Ginger and Fred | 80's Movie Guide

Taglines: The movie that watches television through the eyes of Fellini. Ginger and Fred movie storyline. Amelia and Pippo are reunited after several decades to perform their old music-hall act (imitating Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) on a TV variety show. It's both a touchingly nostalgic journey into the past, and a viciously satirical attack on television in general and Italian TV in particular, portraying it as a mindless freakshow aimed at morons. Ginger and Fred (Italian: Ginger e Fred) is a 1986 comedy/drama film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina. The title is a reference to the American dancing couple Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The two leads portray Italian impersonators of Astaire and Rogers who reunite after thirty years of retirement for a vulgar and bizarre television extravaganza. The movie is a complex and coherent indictment of the shallowness of commercial television, which, eager to squeeze commercials across every possible kind of program, deadens the viewers' ability to appreciate complex or thought-provoking themes. The film was the subject of a trademark claim in the United States by Ginger Rogers, who claimed in Rogers v. Grimaldi that the film violated her Lanham Act trademark rights, right of publicity, and was a "false light" defamation. The Second Circuit rejected this claim, finding that "suppressing an artistically relevant though ambiguous title film" on trademark grounds would "unduly restrict expression." Ginger and Fred (1986) Directed by: Federico Fellini Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Giulietta Masina, Franco Fabrizi, Friedrich von Ledebur, Augusto Poderosi, Martin Maria Blau, Barbara Scoppa Screenplay by: Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra Production Design by: Dante Ferretti Cinematography by: Tonino Delli Colli, Ennio Guarnieri Film Editing by: Nino Baragli, Ugo De Rossi, Ruggero Mastroianni Costume Design by: Danilo Donati Set Decoration by: Franco Fumagalli, Angelo Santucci Art Direction by: Nazzareno Piana Music by: Nicola Piovani Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release Date: March 28, 1986