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The Witches (1967 film)

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This article is about the Italian anthology film. For the film starring Joan Fontaine, see The Witches (1966 film).

The Witches
Italian theatrical release poster
ItalianLe streghe
Directed byLuchino Visconti
Mauro Bolognini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Franco Rossi
Vittorio De Sica
Screenplay byGiuseppe Patroni Griffi
Cesare Zavattini
Age & Scarpelli
Bernardino Zapponi
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Fabio Carpi
Enzo Muzzi
Produced byDino De Laurentiis
StarringSilvana Mangano
Clint Eastwood
Annie Girardot
Totò
Alberto Sordi
CinematographyGiuseppe Rotunno
Edited byMario Serandrei
Nino Baragli
Giorgio Serrallonga
Adriana Novelli
Music byPiero Piccioni
Ennio Morricone
Production
companies
Distributed byDear Film (Italy)
United Artists (international)
Release dates
  • 22 February 1967 (1967-02-22)
(Italy)
  • 5 June 1968 (1968-06-05)
(France)
  • March 12, 1969 (1969-03-12)
(USA)
Running time
110 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguageItalian

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

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"The Witch Burned Alive"

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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"

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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"

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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"

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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"

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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

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"The Witch Burned Alive"
"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"

Crew

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"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

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  1. ^ "The Witches (1967)". AllMovie.
  2. ^ Le streghe (in Italian), retrieved 11 June 2023
  3. ^ Munn, p. 58

Bibliography

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  • Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.
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