''The Witches'' () is a 1967 ''

commedia all'italiana ''Commedia all'italiana'' () or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre born in Italy in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's ''Big Deal on Madonna Street'' in 1958 ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

produced by

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into f ...

in 1965. It consists of five comic stories about witches, directed by

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...

, Franco Rossi,

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

Mauro Bolognini Mauro Bolognini (28 June 1922 – 14 May 2001) was an Italian film and stage director. Early years Bolognini was born in Pistoia, in the Tuscany region of Italy. After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bol ...

and

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...

. The film features

Silvana Mangano Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...

;

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

appears in the final story. It was the last film starring

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il principe della risat ...

to be released in his lifetime.

Segments

"The Witch Burned Alive"

A famous actress arrives in an Austrian chalet to spend an evening with friends, who get her drunk. When she falls unconscious, they remove her makeup to look at the imperfections of her face, always believed beautiful by her fans.

"Civic Spirit"

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"

This comic episode, directed by

Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

, tells the story of a red-headed father and son, Ciancicato and Baciu Miao (

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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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 The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

, 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"

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"

plays a husband to

. 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

; "The Witch Burned Alive" *

as Gloria *

Annie Girardot Annie Suzanne Girardot (25 October 193128 February 2011) was a French actress. She often played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her to women un ...

as Valeria *

Francisco Rabal Francisco Rabal Valera (8 March 1926 – 29 August 2001), popularly known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor. His career spanned more than 200 film and television roles, between 1942 and 2001. He received numerous accolades both in Spain and abro ...

as Paolo *

Massimo Girotti Massimo Girotti (18 May 1918 – 5 January 2003) was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades. Biography Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and playing polo. While ...

as Sportsman * Véronique Vendell as Young Girlfriend * Elsa Albani as Gossip * Clara Calamai as Ex-Actress * Marilù Tolo as Waitress * Nora Ricci as Gloria's Secretary * Dino Mele as Dino, the Waiter *

Helmut Berger Helmut Berger (; ''né'' Steinberger; 29 May 1944 – 18 May 2023) was an Austrian actor, known for his portrayal of narcissistic and sexually ambiguous characters. He was one of the stars of European cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s, and is r ...

(as Helmut Steinbergher) as Hotel Page * Bruno Filippini as Singer * Leslie French as Industrialist ; "Civic Spirit" * Silvana Mangano as Woman in a Hurry *

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter. Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the b ...

as Elio Ferocci ; "The Earth Seen from the Moon" * Silvana Mangano as Assurdina Caì *

as Ciancicato Miao * Ninetto Davoli (as Nenetto Davoli) as Baciu Miao *

Laura Betti Laura Betti ( Trombetti; May 1 1934 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. She had a long friendship with Pasolini and made a docume ...

as Male Tourist * Luigi Leoni as Female Tourist * Mario Cipriani as Priest ; "The Sicilian Belle" * Silvana Mangano as Nunzia *

Pietro Tordi Pietro Tordi (12 July 1906 – 14 December 1990) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 100 films between 1942 and 1988. He was born in Florence, Italy. Selected filmography * '' Doctor Antonio'' (1937) - L'altro conspiratore * '' Don C ...

as Nunzia's Father ; "An Evening Like the Others" * Silvana Mangano as Giovanna *

as Carlo *

Valentino Macchi Valentino Macchi (4 August 1937 – 19 March 2013) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1962 to 2008. His last appearance was in 2008 and died on March 19, 2013, at his home in Rome. Selected filmography *1962: ' ...

as Man at Stadium * Corinne Fontaine as Admirer * Armando Bottin as Nembo Kid * Gianni Gori as

Diabolik ''Diabolik'' () is an Italian comic series created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani. One of the most popular series in the history of Italian comics, ''Diabolik'' was created in 1962 and consists of more than 900 volumes, and has led to ...

* Paolo Gozlino as

Mandrake the Magician ''Mandrake the Magician'' is a Comic strip syndication, syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk before he created ''The Phantom''.Ron Goulart, ''The Encyclopedia of American Comics''. New York: Facts on File, 1990. . pp. 91, 249 ...

* Franco Moruzzi as

Sadik Saadiq is an Arabic masculine given name. Originally a word in Arabic صديق which is translated as ''friend''. The Arabic word for friend is derived from the root ''sdk'' صدق which often refers to honesty, truth or loyalty. Variants of the n ...

* Angelo Santi as

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

* Pietro Torrisi as

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Crew

; "The Witch Burned Alive" ; "Civic Spirit" ; "The Earth Seen from the Moon" ; "The Sicilian Belle" ; "An Evening Like the Others" ; Other crew

Release

''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.Munn, p. 58

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Images from film and videoclip, "Le Streghe" (1967)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witches, The 1965 films 1960s Italian-language films Films directed by Franco Rossi Films directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini Films directed by Luchino Visconti Films directed by Vittorio De Sica Italian anthology films Commedia all'italiana Films directed by Mauro Bolognini Films set in Austria Films set in the Alps Films set in Rome Films set in Sicily 1967 comedy films 1967 films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli Films with screenplays by Cesare Zavattini Films about witchcraft Films scored by Piero Piccioni 1965 comedy films 1960s Italian films Films set in the Colosseum