"All the time we thought he was getting cured he was getting laid?"
— Wendell Armbruster Jr.
Avanti! is a 1972 comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills.
Wendell Armbruster Jr. (Lemmon), the son of an American millionaire, travels to Ischia, Italy, to recover the body of his father, who died in a car accident. He soon discovers that his father had a mistress who died with him and meets Pamela Piggott, the daughter of said mistress.
Avanti! provides examples of:
- The Big Rotten Apple: Carlucci, the hotel manager, was offered a job in a hotel in Damascus and asks J. J. Blodgett how safe this job is. Blodgett explains that Damascus is dangerous, because a war could start in the Middle East soon. So Carlucci says that he will accept another job as a hotel manager in New York. Then Blodgett insists he should choose Damascus instead.
- Blackmail Backfire: Bruno takes pictures of Wendell Armbruster Jr. and Miss Piggott swimming in the nude. In exchange for the destruction of the pictures, he demands that Wendell Armbruster Jr. helps him to get back to the US to avoid a marriage with his lover Anna. Anna hears his plan, so she murders Bruno in retaliation.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Armbruster Jr. accuses the Trottas of stealing the corpses, one of them retorts: "Stole? That is such an ugly word. Let us say we are keeping them temporarily in, uh, escrow?"
- Broken Pedestal: Wendell Armbruster Jr. admired his father. On the train, he starts composing a eulogy describing his many merits. When he hears that he had a mistress, he is disappointed and is not able to compose the eulogy any more.
- Brutal Honesty: Wendell Armbruster Jr. is honest with Miss Piggott.Miss Piggott: I don't know if you noticed but... I have this weight problem.
Wendell Armbruster Jr.: I noticed that. - Do You Want to Haggle?: Armbruster Jr. thinks he can haggle with the Trottas when they steal the corpses to demand a compensation for the damage in their vineyard, but he ends up agreeing to pay the exact amount the Trottas had asked from the beginning.
- The Film of the Play: The film is adapted from a 1968 theatre play of the same name, written by Samuel A. Taylor.
- Generation Xerox: Wendell Armbruster Jr. meets Miss Piggott, the daughter of his father's mistress. They end up acting exactly like their parents (having the same dinner at the restaurant, swimming in the nude...). Miss Piggott eventually becomes Junior's mistress and the end suggests that they will meet each year in the same hotel as their parents.
- I Am Not Pretty: Miss Piggott (who is played by Juliet Mills) thinks that she is not pretty and cannot attract men. Wendell Armbruster Jr. tells her that he thinks she is attractive.
- I Have Your Wife: The Trottas steal the corpses of Armbruster Sr. and his lover and give them back only if Wendell Armbruster Jr. agrees to pay a compensation for the damage in their vineyard caused by the car accident.
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: Wendell Armbruster Jr. is surprised that caldo means "hot" in Italian. (He gets burned by hot water in his bathroom because of the confusion with cold.)
- Insult Backfire: When he gets to the hotel, Armbruster Jr. notes that it doesn't look like a Hilton. The hotel manager answers: "I accept the compliment."
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Armbruster Jr. is a bit eccentric, but he is a no-nonsense, efficient American businessman, who does not believe in love and who respects the social standards. Miss Piggott is a romantic woman looking for love. She does not care about the social standards (she is not shocked by her mother's relationship, she does not hesitate to swim in the nude).
- Mistaken for Flirting: When Bruno's corpse is found in Miss Piggott's room, the manager decides to transfer her luggage to Armbruster Sr.'s room so that she is not bothered by the police. When Miss Piggott hears that her luggage was transfered to Armbruster Sr.'s room, she assumes that he wants her to sleep with him.
- The Mistress: For ten years, Wendell Armbruster Sr. has spent summer in Italy with his mistress, without his relatives knowing. The end of the film suggests that Wendell Armbruster Jr. will spend summer in Italy with Miss Piggott.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: There are many of them in Italy, so it is very difficult to get the permit to repatriate the body. In particular, the coroner at the morgue plays with many stamps and forms of different colors.
- Posthumous Character: The relationship between Wendell Armbruster Sr. and his mistress plays an important role in the film, but they are both death from the start.
- Running Gag: The protagonists must repeatedly wait because something is closed during lunch time (which lasts from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Italy).
- Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Armbruster Jr. does not believe in love.Armbruster Jr.: Love is for filing clerks, but not for the head of a conglomerate.
- Skinny Dipping: Wendell Armbruster Sr. used to swim in the nude with his mistress. At some point, his son does the same with Miss Piggott.
- Spaghetti and Gondolas: Pasta dishes, Vespa rides, strong coffees, and very long lunch breaks feature in the film as typical Italian things.
- Together in Death: Wendell Armbruster Sr. and his mistress loved each other, but they saw each other only one month per year. They die together in a car accident. Miss Piggott would like to bury them together, but Armbruster Jr. does not agree at first. In the end, he changes his mind and Armbruster Sr. and his mistress are buried together.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Wendell Armbruster Jr. is arrongant and rude in the beginning, but he gets nicer over the course of the film, in particular towards Miss Piggott.
- "Ugly American" Stereotype: Wendell Armbruster Jr. and J. J. Blodgett are both dismissive of the Italian way of life.J. J. Blodgett: Oh. That goddamn lunch time again. We pour in millions of dollars of foreign aid, just so they can sit on their butts and...
- Uptown Girl: Wendell Armbruster Jr. and his father are millionaires, while Miss Piggott is a shopkeeper and her mother was a manucurist. Miss Piggott's mother never told her lover that she was poor, because she did not want to become a kept woman.
