Accattone (1961) on Netflix
Vittorio Cataldi, nicknamed Accattone, has never worked. Maddalena earns for him on the streets outside Rome, and when she is jailed he has no income and no wish to work.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.6/1011,376 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
On the outskirts of Rome, Vittorio Cataldi, known as Accattone, has never held a job. He lives off Maddalena, who works the streets for him, and spends his days playing cards and drinking with friends as idle as he is. He has a wife, Ascenza, and a young son, Iaio, but they live with her father and brother and he takes no part in their lives. A motorcyclist hits Maddalena, rivals of his beat her, and she is jailed for a year. His income gone, he goes hungry, begs from churches and tries to return to Ascenza, whose relatives turn him away. Then he meets Stella, a young worker, and contemplates drawing her into the life Maddalena led.
Cast
- Paola Guidias Ascenza
- Luciano Goninias Piede D'Oro
- Renato Capognaas Renato 'il Capogna'
- Alfredo Leggias Pupo il Biondo
- Galeazzo Riccardias Cipolla
- Leonardo Muragliaas Mommoletto
- Giuseppe Ristagnoas Peppe
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Accattone (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Accattone's premiere at the Venice Film Festival was met with protests, and a screening at the Cinema Barberini was interrupted by neo-fascists who threw firecrackers into the audience and ink bottles at the screen, sparking scuffles.
- Pasolini's first choice for the title role was Franco Interlenghi; he instead cast Franco Citti, a non-actor then working as a day labourer, for his distinctly Roman features, and had also considered his friend Giorgio Cataldi, who was in jail.
- Christian Democrat politician Salvatore Pagliuca sued Pasolini and the producers of Accattone, claiming a minor character in the film was named after him and portrayed as a criminal; he was compensated for material damages.
- Accattone's certificate was withdrawn on 22 November 1961 following the intercession of the Minister of Tourism and Entertainment; Federico Fellini publicly protested the censorship, and producer Bini organised a roundtable featuring Fellini, Pasolini and Giulio Carlo Argan.
- The film was first set to be produced by Federiz, the short-lived company of Federico Fellini and Angelo Rizzoli, but the test shoots arranged to assess Pasolini's directing were flunked by Rizzoli's collaborator Clemente Fracassi and the project was dismissed.
- Accattone has no original soundtrack: Pasolini used classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach, and he would draw on Bach again for The Gospel According to St. Matthew.
