The Grim Reaper (1962) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Police search for a prostitute's murderer.

Cast & Crew

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Bernardo Bertolucci

Francesco Ruiu

Luciano Maialetti--

Giancarlo Derosa

Vincenzo Ciccora

Sindaco--The Mayor

Alvaro D'ercole

Romano Labate

Photos & Videos

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Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- The Grim Reaper (1962)

Film Details

Also Known As

Grim Reaper, The

Genre

Crime

Foreign

Release Date

1962

Location

Italy

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 31m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Synopsis

The investigation of the murder of a prostitute in Rome is compiled from various points of view.

Director

Bernardo Bertolucci

Cast

Francesco Ruiu

Luciano Maialetti--

Giancarlo Derosa

Vincenzo Ciccora

Sindaco--The Mayor

Alvaro D'ercole

Romano Labate

Lorenza Benedetti

Emy Rocci

Erina Torelli

Renato Troiani

Marisa Solinas

Wanda Rocci

Alfredo Leggi

Carlotta Barilli

Santina Lisio

Esperia'S Mother

Gabriella Giorgelli

Clorinda Celani

Ada Peragostini

Silvio Laurenzi

Allen Midgette

Teodoro--A Soldier

Nadia Bonafede

Ugo Santucci

Santina Fioravanti

Elena Fontana

Maria Fontana

Crew

Nino Baragli

Bernardo Bertolucci

Adolfo Cagnacci

Assistant Director

Antonio Cervi

Sergio Citti

Emilio Giannini

Camera Operator

Gianni Narzisi

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Piero Piccioni

Carlo Rustichelli

Adriana Spadaro

Adriana Spadaro

Ugo Tucci

Production Manager

Videos

Intro Aired: Oct 2015

Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- The Grim Reaper (1962) Ben Mankiewicz introduces The Grim Reaper, 1962.

Film Details

Also Known As

Grim Reaper, The

Genre

Crime

Foreign

Release Date

1962

Location

Italy

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 31m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Articles

The Grim Reaper -

September 23, 2015

Though now regarded as one of Italy's finest filmmakers, the 21-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci was a little-known poet and novelist in 1962 when he made his first film, La commare secca, known in English as The Grim Reaper. Bertolucci was still fairly new to the film business at the time, having served as first assistant to director Pier Paolo Pasolini on his own first feature, Accatone the previous year, a job he acquired since Bertolucci's father had published Pasolini's first novel.

In fact, Pasolini was originally slated to direct The Grim Reaper and had written the original story; however, he decided to turn over the directorial reins to Bertolucci in order to direct Mamma Roma instead. The milieu of this story is pure Pasolini territory, carrying forward the themes of street survival and prostitution from Accatone. The end result turned out to be an acclaimed calling card for the young Bertolucci, who went on to helm the more internationally recognized Before the Revolution (1964) and the experimental Partner (1968) before breaking through to the English-language mainstream with The Conformist (1970).

Despite its respectable notices for a debut film, Bertolucci's depiction of the conflicting narratives about the fate of a murdered prostitute (told from various viewpoints a la Kurosawa's Rashomon, 1950) wasn't initially seen by most English-speaking critics and viewers apart from screenings at the 1962 Venice Festival and London Festival. Eventually it was shown in America as part of the New York Film Festival in 1966, paired up with Peter Goldman's short film Pestilent City, well after Before the Revolution had hit the art house circuit. Bertolucci's use of non-professional actors led many to compare him to both Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini, but the approach here is already different and a bit more stylized than his older peers, mixing poetry and politics into a filmic style that would define him throughout the rest of his career, most notably with 1900 (1976) and The Last Emperor (1987).

Despite Bertolucci's ascent throughout the '70s, American audiences outside the festival scene were kept from seeing The Grim Reaper until 1982, with Andrew Sarris in Village Voice calling it "fascinating not only for its unveiling of a stunning talent but also for its certification of the Pasolini-Bertolucci connection... The Grim Reaper works on every level - melodrama, spectacle, reportage - to make this directorial debut truly memorable." The film also attained quite a bit of mystique in retrospect by the time most viewers saw it, as Pasolini was murdered in 1975 under circumstances eerily similar to this film. The still-percolating rumors about the circumstances of his death now hold up an eerie mirror to this film, which demonstrates through its punctuating afternoon storms how the truth can be an enormously difficult beast to tame under any circumstances.

By Nathaniel Thompson

The Grim Reaper -

The Grim Reaper -

Though now regarded as one of Italy's finest filmmakers, the 21-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci was a little-known poet and novelist in 1962 when he made his first film, La commare secca, known in English as The Grim Reaper. Bertolucci was still fairly new to the film business at the time, having served as first assistant to director Pier Paolo Pasolini on his own first feature, Accatone the previous year, a job he acquired since Bertolucci's father had published Pasolini's first novel. In fact, Pasolini was originally slated to direct The Grim Reaper and had written the original story; however, he decided to turn over the directorial reins to Bertolucci in order to direct Mamma Roma instead. The milieu of this story is pure Pasolini territory, carrying forward the themes of street survival and prostitution from Accatone. The end result turned out to be an acclaimed calling card for the young Bertolucci, who went on to helm the more internationally recognized Before the Revolution (1964) and the experimental Partner (1968) before breaking through to the English-language mainstream with The Conformist (1970). Despite its respectable notices for a debut film, Bertolucci's depiction of the conflicting narratives about the fate of a murdered prostitute (told from various viewpoints a la Kurosawa's Rashomon, 1950) wasn't initially seen by most English-speaking critics and viewers apart from screenings at the 1962 Venice Festival and London Festival. Eventually it was shown in America as part of the New York Film Festival in 1966, paired up with Peter Goldman's short film Pestilent City, well after Before the Revolution had hit the art house circuit. Bertolucci's use of non-professional actors led many to compare him to both Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini, but the approach here is already different and a bit more stylized than his older peers, mixing poetry and politics into a filmic style that would define him throughout the rest of his career, most notably with 1900 (1976) and The Last Emperor (1987). Despite Bertolucci's ascent throughout the '70s, American audiences outside the festival scene were kept from seeing The Grim Reaper until 1982, with Andrew Sarris in Village Voice calling it "fascinating not only for its unveiling of a stunning talent but also for its certification of the Pasolini-Bertolucci connection... The Grim Reaper works on every level - melodrama, spectacle, reportage - to make this directorial debut truly memorable." The film also attained quite a bit of mystique in retrospect by the time most viewers saw it, as Pasolini was murdered in 1975 under circumstances eerily similar to this film. The still-percolating rumors about the circumstances of his death now hold up an eerie mirror to this film, which demonstrates through its punctuating afternoon storms how the truth can be an enormously difficult beast to tame under any circumstances. By Nathaniel Thompson

The Grim Reaper

September 16, 2015

Though now regarded as one of Italy's finest filmmakers, the 21-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci was a little-known poet and novelist in 1962 when he made his first film, La commare secca, known in English as The Grim Reaper. Bertolucci was still fairly new to the film business at the time, having served as first assistant to director Pier Paolo Pasolini on his own first feature, Accatone the previous year, a job he acquired since Bertolucci's father had published Pasolini's first novel.

In fact, Pasolini was originally slated to direct The Grim Reaper and had written the original story; however, he decided to turn over the directorial reins to Bertolucci in order to direct Mamma Roma instead. The milieu of this story is pure Pasolini territory, carrying forward the themes of street survival and prostitution from Accatone. The end result turned out to be an acclaimed calling card for the young Bertolucci, who went on to helm the more internationally recognized Before the Revolution (1964) and the experimental Partner (1968) before breaking through to the English-language mainstream with The Conformist (1970).

Despite its respectable notices for a debut film, Bertolucci's depiction of the conflicting narratives about the fate of a murdered prostitute (told from various viewpoints a la Kurosawa's Rashomon) wasn't initially seen by most English-speaking critics and viewers apart from screenings at the 1962 Venice Festival and London Festival. Eventually it was shown in America as part of the New York Film Festival in 1966, paired up with Peter Goldman's short film Pestilent City, well after Before the Revolution had hit the art house circuit. Bertolucci's use of non-professional actors led many to compare him to both Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini, but the approach here is already different and a bit more stylized than his older peers, mixing poetry and politics into a filmic style that would define him throughout the rest of his career, most notably with 1900 (1976) and The Last Emperor (1987).

Despite Bertolucci's ascent throughout the '70s, American audiences outside the festival scene were kept from seeing The Grim Reaper until 1982, with Andrew Sarris in Village Voice calling it "fascinating not only for its unveiling of a stunning talent but also for its certification of the Pasolini-Bertolucci connection...The Grim Reaper works on every level-melodrama, spectacle, reportage-to make this directorial debut truly memorable." The film also attained quite a bit of mystique in retrospect by the time most viewers saw it, as Pasolini was murdered in 1975 under circumstances eerily similar to this film. The still-percolating rumors about the circumstances of his death now hold up an eerie mirror to this film, which demonstrates through its punctuating afternoon storms how the truth can be an enormously difficult beast to tame under any circumstances.

By Nathaniel Thompson

The Grim Reaper

Though now regarded as one of Italy's finest filmmakers, the 21-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci was a little-known poet and novelist in 1962 when he made his first film, La commare secca, known in English as The Grim Reaper. Bertolucci was still fairly new to the film business at the time, having served as first assistant to director Pier Paolo Pasolini on his own first feature, Accatone the previous year, a job he acquired since Bertolucci's father had published Pasolini's first novel. In fact, Pasolini was originally slated to direct The Grim Reaper and had written the original story; however, he decided to turn over the directorial reins to Bertolucci in order to direct Mamma Roma instead. The milieu of this story is pure Pasolini territory, carrying forward the themes of street survival and prostitution from Accatone. The end result turned out to be an acclaimed calling card for the young Bertolucci, who went on to helm the more internationally recognized Before the Revolution (1964) and the experimental Partner (1968) before breaking through to the English-language mainstream with The Conformist (1970). Despite its respectable notices for a debut film, Bertolucci's depiction of the conflicting narratives about the fate of a murdered prostitute (told from various viewpoints a la Kurosawa's Rashomon) wasn't initially seen by most English-speaking critics and viewers apart from screenings at the 1962 Venice Festival and London Festival. Eventually it was shown in America as part of the New York Film Festival in 1966, paired up with Peter Goldman's short film Pestilent City, well after Before the Revolution had hit the art house circuit. Bertolucci's use of non-professional actors led many to compare him to both Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini, but the approach here is already different and a bit more stylized than his older peers, mixing poetry and politics into a filmic style that would define him throughout the rest of his career, most notably with 1900 (1976) and The Last Emperor (1987). Despite Bertolucci's ascent throughout the '70s, American audiences outside the festival scene were kept from seeing The Grim Reaper until 1982, with Andrew Sarris in Village Voice calling it "fascinating not only for its unveiling of a stunning talent but also for its certification of the Pasolini-Bertolucci connection...The Grim Reaper works on every level-melodrama, spectacle, reportage-to make this directorial debut truly memorable." The film also attained quite a bit of mystique in retrospect by the time most viewers saw it, as Pasolini was murdered in 1975 under circumstances eerily similar to this film. The still-percolating rumors about the circumstances of his death now hold up an eerie mirror to this film, which demonstrates through its punctuating afternoon storms how the truth can be an enormously difficult beast to tame under any circumstances. By Nathaniel Thompson

La Commera Secca (The Grim Reaper) on DVD

February 25, 2005

In a ravine near the Tiber River, the body of a young prostitute is discovered following a rainstorm. While investigating, the police call in a number of suspects from the area during the previous night - male and female, thieves and respected citizens, young and old. One by one they explain their whereabouts for the previous hours, but the truth proves far harder to pin down as various lies and misperceptions entangle until the real culprit is eventually revealed.

Using a theatrical framing device of suspects speaking under a spotlight and interrogated by an unseen police officer, La Commare Secca (shown in English territories as The Grim Reaper) utilizes a delightful arsenal of cinematic techniques for its numerous stories. Mobile tracking shots, rapid editing, evocative landscape shots, handheld camerawork - all are seamlessly integrated to reflect the various moods and experiences of life itself. Though everyone is shown to be flawed and essentially a liar and/or criminal in some respect ("I feel like being mean today" remarks the first suspect in one telling moment), the overall impression is far from bleak. The prostitute's final moments shown repeatedly in retrospect offer a melancholy counterpoint to the variety of emotions on display; as with Bertolucci's subsequent, much longer "tapestry" films like 1900 and The Last Emperor, violence intermingles with happiness, eroticism, and joy on a regular basis.

Since the film features no standout performers, La Commare Secca relies on its personnel behind the camera to grab the viewer's attention - and in this respect it easily earns its status as one of the more auspicious debuts in cinema history. Apart from an already assured directorial style, the roster of talent includes co-writer Pier Paolo Pasolini (whose directorial debut one year earlier with Mamma Roma shares some of the same social concerns and would make a good co-feature here) and underrated composer Piero Piccioni, whose beautiful work here signaled his first major year as a composer (as he also scored Salvatore Giuliano and Senilità in 1962).

Not an easy film to appreciate in fuzzy past editions on video, La Commara Secca looks simply fantastic in Criterion's new restored edition. The element looks like it was filmed yesterday and features razor sharp detail; at last it's perfectly obvious what a visually rich experience this film truly is. The disc includes one extra, a new interview with Bertolucci in which he discusses in great detail his working relationship with Pasolini (whose simultaneous Accatone is cited as a major influence on this script), his university years, and the making of the film from its inception to its critically well-received debut. Also included is a fold-out insert containing a thorough essay by film critic David Thompson, who reveals several interesting facts about the film; for example, even though this film has often been compared to Kurosawa¿s Rashomon, Bertolucci had never even seen it when he directed this, his remarkable first film.

For more information about La Commera Secca, visit Criterion Collection. To order La Commera Secca, go to TCM Shopping.

by Nathaniel Thompson

La Commera Secca (The Grim Reaper) on DVD

In a ravine near the Tiber River, the body of a young prostitute is discovered following a rainstorm. While investigating, the police call in a number of suspects from the area during the previous night - male and female, thieves and respected citizens, young and old. One by one they explain their whereabouts for the previous hours, but the truth proves far harder to pin down as various lies and misperceptions entangle until the real culprit is eventually revealed. Using a theatrical framing device of suspects speaking under a spotlight and interrogated by an unseen police officer, La Commare Secca (shown in English territories as The Grim Reaper) utilizes a delightful arsenal of cinematic techniques for its numerous stories. Mobile tracking shots, rapid editing, evocative landscape shots, handheld camerawork - all are seamlessly integrated to reflect the various moods and experiences of life itself. Though everyone is shown to be flawed and essentially a liar and/or criminal in some respect ("I feel like being mean today" remarks the first suspect in one telling moment), the overall impression is far from bleak. The prostitute's final moments shown repeatedly in retrospect offer a melancholy counterpoint to the variety of emotions on display; as with Bertolucci's subsequent, much longer "tapestry" films like 1900 and The Last Emperor, violence intermingles with happiness, eroticism, and joy on a regular basis. Since the film features no standout performers, La Commare Secca relies on its personnel behind the camera to grab the viewer's attention - and in this respect it easily earns its status as one of the more auspicious debuts in cinema history. Apart from an already assured directorial style, the roster of talent includes co-writer Pier Paolo Pasolini (whose directorial debut one year earlier with Mamma Roma shares some of the same social concerns and would make a good co-feature here) and underrated composer Piero Piccioni, whose beautiful work here signaled his first major year as a composer (as he also scored Salvatore Giuliano and Senilità in 1962). Not an easy film to appreciate in fuzzy past editions on video, La Commara Secca looks simply fantastic in Criterion's new restored edition. The element looks like it was filmed yesterday and features razor sharp detail; at last it's perfectly obvious what a visually rich experience this film truly is. The disc includes one extra, a new interview with Bertolucci in which he discusses in great detail his working relationship with Pasolini (whose simultaneous Accatone is cited as a major influence on this script), his university years, and the making of the film from its inception to its critically well-received debut. Also included is a fold-out insert containing a thorough essay by film critic David Thompson, who reveals several interesting facts about the film; for example, even though this film has often been compared to Kurosawa¿s Rashomon, Bertolucci had never even seen it when he directed this, his remarkable first film. For more information about La Commera Secca, visit Criterion Collection. To order La Commera Secca, go to TCM Shopping. by Nathaniel Thompson

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States 1962

Released in United States August 1962

Released in United States November 1962

Released in United States September 14, 1966

Shown at London Film Festival November 1962.

Shown at New York Film Festival September 14, 1966.

Shown at Venice Film Festival August 1962.

Directorial debut for Bernardo Bertolucci at age 22.

Released in United States November 1962 (Shown at London Film Festival November 1962.)

Released in United States 1962

Released in United States September 14, 1966 (Shown at New York Film Festival September 14, 1966.)

Released in United States August 1962 (Shown at Venice Film Festival August 1962.)

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