Il papocchio: plot, cast and streaming of the film on Rai 3

Il papocchio: plot, cast and streaming of the film on Rai 3

Tonight, Thursday 15 August 2024, at 9:20 pm on Rai 3, Il papocchio will be broadcast, a 1980 film directed by Renzo Arbore in his directorial debut. But let’s see all the information in detail together.

Plot

The musician Renzo Arbore has a vision of Father Gabriele, who came to bring an Annunciation from the Vatican: in fact, Pope John Paul II, dynamic and passionate about modernity, watching television is favorably impressed by a beer promotion campaign for which Arbore was then the testimonial and is convinced to hire him as the host of the nascent Vatican state television.

Arbore and the company of L’altra domenica go to the Vatican to get to work, but a bigoted and traditionalist prelate, a reinterpretation of Cardinal Richelieu, plots to sabotage the pontiff’s initiative, first by warning the parish priests of Italy to send the most inferior artists to audition and then by bribing an incomprehensible Roberto Benigni with thirty telephone tokens. Despite everything, the broadcasts begin, in the presence of the pope and the then President of the Republic Sandro Pertini. The inaugural show Gaudium Magnum is however performed in Arbore’s demented style: the theme song is a religious chant to the tune of the anthem of the Italian Socialist Party, which scandalizes the onlookers.

To resolve the situation, the deus ex machina arrives, namely the Eternal Father himself on board a flaming Fiat Panda car with the license plate PAR 0001, who bursts into the studios, breaking down the walls with a wrecking ball – a declared quote from Prova d’orchestra (1979) by Federico Fellini – while Arbore’s entire company is swallowed up by the earth and the treacherous cardinal is instantly pulverized. Finally, from Paradise, the protagonists all sing together When the Saints Go Marchin’ In, which also serves as the background music for the closing credits.

The Papocchio: the cast of the film

We have seen the plot of Il papocchio, but what is the complete cast of the film? Below is the list of actors with their respective roles:

• Manfred Freyberger: Pope John Paul II
• Renzo Arbore: himself
• Roberto Benigni: himself
• Isabella Rossellini: herself
• Andy Luotto: himself
• Mario Marenco: himself
• Michael Pergolani: himself
• Otto and Barnelli: themselves
• Salvatore Baccaro: backing vocalist
• Diego Abatantuono: Don Gabriel
• Luciano De Crescenzo: God
• Mariangela Melato: the busy actress who plays “Iorio’s daughter”
• Graziano Giusti: Cardinal Richelieu
• Neil Hansen, Tito LeDuc and Mauro Bronchi: The Flag Sisters
• Fabrizio Zampa: Zampa
• Milly Carlucci: TV announcer nun
• Ruggero Orlando: himself
• Martin Scorsese: Himself
• Silvia Annicchiarico: Arbore’s secretary
• Mimma Nocelli: nun
• Cesare Gigli: Italian teacher
• Gerardo Gargiulo: TV news presenter
• Nando Murolo: Choirmaster with closed mouth “City of Naples”
• Alessandro Vagoni: Carmine
• Matteo Salvatore: Rooster
• Lorenzo Spadoni: soloist of the closed-mouth choir “Città di Napoli”
• Dino Cassio: singer of “Don’t run dad”
• Marzia Tornari: child singer of “Don’t run daddy”
• Tiziana Altieri

Streaming and TV

Where to watch Papocchio live on TV and live streaming? The film, as mentioned, will air tonight – Thursday 15 August 2024 – at 9.20 pm on Rai 3. Not just TV. It will also be possible to follow it in live streaming via the free platform RaiPlay.it.