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Accattone (aka: The Scrounger) is Pasolini's first film, but its raw quality perfectly suits the subject matter; the black and white photography crisply capturing the desperate lives of young Italians in the 1960s in a country that hasn't recovered from the Second World War, and where pimping and stealing is commonplace and the future looks just as bleak.

Vittorio 'Accattone' Cataldi (Franco Citti) lives off the immoral earnings of the prostitute Maddalena (Silvana Corsini), until she is beaten badly by a gang in a revenge attack after having turned their leader in to the police. Perhaps in fear of further retribution - her reasoning isn't quite clear - she perjured herself by naming the wrong attackers, which results in her also being sent to jail. Having lived a relatively good life through Maddalena's immoral earnings, Accattone finds that he no longer has anyone to support him. He struggles to make ends meet, refusing to work for a living or stoop to the levels of a group of thieves he knows. Meanwhile he meets a seemingly innocent girl, Stella (Franca Pasut) who he tries to forge a normal relationship with, but fails, falling into his usual traps which sends him into a spiral of self-pity and his ultimate destruction.


Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast: Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini, Paola Guidi, Adriana Asti, Luciano Conti, Luciano Gonini, Renato Capogna, Alfredo Leggi
Country: Italy
Genre: Drama

Accattone (1961) Eureka Masters of Cinema
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BD50 + DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:56:37 | 46.1 Gb + 7.24 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano
Subtitles: English

Extras:
• Commentary - film critic Tony Rayns discusses Accattone, its key themes and characters, the socio-political climate in Italy at the time the film was made, Pier Paolo Pasolini's controversial legacy, etc. In English, not subtitled.
• Comizi d'amore - Pier Paolo Pasolini's film Comizi d'amore a.k.a Love Meetings (1964) is essentially a series of outstanding interviews in which Italians of different ages and backgrounds discuss sex, heterosexuality, homosexuality, prostitution, marriage, etc. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (92 min).
• Original Italian theatrical trailers for both films
• Newly translated optional English subtitles for both films

Accattone (1961) Tartan Video
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DVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 01:51:47 | 6.38 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano, Russian
Subtitles: English

Extras:
• Trailer