Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Bruno Fioretti, known as "Mandrake", is an inveterate gambler who never misses a day at the horse racing track in Rome. He is doubly unlucky: he bets too much on one horse, and his wife is sleeping with his best friend because Mandrake is always at the track. Penniless and cuckolded, Mandrake decides to make one last bet.
Horse Fever is a well-regarded Italian comedy built around the Roman horse-racing subculture, with a lived-in, tragicomic energy that distinguishes it from generic farce. The plot is a familiar loser's spiral — gambling addiction, marital betrayal, one last desperate bet — executed with warmth and local color rather than originality. The acting, anchored by a committed lead performance capturing the compulsive gambler's self-delusion, elevates the material above its modest premise. Cinematography is functional and naturalistic, capturing the track atmosphere without particular visual ambition. Novelty is modest: the milieu is specific and the tone blends comedy with genuine pathos in a distinctly Italian way, but the narrative arc is conventional. The ending provides a satisfying, bittersweet resolution consistent with the film's tone but not especially surprising.