The Hawks and the Sparrows

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Pier Paolo Pasolini directs. Mario Bernardo behind the camera. Ennio Morricone scores. Nino Baragli cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Italy. Dialogue in Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 260 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, shot by Mario Bernardo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Ennio Morricone. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Nino Baragli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Totò and Ninetto Davoli and Femi Benussi carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "An off-beat comedy about serious matters by PIER PAOLO PASOLINI.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0061132 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Mario Bernardo

Original score

Ennio Morricone

Editing

Nino Baragli

Production design

Luigi Scaccianoce

Costume design

Danilo Donati

Makeup / hair

Vittorio Biseo

Runtime

90 min · 1h 30m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

IT

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) ↗

Also by

Pier Paolo Pasolini

• 
  Notes for a Novel About Garbage

  1970 · ★ 9.0
• 
  What Are the Clouds?

  1968 · ★ 8.5
• 
  Love Meetings

  1965 · ★ 8.2
• 
  The Earth As Seen from the Moon

  1967 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Mamma Roma

  1962 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Accattone

  1961 · ★ 7.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Uccellacci e uccellini (1966) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Aqueronte722022-04-06

  Fascinating neorealist-surrealist tableau of the daily life of Ninetto and his father Toto Innocenti (the holy Ciccillio), who, suddenly, in the mezzo del camminin...and with a raven -son of Mr. Duda and Mrs. Conciencia- instead of Virgilio, a charming and cynical crow due to its resemblance to the Nescio of Erasmus of Rotterdam, undertake a spiritual and metaphysical "crusade", in the manner of fables, to tame and reconcile the hawks and sparrows in God's plan; this is my favorite Pasolini and not the exegetical and historical one; the Pasolini that allegorizes with his own message and from the opening credits feels loose, loose in joviality, he feels in his land; There are no evangelical hermeneutics with correct meanings of this or that gospel, nor historical canons of Hellenic Greece that, precisely for this reason, confine Uccellacci and Uccellini as in other of their works the narrative and, specifically, its plot proposed here. Rather, there are symbolic allusions, for example, just when the Cicillio saint declares himself a man without faith for momentarily failing with the sparrows, the young man, visibly bored, asks permission to play hopscotch , a popularly legendary allusion that implies Dante (who is supposed to represent all human beings in his Divine Comedy) coming out of Purgatory, and facing his fate he had to jump those nine circles, the stone would be the soul). Of course, the crux of these hermeneutic traditions and biblical passages continues here, in this argument, but not following a horizon of interpretation of them as symbolic, indisputable Truths, but rather as small truths, with tiny letters, daily truths, loving and painful, other sad times of God, love, Death, like when the youngster urges his father with questions, and he stops breathing and then, what comes next?The holy Ciccillo announces "Ho trovato", just as the young man jumps but his hopes will not be realized. In the background, Toto himself, who urges to receive his payment for land, is also cornered by other larger land owners. The metaphors of the streets named after people who fled the place, the war aggressions for the lands and the ownership of them with power, as well as the fate of the crow devoured by the "harmless" occasional singers of Carmela, Carmelina, are clear signs of a disenchanted Pasolini, of both spiritual and political pessimism; the crow was right, regardless of a humanity that does not know where it is going, they will not listen to those who propose the course either, said the voice on the left in the raven

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• AR

  Arco Film

  IT

Key crew

• Key GripMariano Sargenti
• Assistant CameraAntonio Orlandini
• Boom OperatorArmando Bondani
• Assistant Costume DesignerPiero Cicoletti
• Camera OperatorGaetano Valle
• Assistant CameraSergio Rubini
• SoundPietro Ortolani
• ConductorBruno Nicolai
• Camera OperatorFranco Di Giacomo
• Sound MixerEmilio Rosa
• Production SupervisorGilberto Scarpellini
• Assistant EditorRossana Maiuri
• Production SecretaryEnzo Ocone
• Assistant DirectorCarlo Morandi
• Assistant Director TraineeFrancesco Barilli
• Assistant DirectorVincenzo Cerami
• Production ManagerFernando Franchi
• ElectricianMarcello Cardarelli
• Animal WranglerPino Serpe
• Sound Effects EditorItalo Cameracanna
• Foley ArtistItalo Cameracanna
• ElectricianAlberto Ridolfi
• ProducerAlfredo Bini
• Costume DesignDanilo Donati

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• rome, italy
• mythology
• satire
• crow
• hawk

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1966-09-16· New York Film Festival
• Theatrical1967-07-27NR· New York City, New York

Also known as

International titles

• The Hawks and the SparrowsUS
• Hawks and SparrowsUS
• Vilains oiseaux et Petits oiseauxFR
• おおきなとりとちいさなとりJP
• Des oiseaux, petits et grosFR
• Stora stygga fåglar och små snällaSE