27 Days With Billy Wilder And Me

Billy Wilder’s twenty-fourth movie, Avanti!, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills, was released in 1972. Billy was 66 years old.

Avanti! is the story of a brusque American executive (Lemmon) who must travel to Italy to pick up the body of his father who passed away unexpectedly. There, he discovers that his father died in a car accident, and that he was not alone — he was with his mistress. Shocked to discover his father’s decade-long marital indiscretion, the son’s already sour disposition worsens. So when he meets the daughter (Mills) of his father’s mistress, he’s less than congenial. However, the two soon strike up a friendship. Then, they become more than friends, and so continue in their parents’ footsteps.

Jack Lemmon is a great actor. In this movie — his fifth to date with Wilder — Lemmon plays a completely different character from the ones in previous Wilder movies. He’s much less likeable (less slapstick and stammer), at least at first. But he’s no less compelling to watch.

Principle Cast:
Wendell Armbruster, Jr……………………………..Jack Lemmon (1925–2001)
Pamela Piggott…………………………………………..Juliet Mills (1941- )
Carlo Carlucci…………………………………………….Clive Revill (1930- )
J.J. Blodgett ……………………………………………..Edward Andrews (1914-1985)

Avanti!, which in Italian means “move forward” or “come in” (when one is knocking at the door), was written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, based on the play by Samuel A. Taylor.

About an hour and a half into the movie, Juliet Mills and Jack Lemmon get naked and swim out to a rock where they bathe, nude, in the sun. This is the first sighting of a naked body in a Billy Wilder-directed movie. And it’s a good one. Juliet, a bona fide British hottie, looks great. Nice boobage.

There’s a subplot of blackmail — two subplots, in fact — that, I suppose, were created to add an element of excitement or urgency to the story. But they don’t seem necessary. They could have been removed and other aspects of this story — or the characters — explored in more depth.

All in all, Avanti! is not a bad movie. It’s leagues ahead of One, Two, Three.

Then again, so is root canal.

For the record, I didn’t like the ending. [NOTE: SPOILER AHEAD.]

If I was the uptight Wendell Armbruster, Jr. (Lemmon), and I had found a carefree, vivacious, attractive British gal like Pamela Piggott (Mills), I wouldn’t have gotten on the helicopter and left her behind. Wife or no, I would have stayed in Italy and spent my life with Miss Piggott. She was incredibly sweet, and even shed tears when Armbruster flew away.

Will they meet again somewhere, and carry on their own affair for many years? That’s the implication. But that’s not the ending I wanted to see.