Ginger and Fred | |
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![]() Italian film poster
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Directed by | Federico Fellini |
Produced by |
Alberto Grimaldi Heinz Bibo |
Screenplay by | Federico Fellini Tonino Guerra Tullio Pinelli |
Story by | Federico Fellini Tonino Guerra |
Starring | |
Music by |
Nicola Piovani Irving Berlin Jerome Kern Lorenz Hart |
Cinematography |
Tonino Delli Colli Ennio Guarnieri |
Edited by | Ruggero Mastroianni |
Production
company |
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Distributed by |
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Release date
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13 January 1986 (France:premiere) March 28, 1986 (US) |
Running time
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125 minutes |
Country |
Italy France West Germany |
Language |
Italian English |
Box office | $837,623 |
Ginger and Fred (Italian: Ginger e Fred) is a 1986 comedy/drama film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina.
The title is a reference to the American dancing couple Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The two leads portray Italian impersonators of Astaire and Rogers who reunite after thirty years of retirement for a vulgar and bizarre television extravaganza.
The movie is a complex and coherent indictment of the shallowness of commercial television, which, eager to squeeze commercials across every possible kind of program, deadens the viewers' ability to appreciate complex or thought-provoking themes.
The film was the subject of a trademark claim in the United States by Ginger Rogers, who claimed in Rogers v. Grimaldi that the film violated her Lanham Act trademark rights, right of publicity, and was a "false light" defamation. The Second Circuit rejected this claim, finding that "suppressing an artistically relevant though ambiguous[ly] title[d] film" on trademark grounds would "unduly restrict expression."
Amelia and Pippo were once together famous as dancers. Thirty years after they've retired they team up one more time for a TV show. Although this reunion is overshadowed by Pippo's lack of stamina their performance is well-received and revives their popularity for another day.
Ginger and Fred was nominated for Best Foreign Film of 1986 by the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.