Trailer
Plot summary
In 1929, bands of air pirates raid shipping across the Adriatic, and the bounty hunter Porco Rosso answers an ocean liner's distress call, frees the child hostages and lets the pirates keep half the valuables. He is Marco Pagot, a former Italian flying ace whose head is that of a pig. Gina, a childhood friend who runs the Hotel Adriano, serves him dinner after dark. The pirates bring in an American ace, Donald Curtis, and he too is drawn to Gina. On a flight to Milan for repairs, Porco is shot down by Curtis and continues by boat; Gina warns him that Italy holds a warrant for his arrest. In Milan, the mechanic Piccolo leaves the rebuild to his granddaughter Fio, and she flies home with Porco so that the secret police can be told he took her hostage.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Porco Rosso (1992)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Porco Rosso began production in 1989 but stalled over high expenses until producer Toshio Suzuki suggested selling it to airlines; it became Japan's first in-flight feature film, made to be shown only on international flights.
- Porco Rosso and its line "Better a pig than a fascist" became a rallying symbol among some Spanish artist circles, who used it to urge voters against conservative to far-right parties in Spain's 2023 general elections.
- Hayao Miyazaki hit extensive storyboarding problems on Porco Rosso, resolved by adding the character of Gina and her relationship with Porco, Porco's curse, and a daydream sequence inspired by Roald Dahl's short story They Shall Not Grow Old.
- The American pilot Curtis was named after aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss, and his character is an oblique reference to Ronald Reagan, whose ambitions lay in both Hollywood and the Presidency.
- The opening theme, "Le temps des cerises", was a French song written in 1866 that became closely associated with the Paris Commune of 1871 and the French left-wing political tradition.
- Porco's air-force friend Ferrarin was inspired by Arturo Ferrarin, an Italian Air Force pilot who flew an Ansaldo SVA.9 from Rome to Tokyo in 1920, and the Caproni Ca.309 aircraft, known as the "Ghibli", was the namesake for Miyazaki and Takahata's animation studio.
- The outbreak of war in Yugoslavia during production pushed Porco Rosso toward a more serious tone; the film had originally been set in Dalmatia.
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