Sacco & Vanzetti (1971)

The story of two anarchists who were charged and unfairly tried for murder when it was really for their political convictions.

Director:

Giuliano Montaldo

Writers:

Fabrizio Onofri (story), Giuliano Montaldo (story)

Stars:

Gian Maria Volontè, Riccardo Cucciolla, Cyril Cusack

6 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gian Maria Volontè	...	Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Riccardo Cucciolla	...	Nicola Sacco
Cyril Cusack	...	Frederick Katzmann
Rosanna Fratello	...	Rosa Sacco
Geoffrey Keen	...	Judge Webster Thayer
Milo O'Shea	...	Fred Moore
William Prince	...	William Thompson
Claude Mann	...	Journalist
Edward Jewesbury	...	Alvan T. Fuller
Armenia Balducci	...	Virginia
Valentino Orfeo
Pier Giovanni Anchisi	...	Membro Comitato Difesa (as Piero Archisi)
Desmond Perry
John Harvey
Felicity Mason

Storyline

In 1920, the anarchist Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco (Riccardo Cucciolla) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Gian Maria Volonté) are sentenced to death, falsely accused of a robbery and murder. Indeed they are condemned due to their political beliefs, in one of the most shameful and hypocrite judgments of the human history.

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Plot Keywords:

character names as title | three word title | surnames as title | anarchist | 1920s | 

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Taglines:

The excitement is catching!

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

16 March 1971 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Sacco & Vanzetti

Filming Locations:

Dublin, Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jolly Film, Unidis, Theatre Le Rex S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Producer Dino De Laurentiis had tried to set up a version in the early 60's with director Richard Fleischer after they had worked on " Barabbas ". The project failed to materialise and Fleischer sued De Laurentiis for loss of earnings. They would eventually put this behind them , and Fleischer would make " Mandingo " in 1975 with him again, and " Amityville 3-D", " Red Sonja " and " Million Dollar Mystery".

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Connections

Version of Sacco e Vanzetti (1977)

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Soundtracks

(II Parte) La Ballata Di Sacco E Vanzetti
Vocals by Joan Baez
Performed by Joan Baez
Music composed by Ennio Morricone

User Reviews

An exemplary example of didactic cinema

It is perhaps not without significance that Guiliano Montaldo worked as Assistant Director on Gillo Pontecorvo's brilliant KAPO, since there is a tangible link in terms of attitude, emotional power and political commitment between this film and Pontecorvo's other outstanding films.

Great films are, very often, a means of conveying ideas, and, as Pudovkin once said, film is the greatest teacher because it reaches us both through the head and the emotions. Maybe this is why politically correct authoritarians are always chiding us `not to be sentimental' since emotions are something these control freaks can't orchestrate!

Whatever one's views about the political sympathies of Sacco and Vanzetti, this film shows that they were victims of the hysterical climate of the times and place in which they found themselves, and their plight is represented with great humanism, empathy and power, helped in no small measure by the superb musical score of Ennio Morricone, which must rank as one of his very best. Montaldo's whole technique is thoroughly cinematic, and the acting and all technical credits are faultless.

One somewhat disturbing aspect of this film however, was when I saw it in the USA, Sacco in his final speech from the dock declared, `We stand here because we are anarchists', (it struck at the time because I never thought I'd live to see the day that such a piece of dialogue would be delivered in a film distributed by MGM!), but, in its only screening in the UK on BBC television, this line was changed to `We stand here because we are radicals'. Hmmm! Not quite the same thing. On two other occasions I have noticed `creative subtitling' on French speaking movies, so maybe we should start a campaign for accurate and faithful subtitles!

A brilliant film, in my all-time top 100, so when is anyone going to issue it on video?