Fists in the Pocket (1965) on Netflix
Alessandro, who has epilepsy, lives on a rural estate with his blind mother and his brothers and sister. His brother Augusto, the family's provider, plans to leave for the city with Lucia.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.5/105,783 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
A widowed, blind mother lives in a provincial villa with her four grown children. Alessandro and Leone have epilepsy and their sister Giulia is mentally disturbed. Augusto, the eldest, is the only one of them who works; he is engaged to Lucia and intends to move to the city. An anonymous letter reaches Lucia claiming that its writer is pregnant by Augusto, and Augusto recognizes Giulia as its author. Sickened by the family, Alessandro decides that Augusto could have that life if the mother and the other siblings were gone, and he pretends to have passed a driving test he failed so that he may drive them on one of their trips to the cemetery.
Cast
- Pier Luigi Troglioas Leone(Pierluigi Troglio)
- Jeannie McNeilas Lucia(Jenny Mac Neil)
- Irene Agnellias Bruna
- Sandra Bergamini
- Celestina Bellocchioas Ragazza alla festa
- Lella Bertante
- Stefania Troglioas Cameriera
- Gianni Schicchias Tonino
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fists in the Pocket (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Marco Bellocchio had to abandon his plan to cast Maurice Ronet as Augusto and Susan Strasberg as Giulia because the film's budget was so tight; he worked with then-unknown actors instead.
- Singer Gianni Morandi was interested in playing Alessandro in Fists in the Pocket, but his record company stopped him from taking the part.
- The film was turned down for a screening at the Venice Film Festival and premiered instead at the July 1965 Locarno Film Festival, where it took the Silver Sail.
- Although most critics received it well, members of the Christian Democracy party attacked Fists in the Pocket for the way it portrayed the family.
- After producers repeatedly rejected the script, the film was made by the small independent company Doria Cinematografica and paid for with the help of Marco Bellocchio's brothers, who guaranteed a 20 million lire bank loan.
- In 2008 Fists in the Pocket was included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's list of 100 Italian films to be saved, films said to have changed the country's collective memory between 1942 and 1978.
- Lou Castel, the Swedish actor Bellocchio had met at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, took the part of Alessandro but had his voice dubbed by Paolo Carlini.
