Not overrated... but terrible!
This movie has the production values of a porn flick, I'm thinking Alpha Blue. How can this be considered a masterpiece. I've seen silent films with better filmmaking and this was made in 1974! The main problem I have with this film is that I don't really get to know any of the characters nor do I care about them. We are thrown into a plot with these caricatures. They are all one-dimensional, they speak exactly what's on their mind at all times.
It's a terrible movie. Not overrated but terrible. Sometimes when you see a "classic" you might find it overrated, but eventually you catch on. But not here. This is just a shamless flirt with cinephiles (all the refrences to Italian cinema) and lovers of epic cinema - the story spans from WW2 to the 1960s yet I feel the characters are standing still throughout the whole thing.