Il gattopardo (1963)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa (novel)
Suso Cecchi d'Amico (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 July 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Luchino Visconti's Enduring Romantic Adventure

Plot:

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860's Sicily.

Plot Keywords:

Prince | 1860s | Noble | Sicily | Aristocracy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Prince Don Fabrizio Salina
Claudia Cardinale	...	Angelica Sedara / Bertiana
Alain Delon	...	Tancredi Falconeri
Paolo Stoppa	...	Don Calogero Sedara
Rina Morelli	...	Princess Maria Stella Salina
Romolo Valli	...	Father Pirrone
Terence Hill	...	Count Cavriaghi (as Mario Girotti)
Pierre Clémenti	...	Francesco Paolo
Lucilla Morlacchi	...	Concetta
Giuliano Gemma	...	Garibaldi's General
Ida Galli	...	Carolina
Ottavia Piccolo	...	Caterina
Carlo Valenzano	...	Paolo
Brook Fuller	...	Little Prince
Anna Maria Bottini	...	Mademoiselle Dombreuil, the Governess

Also Known As:

The Leopard (UK) (USA)
Le guépard (France)

Runtime:

187 min | Spain:151 min (cut version) | UK:161 min (cut version) | USA:165 min (cut version) | France:195 min (Cannes Film Festival) | 205 min (premiere version) | West Germany:161 min (cut version)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | Latin

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:M (TV rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Norway:12 (re-rating) (1985) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:U (original rating) | USA:PG (certificate #20553) | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Ariccia, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Titanus

Trivia:

Although Claudia Cardinale's dialogue was dubbed by Solveyg D'Assunta, her voice can still be heard in some scenes, in particular when her and Alain Delon run around the empty house; her deep and hearty laugh being quite distinctive.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: During one of the long shots of the journey to Donnafugata, a blur crosses the screen near the center, apparently caused by a fly crawling over the lens.

Quotes:

Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: You know what is happening in our country? Nothing... simply an imperceptible replacement of one class for another. The middle class doesn't want to destroy us. It simply wants to take our place... and very gently.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Money Programme (#3.3)" (1972)

Soundtrack:

I Sogni del Principe / Giovani Eroi / Partenza di Tancredi / Amore e Ambizione / Quasi In Porto

While I feel distanced by some of the atmosphere, I don't deny it's one of Visconti's most ambitious and gorgeous films

What I found most fascinating, though this would exclude the character of Fabrizio Salina (played dead-on by Burt Lancaster) and the images captured time and time again, is that The Leopard is practically a 180 from Visconti's breakthroughs. Think of Ossessione and La Terra Trema and any film buff will think of neo-realism, the plight of the under-valued, the emerging form of power in the simplest stories, the most heartbreaking images. By the time it came around to the Leopard, Visconti was still making personal movies, but here with the Leopard instead of it being a grainy black and white, full screen film set in the present and detailing the lower classes in their communities, it's a sumptuous widescreen technicolor feat telling the story of aristocracy in 1860 Italy. But, luckily, Visconti doesn't disappoint- this is a rich film, one that I may not have been able to penetrate on the first viewing, and I don't know how many viewings it will take me to do so.

The lead character, a Count (Lancaster), has to face up with the changing times- not only is an end coming to a ruling class that has been more or less on rules for about 2500 years, his nephew Tancredi (played in a wonderful early performance by Alain Deleon) is in love with a fellow Don, Calogero's (Stoppa, genuinely slimy and interesting aristocrat) daughter Angelica (Claudia Cardinale, who makes Catherine Zeta Jones seem like an every-girl in the looks and persona department). A revolution seems on the way, but it is ceased, and meanwhile the Prince sees that things are changing, but as one quotes, "things will stay the same".

The Leopard is many things- philosophical treatise on the nature of the ruling class with all that is to offer when looking down on the 'little people'; classic, novel-type love story with characters not going into the realm of soap; it's a feast for the eyes and the ears- Giusseppe Rotuno and Nino Rota turn in five of their greatest pieces of work respectively (even when a character may be talking and it may not be terribly interesting, looking at the shots that unfold is not deterring in the least). Although the drama that unfolds at times isn't as compelling as in Visconti's neo-realist efforts, and the fact that this is in another country going back nearly a hundred and fifty years (the distance as opposed to recognizability of the family in the fishing village of La Terra Trema), it is a treat to see.

And, indeed, after seeing it on a big screen (a rare occasion, thanks to the Film Forum theater in New York), it perhaps one of the finest widescreen films to come out of Italy in the past fifty years. A masterful sequence is to behold as well- the ballroom sequence, where the tones are instinctively precise. Bottom line, this is (one of) the ultimate aristocrat-turned-Marxist take(s) on 19th century Italy and Sicily. Grade: A