6 Off My Head: Visconti's Stunning Menfolk

It's the 115th anniversary of the birth of Luchino Visconti, our problematic king -- the Italian aristocrat turned film director made some of my favorite movies of all-time, from his early Neo-realist masterpieces like La terra treme up through his baroquely crumbling critiques of the aristocratic bullshit he knew so intimately like The Leopard and The Damned. He made less than twenty movies but I have yet to see a single one I haven't found absolutely riveting. But even more importantly -- obviously! -- is the fact that he had one of the greatest eyes for male beauty we've ever been blessed the opportunity to share sight with, and his movies are feasts for those of us who appreciate such things. And so now that I have seen a majority of his movies -- not yet everything, but a majority! -- I feel safe in finally making this list...

The 6 Sexiest Men in Visconti Movies

Massimo Girotti in Ossessione (1943)

(see more here)

Helmut Berger in The Damned (1969)

Farley Granger in Senso (1954)

(see more here)

Antonio Arcidiacono in La terra trema (1948)

(see more here)

Renato Salvatori in Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

Alain Delon in The Leopard (1963)

(And Alain also counts in Rocco too, obviously -- Alain in any movie he ever starred in, ever! -- but Alain with that black bandage over his eye is a personal kink!)

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What are your faves?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Teorema (1968)

Pietro, the son: No one must realize that the artist is worthless, that he's an abnormal, inferior being, squirming and slithering like a worm to survive. No one must ever witness his lapses into clumsy artlessness. Everything must appear perfect, based on unknown and hence unquestionable rules. Like a madman.

I told you about Criterion's gorgeous new blu-ray of this Pasolini classic -- about a question mark of a young man (played by Terence Stamp at his crotchiest) who slips into a bourgeoise family of four, a father and a mother and a son and a daughter (as well as their housekeeper), and immediately proceeds to fuck them all into madness -- back in November when it was announced; well the disc it out tomorrow, so this is a reminder. I re-watched the film over the weekend and the new 4K restoration is indeed eye-popping, but this is such an easy film to get lost in; every time I watch it I fall right under its spell.

It's crotchy, crotchy spell. I love that the boys in that first photo are flipping through a book of Francis Bacon paintings of bloody pulpy men "wrestling" together and how it's played as an erotic experience...

... Stamp's character, only known as The Visitor, compels all of these guilty-feeling rich folk to spill all of their deepest darkest desires and fears to him through by his merely existing, and when he eventually leaves he sends them all spiraling off into their separate fates.

Pietro, the son, becomes the artist he fears, no doubt inspired by his time spent erotically flipping through Francis Bacon pages with Terence Stamp, even though as you can tell by his quote up top the transformation is one of anxiety, not freedom. I have a feeling that Pasolini felt the closest to Pietro's story. The father's dissolution (our fave Massimo Girotti) post-Visitor is also pretty wild...

... what are your thoughts on Teorema?

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Still In the Mood for Massimo

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An important update on yesterday's Massimo Girotti post! I said yesterday I was looking for Massimo Girotti movies to watch as I'm in the mood for Massimo -- well I found one, did I ever. Well two actually. Thanks to commenter Mirko for recommending Italian director Alessandro Blasetti's 1941 film The Iron Crown, which looks promising even just on a surface level...

... that lady in the background gets it. But looking up that film led me to another collaboration between Massimo and Blasetti called Fabiola from 1949 and as you can see from the still I posted up top looks possibly even more promising, on that surface level anyway, and not just because Massimo didn't have to shave his chest. (That doesn't hurt though.) Fabiola is another Roman sword-and-sandal type flick, but this one's got Massimo playing no less than the premiere gay icon of Saint Sebastian himself...

See a couple more gifs here.

I gotta get my hands on these...

I Miss Massimo

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Since the last time I ogled Massimo Girotti I have managed to finally watch Pasolini's film Teorema, which brings the grand total of films starring him that I have seen to five, including Luchino Visconti's films Senso and Ossessione plus Mario Bava's Baron Blood and Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. But as you can tell by just those five titles the man worked for a very long time, a career spanning six decades, and with some of the world's greatest directors, so I feel as if I must be missing some. 

The most obvious one off the bat to me is 1967's omnibus film The Witches, which has segments directed by De Sica and Pasolini and Visconti among others (Girotti was in Visconti's portion, of course) -- thankfully that one was released on fancy blu-ray from Arrow last year so that shouldn't be too hard. But I really would like to see some of the films he made when he was young, because... well you know why, you see that picture up top. So if anybody's got any recommendations give 'em a spin in the comments! I need some Massimo in my life this summer.

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Good Massimo, World

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Alright, I need you people to tell me everything you know about the actor Massimo Girotti immediately. How have I never obsessed about him before? I'll tell you how -- I still haven't sat my stupid ass down and watch Teorema yet, that's how. I knew that would bite me in the stupid ass eventually!

Anyway besides Pasolini plenty of Italian Masters doted on his vintage swarthiness -- he starred in films by De Sica, Bertollucci, Visconti, Rossellini... basically anybody who's anybody on and off the Boot, he rode 'em but good. While you tell em about him, here, after the jump, an illustration of why I care...