The Witches (1967 film)

This article is about the Italian-French anthology film. For the British film starring Joan Fontaine, see The Witches (1966 film).

The Witches (Italian: Le streghe) is a 1967 commedia all'italiana anthology film produced by Dino De Laurentiis in 1965.^[1] It consists of five comic stories dealing with the roles of women in Italian society, directed by Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi and Vittorio De Sica. The film stars Silvana Mangano and features Clint Eastwood, Annie Girardot, Totò and Alberto Sordi.^[2] It was the last film starring Totò to be released in his lifetime.

The Witches
Italian theatrical release poster
Italian	Le streghe
Directed by	Luchino Visconti Mauro Bolognini Pier Paolo Pasolini Franco Rossi Vittorio De Sica
Written by	Giuseppe Patroni Griffi Cesare Zavattini Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi Pier Paolo Pasolini Fabio Carpi Enzo Muzzi
Produced by	Dino De Laurentiis
Starring	Silvana Mangano Clint Eastwood Annie Girardot Totò Alberto Sordi
Cinematography	Giuseppe Rotunno
Edited by	Mario Serandrei Nino Baragli Giorgio Serrallonga Adriana Novelli
Music by	Piero Piccioni Ennio Morricone
Production companies	Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Les Productions Artistes Associés
Distributed by	Dear Film (Italy) United Artists (international)
Release dates	22 February 1967 (1967-02-22) (Italy) 5 June 1968 (1968-06-05) (France)
Running time	110 minutes
Countries	Italy France
Language	Italian

Plot

"The Witch Burned Alive"

Gloria, a famous actress, attends the 10th anniversary party of her friend Valeria and her unfaithful husband Paolo at the couple's home in Kitzbühel, Austria. Envied by the women and pursued by the men, including Paolo, Gloria passes out from drinking while performing a dance for the guests. Feigning concern, the female guests remove her headdress and false eyelashes while making catty remarks about her imperfections. Later, Gloria discovers that she is pregnant and telephones her husband/manager in New York, who does not support her desire to take a break from acting to have children, leading to an argument. She leaves nonchalantly the next day, besieged by paparazzi as she boards a helicopter.

"Civic Spirit"

Stuck in a traffic jam in Rome, a woman offers to drive a man injured in a car accident to the hospital. However, as the woman speeds through the city, passing various hospitals, she ultimately drops the man off in the middle of the street when she arrives at her destination, having merely used him to get where she was going more quickly.

"The Earth Seen from the Moon"

A recent widower, Ciancicato Miao, and his orange-haired son, Baciù, wander the outskirts of Rome in search of the ideal woman to be the father's new wife and the son's new stepmother. After searching for a year, the two eventually stumble upon Assurdina Caì, a green-haired deaf-mute, and Ciancicato soon marries her. Ciancicato and Baciù take Assurdina to their house, a run-down shack, which she quickly transforms into a colourful, welcoming home.

To earn money to buy a larger house nearby, Ciancicato devises a scheme in which Assurdina fakes a suicide attempt by jumping from the Colosseum. A crowd gathers under the Colosseum and begins to take up a collection to save Assurdina, but she slips on a banana peel discarded by a couple of tourists and falls to her death, and is buried next to Ciancicato's late wife. When Assurdina returns as a ghost soon afterwards, Ciancicato and Baciù run away in fear, but after realising that she can still cook, clean and go to bed with Ciancicato, the two men rejoice. The story ends with the moral: "Being dead or alive is the same thing."

"The Sicilian Belle"

In a Sicilian village, a young woman named Nunzia tells her father that a man made an unwanted advance towards her. To avenge his daughter's honour, the father murders the man, only to trigger a feud between the two families that results in the revenge killings of Nunzia's male relatives, including her father, brother, cousin and uncle. Nunzia wails at the funeral, wondering how this bloodshed could have happened.

"An Evening Like the Others"

Frustrated housewife Giovanna is deeply dissatisfied with her ten-year marriage to Carlo, an American banker who is too preoccupied with work and does not appreciate or desire her like he once did. One evening at home, Giovanna indulges in a series of fantasy sequences in which she angrily expresses her frustrations, compels a desperate Carlo to compete for her affections with comic book characters (including Mandrake, Batman, Diabolik and Flash Gordon), shoots at him while donning a black vinyl dress and a spiked headdress, and angers him by revealing her many extramarital affairs.

In the final fantasy sequence, Giovanna imagines herself as a glamorous star, strutting down the street in an evolving series of haute couture and attracting a growing crowd of aroused businessmen while Carlo desperately calls out to her. She ultimately leads her male admirers to a massive arena in Rome, where she performs a striptease for the excited crowd, prompting Carlo to shoot himself in the head. Back in reality, Giovanna goes to sleep next to a snoring Carlo and whispers that she loves him.

Cast

"The Witch Burned Alive" Silvana Mangano as Gloria Annie Girardot as Valeria Francisco Rabal as Paolo Massimo Girotti 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 (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 as Elio Ferocci "The Earth Seen from the Moon" Silvana Mangano as Assurdina Caì Totò as Ciancicato Miao Ninetto Davoli (as Nenetto Davoli) as Baciù Miao Laura Betti as male tourist Luigi Leoni as female tourist Mario Cipriani as priest (uncredited)

"The Sicilian Belle" Silvana Mangano as Nunzia Pietro Tordi as Nunzia's father (uncredited) "An Evening Like the Others" Silvana Mangano as Giovanna Clint Eastwood as Carlo (Charlie in the English version) Valentino Macchi as man at stadium Corinne Fontaine as admirer Armando Bottin as Nembo Kid Gianni Gori as Diabolik Paolo Gozlino as Mandrake Franco Moruzzi as Sadik Angelo Santi as Flash Gordon Pietro Torrisi as Batman

Crew

"The Witch Burned Alive"

Director	Luchino Visconti
Story and screenplay	Giuseppe Patroni Griffi With the collaboration of Cesare Zavattini
Composer	Piero Piccioni
Assistant director	Rinaldo Ricci
Editor	Mario Serandrei

"Civic Spirit"

Director	Mauro Bolognini
Story and screenplay	Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi
Composer	Piero Piccioni
Assistant director	Massimo Castellani
Editor	Nino Baragli

"The Earth Seen from the Moon"

Director	Pier Paolo Pasolini
Story and screenplay
Composer	Ennio Morricone
Assistant director	Sergio Citti
Editor	Nino Baragli

"The Sicilian Belle"

Director	Franco Rossi
Story and screenplay	Age & Scarpelli Bernardino Zapponi
Composer	Piero Piccioni
Assistant director	Nello Vanin
Editor	Giorgio Serralonga

"An Evening Like the Others"

Director	Vittorio De Sica
Story and screenplay	Cesare Zavattini With the collaboration of Fabio Carpi Enzo Muzii (credited as Enzo Muzzi)
Composer	Piero Piccioni
Assistant director	Luisa Alessandri
Editor	Adriana Novelli

Release

The Witches 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 and instead kept it in its library vault to protect Eastwood's image.^[3] The film was eventually given a limited release in New York City on 12 March 1969 by Lopert Pictures Corporation.^[4][5] Arrow Academy released a 2K restoration of the film on Blu-ray on 30 January 2018.^[6][7]