It stars Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefania Sandrelli, Stefano Satta Flores, Giovanna Ralli and Aldo Fabrizi.

Widely considered one of the best films by Scola, and a notable example of the commedia all'italiana, it was dedicated to Italian director Vittorio De Sica.

Antonio becomes a nurse in Rome and falls in love with a girl named Luciana.

Gianni becomes an assistant in a law firm, the head of which, La Rosa, is running as a deputy candidate for the Socialist Party.

Nicola returns to teaching in a small town high school, gets married and has a child, Tommasino.

He is asked to defend in court a real estate constructor who had two of his employees die on a site for not respecting security measures.

Elide, the client's youngest daughter, eventually meets Gianni and falls in love with him.

Meanwhile, Nicola tries to work as a movie critic and start a film magazine, but fails everywhere.

Years later, Antonio and Nicola have lunch at their usual restaurant when Luciana enters.

Gianni receives a letter from Nicola saying that Luciana has tried to commit suicide and visits her.

Elide says how happy she is to be Gianni's wife and mentions that other life she would have had if he had married another woman.

While having dinner, Gianni and Elide see Nicola on TV in a quiz show about Italian cinema.

Nicola answers all the questions right and wins a lot of money and the right to return the following week for more.

Nicola wants his book about cinema to be published, which an editor promised to do if he won the show's grand prize.

The couple is strolling in a public garden when they meet Luciana, who works as an usher and lives alone with her young son.

Meanwhile, at a festival, De Sica tells an anecdote proving that Nicola was right in his answer in the show.

The next morning, Nicola, Antonio and Luciana visit Gianni and realize that he lied about being broke.

After four months of release it had grossed $5.2 million in Italy, the highest-grossing Italian film for the period September 1974 to April 1975.

It also won two Silver Ribbons (Italian cinema critics award, for Fabrizi and Ralli) and the Golden Prize in the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975.