroft makes her cinematic debut on the other side of the camera as the director for husband's Mel Brooks' company Brooksfilms.The plot of "Fatso" is pretty straightforward stuff.
The opening moments of "Fatso" brilliantly and realistically sets up the story as well as the trouble Dom encounters later when he tries to reduce.Every time Dominick cries or is hut, his mama offers him food.
At his relative's funeral, everyone is overcome with grief, but Dominick's in the kitchen eating out his grief.Dominick's cousin's wife Antoinette (Anne Bancroft of "G.I. Jane") forces Dominick to visit a diet doctor.
In one of the film's funniest scenes, two rotund Chubby Checkers visit Dominick to keep his mind off his appetite.
Afterward, the Chubby Checkers and Dominick have to break the chains and indulge in a food orgy.If "Fatso" seems depressing, it isn't.
Although the movie starts out urging fatso like Dominick to lose pounds, it changes midway through to a love story.
The happy ending that they have is a neat twist of irony."Fatso" is a funny, fast-paced, ripsnorter of a movie for the lean and the large.
Credit Anne Bancroft for making one of the year's best comedies.
Rated PG, "Fatso" is a family film, but watch out weight-watchers.
This is a touching and yet very funny and smart comedy, written and directed by Anne Bancroft.
It revolves around the character that Deluise plays, Fatso, who's trying to lose weight.
It's funny from start (the funeral of Cousin Salvatore)through to the end - a great little film that I heartily recommend..
Anne Bancroft acts and directed this 1980 farce.
We see the closeness of the typical Italian-American family brought together by the death of Cousin Sal, age 39, due to obesity.Bancroft's screaming during the service is almost unbearable if it weren't for the fact that she was so funny.