I viaggiatori della sera ('The Evening Travellers') is a 1979 science fiction-drama film written and directed by Ugo Tognazzi. A co-production between Italy and Spain, it is loosely based on a novel with the same name by Umberto Simonetta.
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Synopsis
In an alternative 1980 future, recently approved laws mandate that everybody must retire and move into state-run vacation villages upon reaching their 50th birthday. Here, although provided with free food, alcohol, entertainment and all perks of a promiscuous life style, the guests are effectively prisoners who get progressively decimated, by winning a "cruise" from which there is no return.
The movie follows the experience of a couple forced into the new reality, under pressure of their own sons and society as a whole. Although initially rebellious, they progressively give in, and will both die within some weeks in the village. Their sons are relatively at ease with the new system, which is in turn embraced unquestionably by their own child.
Cast
Ugo Tognazzi as Orso
Ornella Vanoni as Nicki
Corinne Cléry as Ortensia
Roberta Paladini as Anna Maria
Pietro Brambilla as Francesco
José Luis López Vázquez as Simoncini
William Berger as Cochi Fontana
Manuel de Blas as Bertani
Deddi Savagnone as Mila
Leonardo Benvenuti as Zafferi
Production
Initially, Nino Manfredi, who had just worked with Tognazzi in The Payoff, was attached to the project as both screenwriter and actor. After participating in several writing sessions, however, he withdrew from the project, much to Tognazzi's dismay.