How to Kill 400 Duponts

1967 film

Inter Jet Film
Mega Film^[1]

Release date

1967 (1967)

Running time

96 minutes^[1]CountryItaly^[1]

How to Kill 400 Duponts (Italian: Arrriva Dorellik) is a 1967 Italian comedy film directed by Steno. The main character of the film, Dorellik, is a parody of the comic series Diabolik. The character was created in the late 60s for several sketches on television.^[2]^[3]

Plot

Dorellik, an Italian contract killer who lives on the French Riviera accepts a job to kill everyone named Dupont in France for a rich customer who expects to receive a large inheritance.

Cast

Johnny Dorelli as Dorellik
Margaret Lee as Baby Eva
Alfred Adam as Inspector Saval
Terry-Thomas as Police Commissioner Green
Riccardo Garrone as Vladimiro Dupont
Rossella Como as Barbara Leduc
Didi Perego as Gisele Dupont
Agata Flori as Carlotta
Piero Gerlini as Raphael Dupont
Totò Mignone as Berthold Dupont
Samson Burke as Last Dupont

Production

How to Kill 400 Duponts was a film starring popular singer and television host Johnny Dorelli.^[4] The Italian title Arriva Dorellik made reference to Dorelli's character Dorellik, which premiered on his television show Johnny Sera.^[4]

Release

How to Kill 400 Duponts was released in Italy in 1967.^[1] Producer Dino De Laurentiis had been producing a film based on the Diabolik fumetti neri series and sued the producers of How to Kill 400 Duponts over their original title Dorellik, which led to the film being re-titled Arriva Dorellik (lit. Here Comes Dorellik) just before the film's release.^[4] Terry-Thomas, who played a starring role in Arriva Dorellik, also ended up guest-starring in De Laurentiis' Danger: Diabolik.

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Curti 2016, p. 71.
^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia; Mario Pecorari (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film. Gremese Editore, 1992. ISBN 8876055932.
^ Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 8860736269.
^ ^a ^b ^c Curti 2016, p. 72.

Sources

Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.