I Made a Splash

I Made a Splash is a 1980 comedy film co-written and directed by Maurizio Nichetti.

Plot

In the 1950s, a child falls into a long sleep in front of the TV during a performance by Nilla Pizzi. He awakens in the early 1980s and must face an entirely changed world dominated by consumism and advertising.

Cast

Maurizio Nichetti as Maurizio
Luisa Morandini as Luisa
Angela Finocchiaro as Angela
Carlina Torta as Carlina
Daniel Bongiovanni as Mimi's son
Flavio Bonacci as photographer
Walter Valdi as robber
Ugo Bologna as customer
Massimo Sacelotti as Massimo
Guido Spadea as impresario
Lyall Crawford as English director
Renato Dondi as waiter
Giulia Lazzarini as Ariel
Corrado Lojacono as fireman
Enzo Radicchio as publicist
Manuela Blanchard as advertising girl
Mirella Falco as woman in church
Luis Molteni as man at reception

Production

Principal photography started in May 1980. The film was shot at Icet-De Paolis studios in Cinecittà.

Reception

Piero Perona in La Stampa noted how the film, "rich in wit and style, consisted mainly of a revisiting of the silent cinema that directly inspired it", particularly Harry Langdon, Max Linder, Larry Semon and Charlie Chaplin. According to Giovanni Grazzini from Corriere [della Sera], in this film Nichetti displayed a "a greater maturity in narrative structure but a more fragile inspiration" than in his debut film Ratataplan. Cinema Nuovo's Ivo Franchi described the film as "structurally weak", with "flimsy characters" and comic situations he compared to TV variety show sketches.