Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Luchino Visconti (scenario) &
Suso Cecchi d'Amico (story) ...

Release Date:

26 June 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

The widow Rosaria moves to Milano from Lucania with her 4 sons, one of whom is Rocco. The fifth son...

Plot Keywords:

Prostitute | Boxing | Murder | Dry Cleaners | Widow

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 8 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Alain Delon	...	Rocco Parondi
Renato Salvatori	...	Simone Parondi
Annie Girardot	...	Nadia
Katina Paxinou	...	Rosaria Parondi
Alessandra Panaro	...	Ciro's Fiancee
Spiros Focás	...	Vincenzo Parondi (as Spiros Focas)
Max Cartier	...	Ciro Parondi
Corrado Pani	...	Ivo
Rocco Vidolazzi	...	Luca Parondi
Claudia Mori	...	Laundrey Worker
Adriana Asti	...	Laundrey Worker
Enzo Fiermonte	...	Boxer
Nino Castelnuovo	...	Nino Rossi
Rosario Borelli	...	Un biscazziere
Renato Terra	...	Alfredo, Ginetta's brother

Also Known As:

Rocco and His Brothers (UK) (USA)
Rocco et ses frères (France)

Runtime:

Spain:168 min (DVD edition) | Italy:177 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1962) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1985) | Italy:VM14 (restored version) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved | West Germany:18 (w) | UK:15 (video rating) (1991) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Bellagio, Como, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Titanus

Trivia:

Milan's council withdrew permission to stage a murder scene in a popular tourist spot. They subsequently banned the film despite even after 45 minutes of questionable material had been removed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Scorsese on Scorsese (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Il Mare

Thank God for Italy...

Although the French Nouvelle Vague gets all the press, it is the Italian neorealist movement that has had the greatest impact on American cinema. Let's face it, aside from some of Godard's editing tricks in Breathless, what kind of influence did the Nouvelle Vague really have? Godard. Truffaut. Chabrol. Rohmer. Rivette. Resnais. Decent filmmakers all, but, when one looks closely, more interesting for their influences than for their influence. But the Italians, oh, the Italians. Bava. Fellini. Rossellini. De Sica. Bertolucci. Visconti. I think it is safe to say that, without the films of these incredible innovators, American movies would have rotted away into nothing. It was the post WWII Italian neorealist movement, and its heady brew of Marxism and melodrama, that inflamed the imaginations of filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, and led them, especially in Coppola's case, to use many of the same personnel on their own productions. Vittorio Storaro. Giuseppe Rotunno. Nino Rota. Ferdinando Scarfiotti. Danilo Donati. Where would the great American films of the seventies be without the contributions of these astoundingly talented artists and technicians?

Rocco and His Brothers is a jaw-dropping work, so ferociously brilliant that it takes your breath away. As a Visconti fan, I have been waiting to watch it for years. Yet, despite my eagerness, the DVD sat on top of the television for two weeks before I finally popped it in. Curiously, I had the same reaction to The Leopard, another Visconti masterwork, a couple of years ago. As I get older, I find it harder and harder to abandon myself to a work of art. Great works of art force one to give oneself over to them completely, suspend judgment, accept them unconditionally. When one is young and unformed, the process is easy; as one gets older, and the carapace of personality hardens, the process becomes more difficult. There is a good reason for this; the effort is often not worth while; one comes out of the experience diminished, drained, let down.

Rocco and His Brothers holds no such disappointment. It is a vast, capacious work, complex, generous, passionate, and intensely moving. The talent on display here defies analysis: Alain Delon is luminous as the saintly Rocco; Katina Paxinou achieves Shakespearean grandeur as the Parondi family matriarch; Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography is starkly beautiful; and Nino Rota's music is heartbreaking. I do not want to give too much of this film away, but I must point out that, contrary to what some reviews on this site have to say, this film is not just about the corruption that big city life brings to a peasant family. Rocco may be a saint, but his all-forgiving nature drives much of the tragedy that unfolds. It is Ciro, the compassionate but just brother, and successful entrant into Milan's urban proletariat, who will lead the family into an uncertain but perhaps hopeful future.

Let me just finish by pointing out how wonderful it is to see a movie that ends with a meaningful and distinctive final shot. You don't see much of that anymore.