The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)

Innocenti Totò and his son Innocenti Ninetto are drifting on a road in Italy, when they meet a Marxist speaking crow. The trio travels together in a long journey as their hunger increases.

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (story), Pier Paolo Pasolini (screenplay)

Stars:

Totò, Ninetto Davoli, Femi Benussi

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Totò	...	Innocenti Totò / Brother Cicillo
Ninetto Davoli	...	Innocenti Ninetto / Brother Ninetto (as Davoli Ninetto)
Femi Benussi	...	Luna
Umberto Bevilacqua	...	Incensurato
Renato Capogna	...	Scoundrels Leader
Alfredo Leggi
Pietro Davoli	...	Scoundrel
Renato Montalbano
Rosina Moroni	...	Poor Cottage Owner
Flaminia Siciliano	...	Scoundrel
Lena Lin Solaro	...	Urganda
Gabriele Baldini	...	Dante's Dentist
Giovanni Tarallo	...	Starving Peasant
Ricardo Redi	...	Mansion Owner
Vittorio Vittori	...	Ciro Lococo

Storyline

This richly symbolic film is really impossible to understand without some knowledge of 20th Century Italian history, and particularly the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 finally politically separated Italy from Church power by creating the Vatican as a sovereign state. But the trade off was the that the Church was still left in power over many aspects of everyday Italian life. For instance, Italy finally established a civilian divorce law through a bitterly contested 1970 referendum. Before then, divorce was under strictly in the domain of Church law, and the Church NEVER granted a divorce, even in extreme cases like when a spouse was abandoned many years hence. Overall, however, the power of the Church still resided in the blind allegiance of Italians at all levels to Church morality. Over decades, this led to impeding Italy's social and political progress, and greatly maintained the status quo in the division between the privileged upper class and the ...

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Plot Keywords:

crow | hawk | sparrow | italy | class struggle | 

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Taglines:

The surprise comedy hit of the New York Film Festival

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

10 December 1969 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

The Hawks and the Sparrows

Filming Locations:

Assisi, Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,248

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arco Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shooting the scenes with the raven was problematic, as it tended to attack protagonist Totò with its beak. Several birds were used.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are performed as a song.

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une histoire seule (1989)

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Soundtracks

Uccellacci E Uccellini - strum
Composed by Ennio Morricone

User Reviews

One delightful saturday afternoon spent with this movie at the portuguese Cinema Museum.

One delightful saturday afternoon spent with this movie at the portuguese Cinema Museum. This picture can be identified as "another Pasolini movie" or as well as "another Toto movie", and both reasons are more than enough to make anyone curious to see it. Pasolini gives us a pleasant Toto comedie, filled with intelectual and political information, pretty well disguised as a fable about birds and priests. After this, I am convinced that a title with the name PASOLINI on it doesn't necessarily have to be a though, brutal, sexual, 3-hour-lengthed filmic exercise. It can be a simple weekend afternoon movie to watch with your parents or your kids. On the other hand, a simple comedy with one of its masters ("toto") doesnt necessarily have to be shallow and basic. This movie is worth a "jump like a sparrow" into a theatre, whenever you have a re-run around.