[2] Considered at the time as protagonists of B movies, they were subsequently reevaluated by critics for their comedy and creative abilities, becoming the subject of study.

However, they were rewarded by important audience responses, for example I figli del leopardo by Sergio Corbucci (1965), a parody of The Leopard by Luchino Visconti (1963).

Also are the 13 films directed by Lucio Fulci, who was the architect of the reversal of their typical roles by making Ciccio the serious one, the sidekick, and Franco the comic one.

Many films are centered on the theme of the Sicilian Mafia, initially playing on the mafioso stereotype such as L'onorata società by Riccardo Pazzaglia (1961) and I due mafiosi by Giorgio Simonelli (1964).

[15] Others focus on the humorous satire of society by targeting politics (I 2 deputati by Giovanni Grimaldi, 1968), religion (Don Franco e Don Ciccio nell'anno della contestazione by Marino Girolami, 1970), sport (I due maghi del pallone by Mariano Laurenti, 1970), justice (Riuscirà l'avvocato Franco Benenato a sconfiggere il suo acerrimo nemico il pretore Ciccio De Ingras?

[22][23] The duo also starred in a comic series at the end of the 1960s, Ciccio & Franco, with stories that were original, but featured gags already established in the cinema.

[12] Franco and Ciccio also admired many of their contemporary colleagues: Peppino De Filippo, Erminio Macario, Raimondo Vianello, Luigi Pavese, Aldo Fabrizi, Akim Tamiroff and Misha Auer.

Furthermore, Ciccio had been positively impressed by Jayne Mansfield, an actress who died at the age of 34 in a car accident, with whom he starred in Primitive Love by Luigi Scattini (1964).

[28] Franco, while working with Salvatore Polara's "crawlers", as well as acting, played the bass drum and the accordion and sang in the shows in the square.

[33] Ciccio, on the other hand, initially devoted himself to parodies of Canzone Napoletana, including Agata, Nino Taranto's forte.

[34] Even during their television conductions in the 1980s they signed several closing theme songs for their respective programs, including the one created for Drim entitled “E mi pareva strano”.