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Ginger and Fred

 Ginger and Fred
type
TVTItem
 Ginger and Fred
label
Ginger and Fred
 Ginger and Fred
page
GingerAndFred
 Ginger and Fred
comment
Ginger and Fred is a 1986 film from Italy directed by Federico Fellini.Amelia Bonetti (Giulietta Masina) and Pippo Botticella (Marcello Mastroianni) were once dance partners who had an act in which they imitated Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In fact, their stage names were "Ginger and Fred", in that order. They broke up some thirty years ago and haven't seen each other since, but they each get a call from an Italian variety show to appear on a Christmas special. Each accepts, Amelia mostly because she'd like one more moment in the limelight, and Pippo because he needs the money.So the old couple, each now well into their sixties, meets again. They are just one act in a truly demented holiday special that offers a bizarre list of attractions—faith healers, a Mafioso who's been given a day off from prison to sing, a whole troupe of dancing dwarfs, and many other celebrity impersonators. Will "Ginger" and "Fred", the old troupers, rise to the occasion one last time?Although Giulietta Masina (Federico Fellini's wife) and Marcello Mastroianni each starred in several Fellini movies, this was the only time they appeared together.
 Ginger and Fred
fetched
2023-07-15T21:00:51Z
 Ginger and Fred
parsed
2023-07-15T21:00:51Z
 Ginger and Fred
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Ginger and Fred / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 Ginger and Fred / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: The MC for the variety show, who cheerfully introduces "Ginger and Fred!"
 Ginger and Fred / int_18d15922
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_18d15922
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_18d15922
 Ginger and Fred / int_1e159001
type
Diagonal Billing
 Ginger and Fred / int_1e159001
comment
Diagonal Billing: Masina and Mastroianni, both big stars of Italian cinema, are billed this way in the opening credits.
 Ginger and Fred / int_1e159001
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_1e159001
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_1e159001
 Ginger and Fred / int_28f852ea
type
Wholesome Crossdresser
 Ginger and Fred / int_28f852ea
comment
Wholesome Crossdresser: The Rita Hayworth impersonator is a man. He's as nice as he can possibly be, but conservative Amelia is still upset, citing "transvestites" as one reason she wants to quit the show.
 Ginger and Fred / int_28f852ea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_28f852ea
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_28f852ea
 Ginger and Fred / int_2decf5dd
type
Silly Simian
 Ginger and Fred / int_2decf5dd
comment
Silly Simian: A random joke has Pippo being very amused by a chimpanzee that tries to pull off his shoes.
 Ginger and Fred / int_2decf5dd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_2decf5dd
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_2decf5dd
 Ginger and Fred / int_39cee4cc
type
Team Power Walk
 Ginger and Fred / int_39cee4cc
comment
Team Power Walk: Amusingly, it's the cast of the variety special, a bunch of D-listers and has-beens and weirdos, who do the power walk into the auditorium for the start of this show.
 Ginger and Fred / int_39cee4cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_39cee4cc
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_39cee4cc
 Ginger and Fred / int_3f86799c
type
Gaussian Girl
 Ginger and Fred / int_3f86799c
comment
Gaussian Girl: Pippo sits next to a woman in a bizarre outfit: she wears a sort of metal rig that holds a pane of glass in front of her face. When Pippo asks what's her deal, the woman says that it's "a soft focus screen" and "it makes me look younger." Then the woman looks through the glass at the camera and delivers some TV news patter.
 Ginger and Fred / int_3f86799c
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_3f86799c
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Ginger and Fred / int_3f86799c
 Ginger and Fred / int_535156bc
type
Christmas Special
 Ginger and Fred / int_535156bc
comment
Christmas Special: A deeply weird one, as "Ginger" and "Fred" the dancers are the most normal act in a show that features stuff like a holy monk that claims he can levitate, and a man who supposedly can make women pregnant by a look, and a cow with 18 teats, and a woman who claims her husband is from the star Sirius.
 Ginger and Fred / int_535156bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_535156bc
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_535156bc
 Ginger and Fred / int_58ee8b0d
type
Celebrity Impersonator
 Ginger and Fred / int_58ee8b0d
comment
Celebrity Impersonator: This is what Amelia and Pippo did back in the day, even though, as one character observes, Amelia is way too petite to imitate tall, curvy Ginger Rogers. There's a host of other celebrity impersonators in the show: there's a Telly Savalas, a Ronald Reagan, a Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich in lesbian mode, and others.
 Ginger and Fred / int_58ee8b0d
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_58ee8b0d
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Ginger and Fred / int_58ee8b0d
 Ginger and Fred / int_7063c9cc
type
Fang Thpeak
 Ginger and Fred / int_7063c9cc
comment
Fang Thpeak: Lampshaded in a random gag where a guy dressed up as a vampire for the show is on the telephone. He struggles to speak clearly, until he gets frustrated and pulls out his fangs.
 Ginger and Fred / int_7063c9cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_7063c9cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_7063c9cc
 Ginger and Fred / int_96d1b224
type
Little People Are Surreal
 Ginger and Fred / int_96d1b224
comment
Little People Are Surreal: Fellini had a habit of working little people into his movies. Amelia goes up to the next van that's arrived at the hotel, hoping that Pippo is inside, only to be startled when a whole troupe of little people comes out. During the variety show, the smarmy MC says "We are proud to present the tiniest dancers ever," and the little people do a whole number, dancing and playing music.
 Ginger and Fred / int_96d1b224
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_96d1b224
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Ginger and Fred / int_96d1b224
 Ginger and Fred / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Ginger and Fred / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: The power is briefly cut to the hotel where the cast of the show is staying, suggesting that maybe in 1980s Italy electricity isn't always reliable. The power later cuts out again just as Amelia and Pippo are starting to dance.
 Ginger and Fred / int_9d12bbc1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_9d12bbc1
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_9d12bbc1
 Ginger and Fred / int_9e0c3153
type
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!
 Ginger and Fred / int_9e0c3153
comment
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Pippo reveals to Amelia that he's going to use the show as an opportunity to insult 60 million TV-addicted Italians. He will call them "pecoroni", which is a word meaning both "male sheep (ram)" and "gullible or spineless people." He emphasizes "pe-co-ro-ni", and if that wasn't enough, starts tap dancing while calling out "pe-co-ro-ni" in time.
 Ginger and Fred / int_9e0c3153
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_9e0c3153
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1.0
 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_9e0c3153
 Ginger and Fred / int_a82ff02f
type
Meet Cute
 Ginger and Fred / int_a82ff02f
comment
Meet Cute: A meet-again cute. Pippo hasn't shown up at the hotel yet, and eventually Amelia, after asking the front desk to call her if he arrives, goes to bed. She tries to go to sleep but the man in the next room is snoring loudly. She pounds on the wall, then walks over to the next room to pound on the door—and when the door opens it's Pippo.
 Ginger and Fred / int_a82ff02f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_a82ff02f
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_a82ff02f
 Ginger and Fred / int_d0c30f35
type
Did I Mention It's Christmas?
 Ginger and Fred / int_d0c30f35
comment
Did I Mention It's Christmas?: Other than the fact that the variety show is a Christmas Special, the holiday really has little to do with the plot.
 Ginger and Fred / int_d0c30f35
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_d0c30f35
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_d0c30f35
 Ginger and Fred / int_da1c8191
type
Writers Cannot Do Math
 Ginger and Fred / int_da1c8191
comment
Writers Cannot Do Math: The backstory is vague. It is said that the "Ginger and Fred" act ran for some 15 years, that Amelia and Pippo broke up sometime around 1940 and haven't seen each other for 30 years. The only problem is that the film seems to take place in the present day, and the presence of a Ronald Reagan impersonator certainly hints at the 1980s. That would mean that Pippa and Amelia haven't seen each other for more like 45 years, and they would have had to been Ginger and Fred impersonators starting 1925 or so, which would have been several years before the Astaire-Rogers combo became famous. The chronology gets even more confused later when there's a comment about them performing during the war.
 Ginger and Fred / int_da1c8191
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_da1c8191
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Ginger and Fred / int_da1c8191
 Ginger and Fred / int_e5a9f2b9
type
While You Were in Diapers
 Ginger and Fred / int_e5a9f2b9
comment
While You Were in Diapers: Evidently someone has been disputing points regarding tap dancing to Pippo, because when Amelia finds him downstairs he's telling that unseen someone: "While the great Fred was tap-dancing, you were wetting the bed!"
 Ginger and Fred / int_e5a9f2b9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_e5a9f2b9
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Ginger and Fred / int_e5a9f2b9
 Ginger and Fred / int_e63228a7
type
InfoDump
 Ginger and Fred / int_e63228a7
comment
Info Dump: A reporter interviews Amelia in the opening scene, and gets her to drop a whole bunch of exposition about how she and Pippo had an act as "Ginger and Fred" imitating Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and how they eventually broke up the act and she married a different man.
 Ginger and Fred / int_e63228a7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_e63228a7
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_e63228a7
 Ginger and Fred / int_f09e6c1c
type
Ironic Juxtaposition
 Ginger and Fred / int_f09e6c1c
comment
Ironic Juxtaposition: A billboard advertising "Keep Rome Clean" is visible above and behind a huge pile of garbage bags.
 Ginger and Fred / int_f09e6c1c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_f09e6c1c
featureConfidence
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_f09e6c1c
 Ginger and Fred / int_f6c3d469
type
Fanservice Extra
 Ginger and Fred / int_f6c3d469
comment
Fanservice Extra: Three ridiculously muscled bodybuilders. Amelia is clearly turned on by all that beefy manhood, and insists on getting her picture taken with the bodybuilders.
 Ginger and Fred / int_f6c3d469
featureApplicability
1.0
 Ginger and Fred / int_f6c3d469
featureConfidence
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 Ginger and Fred
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Ginger and Fred / int_f6c3d469
 Ginger and Fred / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 Ginger and Fred / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: Absurdly over-sexualized Italian advertising. A billboard advertisement for sausage has a drawing of a topless woman offering up a plate of sausages. A TV commercial sells olive oil by showing a woman in a slutty French maid outfit pouring olive oil all over a lobster.
 Ginger and Fred / int_f9f2c33
featureApplicability
1.0
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Ginger and Fred / int_f9f2c33
 Ginger and Fred / int_fba75cf2
type
Name and Name
 Ginger and Fred / int_fba75cf2
comment
Name and Name: Ginger and Fred
 Ginger and Fred / int_fba75cf2
featureApplicability
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Ginger and Fred / int_fba75cf2
 Ginger and Fred / int_name
type
ItemName
 Ginger and Fred / int_name
comment
 Ginger and Fred / int_name
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Ginger and Fred / int_name
 Ginger and Fred / int_name
itemName
Ginger and Fred

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Ginger and Fred
hasFeature
Celebrity Impersonator / int_c93d7e80
 Ginger and Fred
hasFeature
Gaussian Girl / int_c93d7e80