As he said in an interview with the director Mario Monicelli, the Italian comedy (Commedia all'italiana) is something very simple, which is closely tied to popular culture of Italy. It is a tangle of stories of the poor and unfortunate in a highly unfortunate and negative setting, i.e. the period of poverty that followed in Europe and especially in Italy after the end of World War II. In any plot of the films of this genre, there is a group of thieves and bandits who would like to make ends meet by ramshacklely preparing a big hit. However each has its problems and its difficulties, attributable to ignorance, incompetence, inadequate means, unrequited love and many other mishaps. The whole plot of the story revolves around these seemingly unnecessary misunderstandings, allowing the viewer to have a clear and precise vision of the deficiencies of the Italians of that period and of both the gloom and joy of the whole of Italy. The group of cheaters, apparently achieving their aim with deceit and cunning, at the end of the story almost always find themselves duped and crushed economically and psychologically worse off than before. Whoever comes out best the story is always the most powerful, either in the political arena or in some other social context. What makes the viewer laugh are the jokes about the repeated blunders of the actors that would make them famous during the preparation of their shots.