''Fatso'' is a 1980 American
comedy-drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
written and directed by
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...
, her only such credit, and starring
Dom DeLuise
Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...
,
Ron Carey and
Candice Azzara. It was the first film produced by
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...
's
Brooksfilms company. The film examines the subject matter of
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
, addiction, family, self-acceptance and singlehood.
Plot
As the DiNapoli Antoinette (
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...
), Dominic (
Dom DeLuise
Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...
), and Frank Jr. (
Ron Carey)are growing up, whenever young Dom was unhappy, the one thing his mother did to comfort him and make him feel cared for was to feed him something scrumptious. One example was Dom's mom giving her older son buttered bread after the boy got urinated on by his baby brother Frankie as the baby's diaper is being changed. Because of this, Dom grew up with a love of food, a trait shared by his equally obese cousin, Salvatore (Sal), who would often share his snacks with Dom.
When Sal suddenly dies at age 39, the family grieves. This prompts Antoinette to urge Dom to visit a diet doctor to avoid his cousin's unhealthy eating habits and not drive himself into an early grave as well. Dom agrees to do so once he recognizes signs that obesity is ruining his health. Dom is deeply disheartened when given his new diet plan, seeing the long list of delectable foods and dishes that he enjoys very much but now must avoid. When the diet fails, Dom's eating habits drive his sister crazy, so she enrolls him in the "Chubby Checkers" support group.
Meanwhile, Dom meets Lydia (
Candice Azzara), a thin diabetic who owns the neighborhood antiques shop, and finds they have a lot in common outside of food. But being self-conscious about his body contours, he fears rejection, and can't bring himself to ask her for a date despite her obvious interest in him.
Dom had Frankie padlock the fridge and larder, but that proves to be little help because in the middle of the night, Dom, crazed by cravings for his favorite decadent delights (even having dreamed of
marzipan
Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract.
It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzi ...
candy), demands the keys from his brother, even threatening him with violence at one point, of which he is extremely ashamed afterward.
Now further depressed, Dom seeks comfort from his support group Chubby Checkers—calling Sonny and Oscar (
Richard Karron and Paul Zegler) -- who turn out to be no help at all, as their reminiscing about favorite desserts and delicacies causes the intervention to deteriorate into the pig-out party to end all pig-out parties. Sonny even tears the pantry doors off their hinges.
To help their brother, Antoinette and Frankie bring together Dom and Lydia. While dating, Dom doesn't realize that he has been eating less and less, and is shocked to discover at how loosely his clothes fit in a matter of weeks.
Dom decides to
propose to his lovely new
sweetheart. When he drops by Lydia's apartment, she is gone. It worries him so much, he ends up eating all of the Chinese takeout food he was supposed to pick up for a family party. Antoinette finds out and attacks Dom with a doll mounted on a stick, and comments how he's hurting the family. Dom admits his acknowledgement of this, and starts to blame his mother for comforting him with food all his life. Antoinette learns this for the first time, and comforts him after a mental breakdown while he curses his mother. Dom notes Antoinette's revelation of his issues, and promises to keep trying. However, he also realizes that he must love himself the way he is, and makes the duo promise to do the same should he die of obesity like Sal, after which Antoinette and Frank learn to accept Dom for who he is. Dom then receives a phone call from Lydia, who is at a hospital in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
visiting her younger brother, who accidentally chopped off a finger. Dom flies in and when the two take a walk through the hospital, watching the newborn babies in the nursery, Dom whispers his marriage proposal into Lydia's ear, and she accepts.
The film ends with a photo montage of now-married Dom and Lydia, then their babies — with each photo showing Lydia holding a new baby, while the previous child grows up. Dom's obesity only slightly declines through the years, but clearly exacts no toll upon the family's happiness.
Cast (in alphabetical order)
*
Candice Azzara as Lydia Bollowenski
*
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...
as Antoinette Sosonna (née DiNapoli)
*
Ron Carey as Frank "Frankie" DiNapoli, Jr.
* David Comfort as Anthony Sosonna
*
Father Bob Curtis as Father Monohan
*
Dom DeLuise
Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...
as Dominic Anthony "Dom" DiNapoli
*
Richard Karron as Sonny "Big Guy" Loffolotto
*
Michael Lombard
Michael Lombard born Michael LaBombarda (August 8, 1934 - August 13, 2020) was an American actor. His parents, both from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy, emigrated to America and settled in Gravesend, Brooklyn. In 1977, he was nominated for a Drama Desk ...
as Charlie Sosonna
*
Ralph Manza
Ralph Manza (December 1, 1921 – January 31, 2000) was an American character actor who made over 160 appearances in American film and television shows.
Career
A pre-med student at UC-Berkeley in the early 1940s, Manza was drafted into the Unit ...
as Danny
*
Estelle Reiner
Estelle Reiner (née Lebost; June 5, 1914 – October 25, 2008) was an American actress and singer, described by ''The New York Times'' as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy". She was the wife of Carl Reiner and the ...
as Mrs. Goodman
* Natasha Ryan as Ann Marie Sosonna
*
Sal Viscuso
Sal Viscuso (born October 5, 1948 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Father Timothy Flotsky in '' Soap'' (1977-1981).
Acting career
He is known for playing the character Father Timothy Flotsky on the ...
as Vito (Dom's cousin)
* Paul Zegler as Oscar "Jew" Lapidus
Critical reception
The film has a rating of 33% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on six reviews.
Many critics were very surprised by the effectively dramatic performances from actors, which have mostly been attributed to satiric or sophomoric comedy films in the past. Critic Peter Wu described the film as "A very humorous and yet serious movie about obesity," going on to write: "Maybe being overweight isn't the best thing for a person's health, but being one's self and being happy is all that really matters in life ... With a delightful blend of New York Italian culture and the human problem of overeating, Fatso makes for an entertaining movie experience. Loaded with some of the funniest comedy gags I have ever seen, Fatso is a very humorous and yet serious movie about a very touchy subject, Dom DeLuise!"
Other critics, such as
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
, were not as kind. Siskel called it "
nemaciated script idea", "a major disappointment for Bancroft, who is making her directorial debut
ndan even bigger disappointment for this critic, who has been arguing for years that DeLuise is a gifted actor capable of playing leading roles." Ebert remarked that "two basic dramatic approaches to fatness are to regard it as comic, or tragic. Anne Bancroft has somehow avoided both approaches in 'Fatso,' a movie with the unique distinction of creating in its audiences an almost constant suspense about how they're supposed to be reacting. The movie itself just doesn't know: 'Fatso' has a director, a screenplay and a cast who are all uncertain about how they really feel about overweight." Another critical point of view said succinctly, "the biggest
weight problem in the movie was the heavy hand of director Bancroft."
Impact
This film was also reviewed in the psychiatric monograph ''The Eating Disorders'', which concluded that the film "... veers between comedy and pathos as a man discovers ... fat is the ... only sin in America." They approvingly note that, "The motivation for overeating and binge dieting are lampooned ...
ndmedical consequences ... are elaborated in ... comedic fashion."
[A.J. Giannini, A.E. Slaby (eds), ''The Eating Disorders'' (1993) NY Springer-Verlag p. 273. ]
The film marked a turning point in the lives of actors Richard Karon and Paul Zegler who played DeLuise's obese "Chubby Checker" support group members. Both actors lost large amounts of weight in the years subsequent to the making of the film.
References
External links
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* {{Mojo title, fatso
1980 films
1980 romantic comedy films
20th Century Fox films
American romantic comedy films
American satirical films
Body image in popular culture
Brooksfilms films
Films about obesity
Films produced by Mel Brooks
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Films scored by Joe Renzetti
1980 directorial debut films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films