The Witches (1967 film)
| The Witches | |
|---|---|
 Italian theatrical release poster | |
| Italian | Le streghe |
| Directed by | Luchino Visconti Mauro Bolognini Pier Paolo Pasolini Franco Rossi Vittorio De Sica |
| Screenplay by | Giuseppe Patroni Griffi Cesare Zavattini Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi Pier Paolo Pasolini Fabio Carpi Enzo Muzzi |
| Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis |
| Starring | Silvana Mangano Clint Eastwood Annie Girardot Totò Alberto Sordi |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Rotunno |
| Edited by | Mario Serandrei Nino Baragli Giorgio Serrallonga Adriana Novelli |
| Music by | Piero Piccioni Ennio Morricone |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Dear Film (Italy) United Artists (international) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Countries | Italy France |
| Language | Italian |
The Witches (Italian: Le streghe) is a 1967 commedia all'italiana anthology film produced by Dino De Laurentiis in 1965.[1] It consists of five comic stories about witches, directed by Luchino Visconti, Franco Rossi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mauro Bolognini and Vittorio De Sica. The film features Silvana Mangano; Clint Eastwood appears in the final story.[2] It was the last film starring Totò to be released in his lifetime.
Segments
[edit]"The Witch Burned Alive"
[edit]A famous actress arrives in an Austrian chalet to spend an evening with friends. The woman is gotten drunk by the guests, and when she falls unconscious, friends remove her makeup to look at the imperfections of her face, always believed beautiful by her fans.
"Civic Spirit"
[edit]A man is wounded in a traffic accident. A woman stops the car and offers to take him to the hospital. The woman, however, only does this to pass the road traffic. When she arrives at her destination, she throws him out.
"The Earth Seen from the Moon"
[edit]This comic episode, directed by Pasolini, tells the story of a red-headed father and son, Ciancicato and Baciu Miao (Totò and Ninetto Davoli). Ciancicato has just lost his wife and wants to marry again. Ciancicato finds a deaf girl among the shacks on the outskirts of Rome and makes her his bride. To buy a better house nearby, he concocts a plan for her to threaten to commit suicide (distraught by her sick children) by jumping from the Colosseum, and take a collection to save her, but she slips on a banana peel and falls, and is buried next to his former wife. Soon after, she reappears at their home and their happy life continues. The story ends with the moral: "Being dead or alive is the same thing."
"The Sicilian Belle"
[edit]In this short episode, a Sicilian woman tells her father a man made a pass at her; he retaliates by massacring the family.
"An Evening like the Others"
[edit]Clint Eastwood plays a husband to Silvana Mangano. The short centers on Mangano's feeling that she is unappreciated in her marriage. Scenes alternate between real-life and fantasy. In real life, Mangano expresses her feelings to an Eastwood in subdued ways with hints, and leading questions. In the fantasy sequences she expresses her frustrations dramatically, by yelling, striking, and shooting Eastwood. In the final fantasy sequence, she imagines herself as a glamorous star, walking along in an evolving series of haute couture while being ogled by a growing crowd of middle-aged businessmen. She performs a strip tease for them, which causes the fantasy-Eastwood to kill himself. We return to real-life, Mangano smiles, removes her glasses and goes to sleep, next to a snoring Eastwood.
Cast
[edit]- "The Witch Burned Alive"
- Silvana Mangano as Gloria
- Annie Girardot as Valeria
- Francisco Rabal as Paolo
- Massimo Girotti as Sportsman
- Véronique Vendell as Young Girlfriend
- Elsa Albani as Gossip
- Clara Calamai as Ex-Actress
- Marilù Tolo as Waitress
- Nora Ricci as Gloria's Secretary
- Dino Mele as Dino, the Waiter
- Helmut Berger (as Helmut Steinbergher) as Hotel Page
- Bruno Filippini as Singer
- Leslie French as Industrialist
- "Civic Spirit"
- Silvana Mangano as Woman in a Hurry
- Alberto Sordi as Elio Ferocci
- "The Earth Seen from the Moon"
- Silvana Mangano as Assurdina Caì
- Totò as Ciancicato Miao
- Ninetto Davoli (as Nenetto Davoli) as Baciu Miao
- Laura Betti as Male Tourist
- Luigi Leoni as Female Tourist
- Mario Cipriani as Priest (uncredited)
- "The Sicilian Belle"
- Silvana Mangano as Nunzia
- Pietro Tordi as Nunzia's Father (uncredited)
- "An Evening Like the Others"
- Silvana Mangano as Giovanna
- Clint Eastwood as Carlo (Charlie in the English version)
- Valentino Macchi as Man at Stadium
- Corinne Fontaine as Admirer
- Armando Bottin as Nembo Kid
- Gianni Gori as Diabolik
- Paolo Gozlino as Mandrake the Magician
- Franco Moruzzi as Sadik
- Angelo Santi as Flash Gordon
- Pietro Torrisi as Batman
Crew
[edit]- "The Witch Burned Alive"
| Luchino Visconti | Director |
| Giuseppe Patroni Griffi With the collaboration of Cesare Zavattini |
Story and Screenplay |
| Piero Piccioni | Composer |
| Rinaldo Ricci | Assistant Director |
| Mario Serandrei | Editor |
- "Civic Spirit"
| Mauro Bolognini | Director |
| Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi |
Story and Screenplay |
| Piero Piccioni | Composer |
| Massimo Castellani | Assistant Director |
| Nino Baragli | Editor |
- "The Earth Seen from the Moon"
| Pier Paolo Pasolini | Director |
| Story and Screenplay | |
| Ennio Morricone | Composer |
| Sergio Citti | Assistant Director |
| Nino Baragli | Editor |
- "The Sicilian Belle"
| Franco Rossi | Director |
| Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi |
Story and Screenplay |
| Piero Piccioni | Composer |
| Nello Vanin | Assistant Director |
| Giorgio Serralonga | Editor |
- "An Evening Like the Others"
| Vittorio De Sica | Director |
| Cesare Zavattini With the collaboration of Fabio Carpi Enzo Muzii |
Story and Screenplay |
| Piero Piccioni | Composer |
| Luisa Alessandri | Assistant Director |
| Adriana Novelli | Editor |
- Other crew
| Giuseppe Rotunno | Director of Photography |
| Alfredo De Laurentiis | General Production Manager |
| Mario Garbuglia Piero Poletto |
Art Directors |
| Piero Tosi | Costume Designer |
| Goffredo Rocchetti | Makeup Artist |
Release
[edit]Le streghe was never released outside of Europe as United Artists bought the film when Clint Eastwood's career began to ascend. United Artists decided not to release it in theaters but instead kept it in its library vault to prevent its viewing.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Witches (1967)". AllMovie.
- ^ Le streghe (in Italian), retrieved 11 June 2023
- ^ Munn, p. 58
Bibliography
[edit]- Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.
External links
[edit]- The Witches at IMDb
- ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› The Witches at AllMovie
- Images from film and videoclip, "Le Streghe" (1967)
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
- 1967 films
- 1968 films
- 1969 films
- 1965 films
- 1960s Italian-language films
- Films directed by Franco Rossi
- Films directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Films directed by Luchino Visconti
- Films directed by Vittorio De Sica
- Italian anthology films
- Commedia all'italiana
- Films directed by Mauro Bolognini
- Films set in Austria
- Films set in the Alps
- Films set in Rome
- Films set in Sicily
- 1967 comedy films
- Films scored by Ennio Morricone
- Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli
- Films with screenplays by Cesare Zavattini
- Films about witchcraft
- Films scored by Piero Piccioni
- 1965 comedy films
- 1960s Italian films
- Films about the Colosseum