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{{short description|1973 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Massacre in Rome
| image_size =
| image = Massacre in Rome FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = UK DVD Cover
| director = [[George P. Cosmatos]]
| producer = [[Carlo Ponti]]
| writer = [[Robert Katz]] (book)<br/>George P. Cosmatos
| narrator =
| starring = [[Richard Burton]]<br/>[[Marcello Mastroianni]]
| music = [[Ennio Morricone]]
| cinematography = [[Marcello Gatti]]
| editing = [[Françoise Bonnot]]
| distributor =
| released = {{Start date|1973|10|4|df=y}}
| runtime = 110 minutes
| country = Italy
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''Massacre in Rome''''' ({{lang-it|Rappresaglia}}) is a 1973 Italian [[war film|war]] [[drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[George Pan Cosmatos]]<ref name="NY Times.com">{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/31699/Massacre-in-Rome/details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129154302/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/31699/Massacre-in-Rome/details |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-01-29 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2011 |title=NY Times: Massacre in Rome |accessdate=2009-03-28}}</ref> about the [[Ardeatine massacre]] which occurred at the Ardeatine caves in [[Rome]], 24 March 1944, committed by the Germans as a reprisal for a [[Via Rasella attack|partisan attack]] against the [[SS Police Regiment Bozen]].<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b3eac8d|title=RAPPRESAGLIA (1973)|website=BFI}}</ref> The film was based on the 1967 book ''Death in Rome'' by [[Robert Katz]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=RAPPRESAGLIA+1973+literary+sources+in+film&pg=PA252|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|first=Alan|last=Goble|date=8 September 2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110951943|via=Google Books}}</ref> An Italian court gave producer [[Carlo Ponti]] and director Cosmatos a six-month suspended sentence for their film which claimed [[Pope Pius XII]] knew of and did nothing about the execution of Italian hostages by the Germans. The charges eventually were dropped on appeal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleveland19.com/story/5918899/carlo-ponti-husband-of-sophia-loren-dead-at-94|title=Carlo Ponti, Husband of Sophia Loren, Dead at 94|website=www.cleveland19.com}}</ref> The names of the victims are shown in the closing credits, as opposed to the cast credits and crew members.

==Plot==

The film stars [[Richard Burton]] as the Rome [[Gestapo]] chief [[Herbert Kappler]], who carries out the killings of 335 mostly randomly and hurriedly selected victims in revenge for [[Italian resistance movement|partisans]] killing 33 Germans: using a ratio of ten Italian victims for every German. However, they had rounded up five more than expected but continued on with their plan. Meanwhile, the [[Holy See|Vatican]] stands by and issues no condemnation.

==Cast==

;SS personnel

* [[Richard Burton]] as SS-[[Obersturmbannführer]] [[Herbert Kappler]]
* [[John Steiner]] as SS-[[Standartenführer]] [[Eugen Dollmann]]
* [[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]] as SS-[[Sturmbannführer]] Dr. Borante Domizlaff
* [[Brook Williams]] as SS-[[Hauptsturmführer]] [[Erich Priebke]]
* [[Dennis Burgess]] as SS-Sturmbannführer Hellmuth Dobbrick
* [[Anthony Dawson]] as SS-[[Brigadeführer]] [[Wilhelm Harster]]

;Luftwaffe officers

* [[Peter Vaughan]] as [[Generalfeldmarschall#Nazi Germany|Field Marshal]] [[Albert Kesselring]]
* [[Leo McKern]] as General [[Kurt Mälzer]]

;Italian fascists

* [[Guidarino Guidi]] as Interior Minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]]
* [[Renzo Montagnani]] as Police Chief "''Questore''" [[Pietro Caruso]]

;Vatican officials

* [[Marcello Mastroianni]] as Father Pietro Antonelli
* [[Robert Harris (English actor)|Robert Harris]] as Father Pancrazio

;Other characters

* [[Giancarlo Prete]] as Paolo
* [[Delia Boccardo]] as Elena
* [[Renzo Palmer]] as Giorgio
* [[Duilio Del Prete]] as Partisan

==Production ==
The film is based on the book ''Death in Rome'' by [[Robert Katz]], who also wrote the screenplay with Cosmatos.<ref name=bfi/>

==Trial for libel==
The author of the book ''Death in Rome'' on which the film was based was involved in a criminal-libel suit in Italy over the contents of his book. The suit was launched by Countess Elisa betta Pacelli Rossignani, the sister of [[Pope Pius XII]]. Author Katz, producer Ponti and director Cosmatos were charged with "defaming the memory of the Pope" [[Pius XII]] regarding the Pope's alleged knowledge and
not objecting to the [[Ardeatine Massacre]]. All were found guilty with Katz sentenced to 14 months and Ponti and Cosmatos sentence to six months<ref>Weisbord, Robert G. & Sillanpoa, Wallace P ''The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust: An Era in Vatican-Jewish Relations'' Transaction Publishers 1st edition 2017</ref> but the charges were rendered moot by a general amnesty.<ref>"[http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=148051&sectioncode=26 Where there's holy smoke there's fire]," 24 September 1999, ''[[Times Higher Education]]'', retrieved 1 July 2009.</ref><ref>"[http://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/12/001-the-end-of-the-pius-wars-1 The End of the Pius Wars]," [[Joseph Bottum (author)|Joseph Bottum]], ''[[First Things]] Magazine'', April 2004, retrieved 1 July 2006.</ref>

==Historical accuracy ==
[[Herbert Kappler]] is depicted in the film as being a tired worn out man, who is disillusioned with the Nazi cause and believes that the fall of Nazi Germany is imminent. In reality, Kappler was a zealous Nazi and was sent to Rome for exactly this reason. During his time as head of the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (Security Police) in Rome, Kappler organized the round-ups of thousands of innocent victims, oversaw raids on Jewish homes for looted valuables, and was a key figure in transporting [[Italian Jews]] to Nazi death camps.

Father Pietro Antonelli is a [[Composite character|combination]] of several different Vatican officials who personally knew Kappler, the most significant of whom was [[Monsignor]] [[Hugh O'Flaherty]] (who appears in the [[television]] film ''[[The Scarlet and the Black]]''). One prisoner, a deserter from the Austrian army who had pretended to be an Italian, was allowed to live, as a citizen of the Reich; and he was the only witness to tell the tale of the courageous behaviour of the Resistance priest, Don [[Pietro Pappagallo]], who blessed those about to be killed, before he himself met his fate.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-312-0983-10, Rom, Soldaten vor Gebäude.jpg|thumb|A body lies in the '' via Rasella'' during the round up of civilians by German and Italian soldiers after the partisan bombing on 23 March 1944.]]
The [[SS]] victims of the partisan attack are referred to throughout the film as "German soldiers", when in fact the company which was attacked was the 11th Company of the Third Battalion of the [[SS Police Regiment Bozen]] from the [[Bolzano|Bozen]]", which was composed of ethnic Austrians from German-speaking [[South Tyrol]] annexed by Italy after the [[World War I|First World War]]. Historically, the unit also did not wear [[Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel|SS uniforms]], but rather regular German police uniforms of the ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]''.

[[Kurt Mälzer]] is shown throughout the film giving direct orders to SS units and personally supervising the buildup to the massacre organized by Kappler. In reality, while several regular [[Wehrmacht]] officers did issue orders to the SS during this period, as well as Kappler and Mälzer personally discussing the operation, Kappler and his men were under the [[SS and Police Leader]] [[command hierarchy|chain of command]], and it was through these channels that most of the official orders concerning the massacre were issued. Another man working with the SS was Capt. [[Erich Priebke]], who is mentioned in the film. He had full knowledge of the massacre, but would hide for many years evading justice. Then, on Nationwide TV in the 1990s, ABC News reporter [[Sam Donaldson]] found and confronted him about the massacre, leading him to say he "followed orders". Argentinian authorities quickly arrested and extradited him to Italy; he was tried and convicted of mass murder.

[[Eugen Dollmann|Colonel Dollmann]] was never Kappler's direct superior, as is implied several times in the film. In reality, Kappler answered to the office of SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Karl Wolff]], who also maintained his headquarters in Rome. Wolff is never seen or mentioned in the film. In reality, he stood trial and was found guilty of killing Italian Jews as part of the operations in Italy: when he became sick, his sentence was reduced and he was released in 1971.

At the time of the massacre, Herbert Kappler was 37 years old. Actor Richard Burton was just short of his 48th birthday when the film was produced, eleven years older than Kappler would have been at the time.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0070592|title=Massacre in Rome}}
*{{Rotten Tomatoes|massacre_in_rome}}

{{George P. Cosmatos}}

[[Category:Italian Campaign of World War II films]]
[[Category:Films set in Rome]]
[[Category:1970s war drama films]]
[[Category:Italian war drama films]]
[[Category:1973 films]]
[[Category:1970s Italian-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by George P. Cosmatos]]
[[Category:World War II films based on actual events]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ennio Morricone]]
[[Category:1973 drama films]]
[[Category:Films about Nazis]]
[[Category:Films about Nazism]]
[[Category:Films about massacres]]
[[Category:Italian World War II films]]
[[Category:English-language Italian films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s Italian films]]

Massacre in Rome - Revision history

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