Amici per la pelle

Like many other people I watched the film for the first time many years ago, in 1966, at the age of fourteen. At that time it left me heavily impressed, almost depressed for a couple of days, so that I was asked by my family if there was something wrong with me. As the years went by, I forgot most about the movie. After a while I couldn`t even remember the title, but I always kept in mind that there was this incredible italian black and white movie, something about friendship, which had had such a great impact on me. It was a couple of weeks ago that I tripped over a website, where someone wrote about a film which influenced his whole life, an old italian film, called "friends for life". I tried to find out what was available about the movie and it was soon clear, it was that particular movie. Unforttunately I could not get hold of a copy on DVD, but I was lucky to find a "Video-on demand Website", where on can rent it as a stream for 24 hours. So I watched it a second time - and what should I say - I was almost equally impressed as 43 years ago. That puzzeld me a bit and I asked my son, a grown up person, 25 years of age, watch that movie and tell what you think of it. "This is really an astonishing film", was his answer, "funny dialogs, very convincing performance of the two boys. Andrea Sciré plays the more sensitiv Franco with all the the necessary balance between coolness and emotionality to avoid sentimental slips and the performance of Geronimo Meynier as Mario is very authentic. The ending is like blow into the emotional solar plexis. Really a fantastic movie". Whatever it is, which makes this film exceptional - I have not found out yet, but I wish this little work of art was availible or purchasable as a hard copy, so that we can show it to our children and grandchildren.