Firefighters

Firefighters (I pompieri, 1985) is an Italian comedy directed by Neri Parenti — watch it online on iFILM. A new unit is formed at a Rome fire station: Squad 17, six men of wildly mismatched ages and backgrounds. What they share is a complete inability to put out a fire without making things considerably worse. Paolo Villaggio and Lino Banfi lead the ensemble.

Every call-out ends in a fresh disaster. Wrong addresses, wrong equipment, wrong instincts — delivered with total commitment. Parenti made this film at the peak of Italy's taste for loud ensemble farce, and it shows: no subtlety, no pretension, just a crew of loveable incompetents lurching toward some vague idea of redemption. As a comedy time capsule from 1980s Italian cinema, it holds up better than it probably should. Stream Firefighters (1985) on iFILM.