The Organizer

Released Oct 25, 1963

2h 6m

Crime

Drama

List

89%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

88%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Professor Sinigaglia (Marcello Mastroianni) is the title character in this darkly comedic Italian drama about mistreated factory workers in the city of Turin. Toiling away in appalling conditions in a textile mill, these employees have no one to stand up for them until Sinigaglia puts his academic career on the line by helping them to start a strike. Although the teacher comes under scrutiny by unsympathetic authorities, he maintains his dedication to the workers' cause.

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Michael Sragow

New Yorker

A nearly forgotten near-great movie, with one of Marcello Mastroianni's classic tragicomic performances.

Nov 24, 2014

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Maybe you wouldn't expect a two hour Italian film about a strike in a Turin textile factory at the end of the 19th century to be especially entertaining. But wait until you see The Organizer.

Jun 20, 2005

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Arguably one of the great Italian films of the 60s, it cries out for rediscovery.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Judith Crist

New York Herald Tribune

The bane of American moviemaking has been its perpetual big-think in larger-than-life terms. Certainly The Organizer sets a brilliant standard for big-think in human terms. Our hope would be that it set an example as well.

Aug 15, 2022

Full Review

Joan Didion

Vogue

That someone should have thought to cast Marcello Mastroianni as a seedy, itinerant, and slightly visionary nineteenth century labor organizer -- in The Organizer -- marks the triumph of a certain misapprehension.

Mar 16, 2020

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John Armstrong

Los Angeles Free Press

With a great script, imaginative still-photo montage, and a roving camera, director Mario Monticelli creates a very rewarding ninety minutes.

Feb 4, 2020

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robert m

This is the world that, maybe, your great-grandparents (or their parents) experienced and you'll learn something if you watch the movie. Doesn't matter if your family came from Poland, France, Germany, or Chicago or Pittsburgh. Life in the factories was hard for many men and women (and children.) Mastroianni is fantastic as the college professor who becomes a labor organizer. I've got an old copy of this film. Like many of the classic films about working people, this one is hard to find.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Between 2.5 and 3 stars. It starts good, but it gets lost as it goes. It's not bad, but there are other more interesting movies about the same issue.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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s r

A comical advocacy for workers' rights. Well made and acted.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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andres s

This movie was surprisingly funny. It reminds me in many ways of Fellini and I can definitely say that this director was inspired by Fellini. The cinematography is something to really look at and the location's and set pieces make you feel your really there. There's this genuine character and charm that fills the screen when your watching these characters go about. Each character has there own interesting quirks about them. The ending took an unexpected turn and what seemed like a lighthearted movie all along, ended on a pretty dark note. Nonetheless, it had a pretty endearing and powerful message. Wonderful, extremely under rated, and thoughtful. This movie surprised me in every way.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Organizer is a grand movie (great reconstructions of epoch, a huge ancient textile mill brought back to full function, massive demonstrations in 18th century garb) and it is a great movie, In the way it takes you into the story and makes you empathize with its agonists. But, unlike what the poor plot description states, it is not so much about the organizer, as it is about the workers and their lives. The organizer, and his colleague the teacher Di Mateo, are paradigms of the ideologues of the time, for sure coming from a higher, more educated class. The organizer is generous and brave; he is also reckless and devious when the situation requires it. But the heart of the movie are really the workers, not the organizer, who is as much a paradigm as he is comic relief. After all, the original title of the movie is I Compagni, best translated as The Fellow Workers (The Comrades would be too loaded a term). Here, virtually every character is engrossing, developed, striking (except probably the bosses--this is not a balanced movie). Especially pay attention to Omero, the young boy, and Raoul, the hothead, in another memorable role by Renato Salvatori. This is what classics are all about.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Set in hard working-class settlement, the workers are forced to work inhuman hours every day, increasing the chance of unexpected injuries. After a man gets his arm crippled, the workers tries to cut the day short by an hour without much luck, only punishment. What they need is a union or even better: a organizer. Arriving like a refugetive Marcelo Mastroianni, somewhat accidentally burst into this as their organizer. The movie itself captures the feeling of poor Italy of the 20th century and gives us insight in the mind of the working man. The voice of the common people. Mastroianni performing with high class as usual.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

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Mario Monicelli

Director

Marcello Mastroianni

Professor Sinigaglia

Renato Salvatori

Raoul

Gabriella Giorgelli

Adele

Folco Lulli

Pautasso

Bernard Blier

Martinetti

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Synopsis

Professor Sinigaglia (Marcello Mastroianni) is the title character in this darkly comedic Italian drama about mistreated factory workers in the city of Turin. Toiling away in appalling conditions in a textile mill, these employees have no one to stand up for them until Sinigaglia puts his academic career on the line by helping them to start a strike. Although the teacher comes under scrutiny by unsympathetic authorities, he maintains his dedication to the workers' cause.

Director: Mario Monicelli
Screenwriter: Agenore Incrocci, Mario Monicelli, Furio Scarpelli
Distributor: Continental Distributing Inc.
Production Co: Lux Film S.p.a., Vides Cinematografica, Avala Film
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 25, 1963, Original
Release Date (DVD): Apr 24, 2012
Runtime: 2h 6m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm