Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

Directed by Luchino Visconti. Starring Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Spiros Focás, Katina Paxinou, Max Cartier, Roger Hanin, Claudia Cardinale, Alessandra Panaro, Carrado Pani, Rocco Vidolazzi, Paolo Stoppa.

Idealistic Italian epic, overwrought and overlong but hailed as a masterpiece by many. Director Visconti’s journey from neorealism to operatic melodrama is a rocky one, but not without sincere pleasures tucked underneath (the complex relationships between the young men and their lovers) and dubious shortcuts (Greek-born Paxinou’s “Italian mama” stereotype). Sprawling story is separated into five chapters—one for each brother—but Rocco (Delon) and Simone (Salvatori) are the two who carry the saga, and it’s the friction generated from each of them loving Girardot’s prostitute that instigates the key violent incidents. Directed and performed with passion, it’s not hard to get swept up in the grandiose family drama (an influence on The Godfather, per Francis Ford Coppola), and almost all of the characterizations are compelling, even littlest brother Luca (Vidolazzi) who mostly just observes what happens around him; almost, that is, because even after acknowledging that family ties run deep, it’s hard to identify with tenderhearted Rocco’s endlessly forgiving nature, especially in relation to his repeated protection of animalistic older brother Simone. Music by Nino Rota. Visconti also co-produced and co-wrote, adapted in part from a novel by Giovanni Testori (“Il Ponte della Ghisolfa”).

80/100