IMDb > The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)

The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
5.9/10   156 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Up 11% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Melville Shavelson

Writers:

Donald Downes (novel)
Melville Shavelson (writer)

Contact:

View company contact information for The Pigeon That Took Rome on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

20 June 1962 (USA) more

Genre:

Comedy | War more

Plot:

Charlton Heston stars as an American soldier behind Italian lines in World War II. In order to communicate German movements to the Allies... more | add synopsis

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations more

User Comments:

A Lame Pigeon more (5 total)


Cast

  (Credited cast)

Charlton Heston ... Captain Paul MacDougall / Benny the Snatch / Narrator
Elsa Martinelli ... Antonella Massimo
Harry Guardino ... Sgt. Joseph Contini
Salvatore Baccaloni ... Ciccio Massimo
Marietto ... Livio Massimo
Gabriella Pallotta ... Rosalba Massimo

Brian Donlevy ... Col. Sherman Harrington
Arthur Shields ... Monsignor O'Toole
Rudolph Anders ... Col. Wilhelm Krafft
Vadim Wolkowsky ... Conte Danesi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Borgani ... Relative at Easter Dinner

Gary Collins ... Maj. Wolff
Bob Gandett ... The General

David Macklin ... Favio
Dick Nelson ... The Chief (FDR) (scenes deleted)
Debbie Price ... Luigina
Forrest Wood ... Lt. Browning
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Additional Details

Also Known As:

Americans Go Home (USA) (working title)
Easter Dinner (USA) (working title)
more

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #20168)

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

Salvatore Baccaloni's last film. more

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Ten Commandments (1956) more


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful.
A Lame Pigeon, 11 February 2009
5/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

There are certain actors who should not do comedy and Charlton Heston was one of them. His no nonsense granite personality of integrity was out of place in a film like The Pigeon That Took Rome. The part looks like it was written for Rock Hudson.

Heston does his best however as an infantry officer who together with an Italian speaking sergeant Harry Guardino is sent days before the Allied liberation of Rome into the Eternal City. The cautious Allies want to find out if Hitler really means to evacuate and leave it an open city or will he fight for it.

A prime mover in the underground is Monsignor Arthur Shields at the Vatican playing a character based on the one that was the central figure in the later film The Scarlet and the Black that starred Gregory Peck. He gets Heston and Guardino, disguised as priests, into the home of Salvatore Baccaloni with daughters Elsa Martinelli and Gabriella Pallotta and their little brother Marietto.

That family has its own problems, Pallotta is pregnant via another American who was a flier later killed by the Nazis. She's got to get married and quick and sizes up Guardino as a likely prospect.

With Nazi communication detection techniques Heston is forced to use those old reliable carrier pigeons. But when Baccaloni plans a feast for the daughter he uses those same pigeons that could signal the Allied advance into Rome as disguised quail. What to do?

The only time Heston ever successfully essayed comedy was in the Private War Of Major Benson in which his stern countenance was played against by the kids of the military school and his lady interest Julia Adams. It doesn't work in The Pigeon That Took Rome and a lot of potentially funny stuff just falls flat.

Chuck's next visit to Rome was The Agony And The Ecstacy. He was a much better Michaelangelo than a spy.

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