5 Branded Women (1960)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers (WGA):

Ugo Pirro (novel) and
Ivo Perilli (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 March 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

All The Savage Ravishing Passions of War!

Plot:

Yugoslav partisans grimly crop the hair of a village quintet of women believed to have consorted with the occupational Nazis...

Plot Keywords:

Digit In Title | Beautiful Woman | Shaved Head | Based On Novel | Number In Title

Cast

Silvana Mangano	...	Jovanka
Jeanne Moreau	...	Ljuba
Vera Miles	...	Daniza
Barbara Bel Geddes	...	Marja
Carla Gravina	...	Mira
Van Heflin	...	Velko
Richard Basehart	...	Capt. Reinhardt
Harry Guardino	...	Branco
Alex Nicol	...	Svenko
Steve Forrest	...	Sgt. Keller
Gérard Herter	...	Col. von Elm
Romolo Valli	...	Mirko
Sidney Clute	...	Milan
Teresa Pellati	...	Boja
Pietro Germi	...	Partisan commander

Also Known As:

Five Branded Women (USA) (alternative spelling)
Jovanka e le altre (Italy)

Runtime:

115 min | Argentina:118 min

Country:

USA | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

Vera Miles had her head shaved for her role in this film, which resulted in having to wear a wig for her role in Psycho (1960). (In fact, except for Barbara Bel Geddes, who wore a wig, all of the actresses playing the title characters had their heads shaved.)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Prisoner: (#1.4)" (1979)

A true "guilty" pleasure!

From the same director who brought us "Norma Rae" this classic World War II "resistance band fights guerilla warfare against Nazis in the snowywoods" has an interesting twist: they're all women and decked out in leather bomber jackets, crew cuts and machine guns.

Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Bel Geddes, Silvana Mangano, and Vera Miles - all shaved, humiliated, and thrown out of their peasant villages for sleeping with the enemy - now have taken arms against that enemy, but the "real" resistance doesn't want them. So these women must fight the men who are against them AND the men who are supposedly on their side, as well as each other.

Melodrama, to be sure, but different enough and with a fascinating sub-text, that it has become a "guilty" pleasure.