In the first part (shot in black-and-white) the friends Gianni (Gassman), Antonio (Manfredi) and Nicola (Satta Flores) are partisans who fight for the liberation of Italy from the yoke of Nazi occupation and the fascist collaborationists aiding in it. After the end of World War II, the three go for different lives: Nicola in Nocera Inferiore (southern Italy), Antonio in Rome and Gianni in Pavia.
Later, both Antonio and Gianni fall in love with young Luciana (Sandrelli), and through their relationships go back to the history of post-war Italy, along with the related hopes and disappointments.
Gianni, now a lawyer's assistant, moves to Rome and arranges to marry the semi-illiterate daughter of a construction tycoon with questionable fame, a former fascist who managed to get good connections with the pro-American conservative Christian democratic party dominating public life (and building licenses) in post-war Italy. His wife, resenting her inadequacy, tries to turn into the woman he longs for but ultimately fails and dies in a car accident. Antonio, worker in a hospital, has instead remained loyal to the ideals of their youth, and is now a fervent communist activist. Nicola, the most intellectual of the trio, leaves Nocera and his family and moves to Rome, too, to try win a fortune on the famous TV quiz Lascia o raddoppia. After his failure, he leads an economically troubled life writing occasional articles for newspapers, increasingly turning himself into a caricature of an intellectual, lost in futile polemics.
After several decades the three friends meet again in the trattoria where they spent their last evening together, commenting bitterly on their lives. Antonio, the orderly has less to complain about and tells his other friends that Luciana has become his wife and he now has two children with her. Later in the evening Nicola argues with him on ideological questions, eventually physically attacking him. In the fray, Gianni loses his driving license and the following day Antonio, Nicola and Luciana try to deliver it back to him. They see his villa and realize the affluent lifestyle he's leading (something he dared not tell his friends the evening before) but they also understand that, having to sacrifice his ideals for his wealth, he is by far the least fortunate of them.
What is Antonio?
Orderly