Accattone

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Accattone
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Pier Paolo Pasolini
Produced by	Alfredo Bini Cino Del Duca
Written by	Sergio Citti Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring	Franco Citti Franca Pasut Silvana Corsini Paola Guidi Adriana Asti Luciano Conti Luciano Gonini Renato Capogna Alfredo Leggi Galeazzo Riccardi Leonardo Muraglia Giuseppe Ristagno Roberto Giovannoni Mario Cipriani Roberto Scaringella
Music by	Johann Sebastian Bach
Cinematography	Tonino Delli Colli
Editing by	Nino Baragli
Distributed by	Brandon / Cino del Duca
Release date(s)	31 August 1961
Running time	120 min.
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Accattone is 1961 Italian film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Pasolini adapted the screenplay from his own novel A Violent Life, about a Roman pimp. It is Pasolini's first film as director, employing what would later be seen as trademark Pasolini characteristics; a cast of non-professional actors hailing from where the movie is set, and thematic emphasis on impoverished individuals.

While many people were surprised Pasolini's shift from literature to film, he had considered attending the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome before WWII. Pasolini had collaborated with Federico Fellini on Le notti di Cabiria and considered cinema to be writing with reality. The word "Accattone" is a slang term, referring to people who never do well, who are lazy, and who rarely hold down a job.

Accattone is a story of pimps, prostitutes and thieves, the same topic as his novels. Peasant culture is celebrated, in contrast to Italy's postwar economic reforms. Pasolini’s choice of topics was scandalous, as was his blurring of the lines between the sacred and the profane. Although Pasolini tried to distance himself from neorealism, the film is considered to be a kind of second neorealism, with one critic believing it "may be the grimmest movie" he'd ever seen.^[1]

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Vittorio (Franco Citti), nicknamed "Accattone" ("rags"), leads a mostly serene life as a pimp until his prostitute, Maddalena, is hurt by his rivals and sent to prison. Finding himself without a steady income, and not much inclination for working himself, he discovers the naive Stella and tries to lure her into prostituting herself for him. Hesitant at first, she later embraces her new profession (and her clients) more willingly. However, it is too late for Accattone, who, after a bizarre vision of his own death, is killed in a traffic accident when he tries to evade the police on a stolen motorcycle.

The film was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film in 1963. Franco Citti, the star of the film, eventually became a professional actor and some of the other actors were seen again in later Pasolini films.

The singer Morrissey refers to Accattone in a song called "You Have Killed Me" on his 2006 album "Ringleader of the Tormentors." The first verse of the song is: "Pasolini is me, 'Accattone' you'll be..."