Why An armchair for two has it been broadcast on Italia Uno during the Christmas holidays for almost 30 years? Although not the classic American film from Santa Claus, tree, lights and marshmallowsindeed, despite not being a Christmas film at all, the film, only in Italy, has become a cult. And in practice every year it is the fixed appointment, in front of the TV, for approximately 2 million of spectators.
The comedy is from 1983: by John Landis, in the cast Dan Aykroyd, Eddie MurphyJamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche. In the last 28 years the film has been broadcast 25 times, of which 21 on the evening of December 24th. With the last eve 2025 here is the twenty-second which gave the famous film by John Landis a flattering 15.38% share with an average of just over 2 million viewers.
An armchair for two was a huge success and the real launching pad for Eddie Murphy which a few months earlier had debuted in 48 hours. Only later was the film distributed in the rest of the world and in Italy it reached the cinema in 1984 without achieving success. The question many people ask is therefore why Italy One have you continued to show it on television for over twenty years? Cinefacts asked the network director Laura Casarotto who responded like this: «Always choosing the same title is an intuition that I inherited from those who preceded me. However, I believe that “An armchair for two” works because at Christmas we want to hear the same story always told: the children are told about Santa Claus and even the older ones want their own story.”
The ratings seem to repay the choice: «An armchair for two is a counter-tale – continues Casarotto – with a happy ending, but with many comic and irreverent elements».
But what is the film about? For a bet between bored rich people the lives of a broker and a homeless man are turned upside down. Roles are therefore exchanged between the rich stockbroker Louis Winthorpe, haughty and satisfied albeit superficially, and Billie Ray Valentine, a beggar who is a bit of a swindler who passes himself off as a war veteran. Their lives intersect on Christmas Eve after a fight in the street. Once the bet is discovered, the two will make the Duke brothers, the architects of the exchange, pay for it.
