Taglines: “Please stay… I’ll never let your brother touch me again…”
Rocco and His Brothers movie storyline. The widow Rosaria (Katina Paxinou) moves to Milano from Lucania with her four sons, one of whom is Rocco (Alain Delon). The fifth son, Vincenzo (Spyros Fokas), already lives in Milano. In the beginning, the family has a lot of problems, but everyone manages to find something to do. Simone is boxing (Renato Salvatori), Rocco works in a dry cleaners, and Ciro (Max Cartier) studies. Simone meets Nadia (Annie Girardot), a prostitute, and they have a stormy affair. Then Rocco, after finishing his military service, begins a relationship with her. A bitter feud ensues between the two brothers, which will lead as far as murder…
Rocco and His Brothers (Italian: Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli) is a 1960 Italian film directed by Luchino Visconti, inspired by an episode from the novel Il ponte della Ghisolfa by Giovanni Testori. Set in Milan, it tells the story of a migrant family from the South and its disintegration in the society of the industrial North. The title is a combination of Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers and the name of Rocco Scotellaro, an Italian poet who described the feelings of the peasants of southern Italy.
The film stars Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Max Cartier, Alessandra Panaro, Spiros Focás, Rocco Vidolazzi, Claudia Mori, Enzo Fiermonte, and Claudia Cardinale in one of her early roles before she became internationally known. The score was composed by Nino Rota.
About the Story
After the death of his father, Rocco Parondi (Alain Delon), one of the five sons of a poor rural Italian family, travels north from Lucania to join his older brother Vincenzo in Milan, led by the matriarch Rosaria (Katina Paxinou). She is the “hand to which the five fingers belong,” as she states in the film, and she has a powerful influence on her sons. Presented in five distinct sections, the film weaves the story of the five brothers Vincenzo, Simone, Rocco, Ciro and Luca Parondi as each of them adapts to his new life in the city.
Vincenzo, the eldest brother, is already living in Milan when his mother and brothers come to join him expecting to move in with him. An initial scene ensues between the Parondi family and Vincenzo’s fiancée Ginetta’s family, and the whole Parondi family moves in together. Despite early friction between Rosaria and Ginetta, he soon gets married and starts a family of his own. After settling down, Vincenzo doesn’t interact much with the Parondi brothers.
Simone, the second brother, struggles to adapt to urban life. He becomes attracted to a prostitute named Nadia (Annie Girardot), who urges him to pursue a career in boxing, which his mother also encourages, as a fast way to reach fame and wealth. After initially pursuing Vincenzo only to find him happy in his new family life, Nadia turns her interest to Simone. Simone falls in love with Nadia and demands for more than a casual relationship, but she rejects him.
Rocco, the third brother, leaves to complete military service in Turin and meets Nadia, who has just been released from jail for prostitution charges. His innocence and purity of heart ignites her to give up her way of life and enter an exclusive relationship with him. When Simone learns of this, he attacks Nadia and Rocco with a gang of friends and rapes Nadia to “teach Rocco a lesson”. Rocco subsequently sacrifices his relationship with Nadia, telling her that he did not realize how much their relationship hurt his brother. Rocco insists that Nadia return to Simone, and she reluctantly complies.
Ciro, the second-youngest brother, perhaps by observing the trials of Simone and Rocco, decides to learn from their mistakes and mimic his brother Vincenzo. To that end, Ciro becomes engaged to a local woman from a good family and finds steady work in Milan at an automobile factory. Unlike Vincenzo, Ciro still lives with his mother and participates in family matters.
Somewhat in the manner of Dostoyevsky’s Prince Myshkin character, Rocco often acts to preserve the well-being of family members at some cost to his own happiness. He continues a boxing career he does not enjoy to provide for his family and covers for Simone in a myriad of ways, such as recovering an expensive brooch.
Simone stole from Rocco’s boss and agreeing to sign a long term boxing contract in order to pay back money that Simone has stolen. Ultimately, Simone loses the ability to compete as a boxer because of his obsession with Nadia, his alcoholism, and dissolute lifestyle. While Rocco fights and wins a championship bout, Simone kills Nadia in a jealous rage when she returns to prostitution and refuses to return to him.
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Directed by: Luchino Visconti
Starring: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Max Cartier, Alessandra Panaro, Spiros Focás, Rocco Vidolazzi, Claudia Cardinale, Claudia Mori, Enzo Fiermonte
Screenplay by: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Enrico Mediola
Production Design by: Mario Garbuglia
Cinematography by: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editing by: Mario Serandrei
Costume Design by: Piero Tosi
Music by: Nino Rota
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Astor Pictures Corporation
Release Date: September 6, 1960 (Italy), June 26, 1961 (United States)
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