Sacco & Vanzetti

Original title: Sacco e Vanzetti

1971
GP
2h 5m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

Gian Maria Volontè and Riccardo Cucciolla in Sacco & Vanzetti (1971)

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True Crime Biography Crime Drama

In 1920s Boston, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are scrutinized for their anarchist beliefs while on trial for robbery and murder.In 1920s Boston, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are scrutinized for their anarchist beliefs while on trial for robbery and murder.In 1920s Boston, Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are scrutinized for their anarchist beliefs while on trial for robbery and murder.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 6 wins & 3 nominations

Trivia
Giuliano Montaldo in a recent interview declared that the first shot of the Gian Maria Volontè monologue was cut, even if perfect, because one of the smaller players started crying due to the convincing performance.

Quotes
Nicola Sacco: You speak of dollars and cents, sir. Let's talk about millions of dollars. If you talk about a manager of industry or the head of a bank who donates money to a university, everybody says, "What a great man he is!" But I have worked thirteen years in this free country, doing what I've been told. I've worked like a slave and I still don't own anything, not a single dollar. Here, all you hear is, "Passport, passport!" But when I went to the consulate to organize my journey back to be repatriated, I didn't even have money to pay for the trip! After thirteen years, I would return to my homeland with nothing, just like I started.

Crazy credits
The English-language prints begin with the following text crawl: "On January 2, 1920, U.S. Attorney General Mitchell A. Palmer, together with an army of government agents and anyone else who wanted to take part in "Palmer's Red Raids," launched simultaneous attacks in thirty-three cities across the country. The targets were radical and anarchist headquarters. Windows were smashed, property wrecked and resisters beaten. On the east coast, the raids were centered mostly in Massachusetts and New York. Thousands of chained aliens were marched through the streets of Boston and New York City on their way to Deer Island and Ellis Island for deportation."

Alternate versions
The English version tones down some of the pro-anarchy sentiments of the Italian dub, most notably Bartolomeo Vanzetti's final words. In the English version, he simply says "I am innocent", which the real Vanzetti stated in his speech prior to his execution. In the Italian version, he states "Viva l'anarchia" ("Long live anarchy"), which was in fact spoken by Nicola Sacco.

Connections
Edited into Appunti per un viaggio alle radici dell'emigrazione vista al cinema... (2010)

Soundtracks
The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti
Music by Ennio Morricone
Lyrics by Joan Baez
Performed by Joan Baez

User reviews17

Review

Featured review

10/10

An exemplary example of didactic cinema

It is perhaps not without significance that Guiliano Montaldo worked as Assistant Director on Gillo Pontecorvo's brilliant KAPO, since there is a tangible link in terms of attitude, emotional power and political commitment between this film and Pontecorvo's other outstanding films.

Great films are, very often, a means of conveying ideas, and, as Pudovkin once said, film is the greatest teacher because it reaches us both through the head and the emotions. Maybe this is why politically correct authoritarians are always chiding us `not to be sentimental' since emotions are something these control freaks can't orchestrate!

Whatever one's views about the political sympathies of Sacco and Vanzetti, this film shows that they were victims of the hysterical climate of the times and place in which they found themselves, and their plight is represented with great humanism, empathy and power, helped in no small measure by the superb musical score of Ennio Morricone, which must rank as one of his very best. Montaldo's whole technique is thoroughly cinematic, and the acting and all technical credits are faultless.

One somewhat disturbing aspect of this film however, was when I saw it in the USA, Sacco in his final speech from the dock declared, `We stand here because we are anarchists', (it struck at the time because I never thought I'd live to see the day that such a piece of dialogue would be delivered in a film distributed by MGM!), but, in its only screening in the UK on BBC television, this line was changed to `We stand here because we are radicals'. Hmmm! Not quite the same thing. On two other occasions I have noticed `creative subtitling' on French speaking movies, so maybe we should start a campaign for accurate and faithful subtitles!

A brilliant film, in my all-time top 100, so when is anyone going to issue it on video?