The Organizer (I compagni)

Directed by Mario Monicelli from a script he wrote with Age & Scarpelli, the 1963 Italian-French drama I compagni (The Organizer) unfolds in Turin at the close of the 19th century. Marcello Mastroianni plays a labor activist who drifts into the city and throws in his lot with the employees of a textile factory, helping them organize a strike against brutal hours and starvation wages. As the walkout stretches on and the owners refuse to yield, hunger, internal divisions and violent repression test the workers' solidarity, ending in tragedy that nonetheless plants the seed of future struggle. The supporting cast includes Annie Girardot, Renato Salvatori, Gabriella Giorgelli and François Périer. The picture premiered at the 35th Congress of the Italian Socialist Party, won the Astor d'Oro at the Mar del Plata festival, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.