Il Sorpasso Quotes

Bruno Cortona: [Picks up a photo from Roberto's desk] Who's this fatty?

Roberto Mariani: My mother.

Bruno Cortona: Wow! Beautiful woman.

Bruno Cortona: [singing] I took her down to the river thinking she was a maiden, but she had a husband.

[Speaking]

Bruno Cortona: I know that one by heart. I played it all the way to Rome. What's it called again? "The Unfaithful Wife." By that Spaniard who's sort of that way -...

[tugs on his ear]

Roberto Mariani: Garcia Lorca

Roberto Mariani: Ah, you have that record too?

Bruno Cortona: Put this one on. Its Modugno. Poetry doesn't do much for me. I like music. This song's really great. Mystical. Really gets you thinking. Ah, music. I really like Modugno. This song really drives me crazy. It seems so simple, but it's got everything - - loneliness, inability to communicate, and that stuff that's all the rage now - - alienation, like in Antonioni's films. Did you see "L'eclisse"?

Roberto Mariani: Yes

Bruno Cortona: I fell asleep. Had a nice nap. Great director, Antonioni. I saw him in his Flaminia Zagato once. I couldn't stop gawking.

Bruno Cortona: [Driving in his convertible] Robe', look behind you. See 'em?

Roberto Mariani: Who?

Bruno Cortona: Those two chicks. I'll get the 'em to pass so I can follow 'em.

[as they pass]

Bruno Cortona: Hi, cuties!

[to Roberto]

Bruno Cortona: Deutschland! Those German chicks are easy!

Roberto Mariani: You speak German?

Bruno Cortona: No, I just fake it.

Bruno Cortona: The food is great here. Do we let those two go?

Roberto Mariani: Whatever you like. I'm not hungry.

Bruno Cortona: Spoken like a man. The food here stinks anyway: donkey hooves and fig wine. Where'd those Germans go? Let's chase 'em.

Bruno Cortona: A crossroads!

Roberto Mariani: They vanished. Which way could they have gone?

Bruno Cortona: Let me smell.

[sniffs]

Bruno Cortona: That way. I'm a regular truffle hound when it comes to women.

Roberto Mariani: How can I commit to a girl right now? I have to finish my studies, find a job, and then...

Bruno Cortona: So? Meanwhile you go out, you sleep together. It could be over in a month. Why do you have to commit? This isn't the Middle Ages!

Roberto Mariani: We had another chance to talk once, but something awkward happened. On Via Salaria, where those women, you know -...

Bruno Cortona: Sure do! There's a brunette with a streak of white hair: Aida, 3,000 lire.

Roberto Mariani: I'd just stopped - - that is, they stopped me. I was explaining I had no money when guess who walks by.

Bruno Cortona: Who walks by?

Roberto Mariani: Valeria, with her sister.

Bruno Cortona: So? What happened? And then?

Roberto Mariani: "And then?" She saw me!

Bruno Cortona: It bugs you 'cause now she knows you're broke. Is that all? I was expecting some big deal. I'd understand if it turned out Valeria and her sister were hookers too.

Roberto Mariani: He was always hugging me.

Bruno Cortona: I believe it. I've never seen a country queen before.

Roberto Mariani: What?

Bruno Cortona: Don't tell me you didn't know? It's obvious. Why you think they call him Occhiofino?

Roberto Mariani: It's just a nickname.

Bruno Cortona: A nickname? Occhiofino - - finocchio - faggot - .

Bruno Cortona: What beautiful raven-black hair, ma'am! Spanish blood?

Zia Enrica: My mother was from Barcelona.

Bruno Cortona: I was right! Granny must have fooled around with a bullfighter.

Zia Enrica: You live in Rome. What's Sophia Loren's like?

Bruno Cortona: To me, she's like Etruscan tombs and Mount Fumaiolo. I'll explain some other time.

Bruno Cortona: Maybe I shouldn't have gone along to see your relatives.

Roberto Mariani: What are you talking about? It's just that we all have distorted memories of our youth. You know why we always say it was a wonderful time? We don't really remember what it was like.

Moglie del commendatore: My husband's right. You're not to be trusted.

Bruno Cortona: He said that about me?

Moglie del commendatore: Yes, but he was talking about business. It keeps him awake at night.

Bruno Cortona: And what were you talking about?

Moglie del commendatore: The way you dance. You squeeze a girl tighter than a girdle.

Bruno Cortona: Forgive me. I didn't mean it.

Moglie del commendatore: Oh, I wasn't criticizing. Quite the contrary.

Moglie del commendatore: [Dancing close together] Oh, la, la!

Bruno Cortona: We aim to please.

Bruno Cortona: What beautiful tiger teeth!

Moglie del commendatore: No one's ever told me that before.

Bruno Cortona: What a firm, beautiful body. You've got tiger teeth - and a nice -...

Moglie del commendatore: Dirty man!

Bruno Cortona: One day she dumped me. Maybe we just didn't click. I think she was a little jealous. It wasn't another woman. It was my Cisitalia. She said I loved that car more than her.

Roberto Mariani: And did you?

Bruno Cortona: A little. That thing had some pickup.

Bruno Cortona: You know, if I had a brother, I'd like him to be like you.

Roberto Mariani: Well, tonight we'd be fighting.

Bruno Cortona: You know that Jewish saying? My grandma used to use it. "Love for a woman is fickle as the moon. Brotherly love is steady as the stars." Nice, huh?

Roberto Mariani: What about Cain?

Bruno Cortona: What's Cain got to do with it? He was a criminal.

Bikini girl with the leg cast: Are you new here? Will you sign my cast? Peppino di Capri and Giulio Andreotti already signed it?

Roberto Mariani: Where?

Bikini girl with the leg cast: Next to Gina Lollobrigida.

Bruno Cortona: You got a cigarette?

Roberto Mariani: No. I don't smoke.

Bruno Cortona: That's not good.

Bruno Cortona: So you don't smoke?

Roberto Mariani: No.

Bruno Cortona: Careful. That can be bad for you.