"Alberto Sordi and Shelley Winters have both won awards for their performances in this strange comedy drama about a bourgeois bureaucrat who wants only that his son should follow in his footsteps. The first half of the film is drawn as a broad comedy, as Sordi tries to groom his bumbling son to beat the strong competition for his job. Uproariously funny in the tradition of popular Italian comedy, the film takes a turn during the second half when a revolutionary kills the son and the father sets out for revenge. Director Mario Monicelli in both parts of the film is exploring the frenzy and frustration lurking just beneath the surface of those who always have done as they were told." San Francisco International Film Festival '77