Extremely well acted but terribly put together film of one of America's most shameful injustices. Gian Maria Volonté and Riccardo Cucciolla portray the doomed anarchists in director Giuliano Montaldo's production. It suffers from what appears to be a serious lack of location work (it rarely even appears that events are taking place in the US) and Montaldo's direction is surprisingly lifeless. There's no feeling of what the country was going through during the politically turbulent 1920s, when anarchists, communists and other radicals were being deported en masse. The film relies on courtroom proceedings that are confusing rather than enlightening. Volonté and Cucciolla, as well as Cyril Cusack as a wily DA are excellent as are Milo O'Shea and William Prince as the Sacco & Vanzetti's first and second lawyers. Ennio Morricone's score is terrific, marred at times by poorly placed folk songs by Joan Baez.
Review of Sacco & Vanzetti
