Big Deal on Madonna Street

A group of small-time crooks in Rome, led by the hapless Cosimo, sets its sights on the safe at a pawnshop. Cosimo is arrested while stealing a car, so he arranges for someone else to take the blame and serve his sentence: Peppe, a boxer with no criminal record, who agrees to confess to the theft in exchange for payment. The scheme goes wrong, and instead of walking free, Cosimo stays behind bars while Peppe receives a lighter sentence than expected. Peppe then learns the details of the planned burglary and, once released, gathers Cosimo's old accomplices to attempt the job themselves, renting a room next to the target and planning to tunnel through to the safe. The gang's lack of skill and experience works against them at every turn.

Mario Monicelli directed this Italian crime comedy, the first of the sixteen films he made, followed the next year by The Great War. The screenplay was written by Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli and Suso Cecchi d'Amico, with Franco Cristaldi producing. Vittorio Gassman plays Peppe, Renato Salvatori plays Mario, and Memmo Carotenuto plays Cosimo, among a credited cast of twenty-six that also includes Rossana Rory, Carla Gravina and Claudia Cardinale.

Released in July 1958 and running 106 minutes, the film holds a rating of 8.1 out of 10 on TMDB from over eight hundred votes, while a smaller pool of critics gave it 7.5 out of 10, so audiences rate it somewhat higher than reviewers do.