# The Clowns > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Clowns > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Clowns.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clowns > Source revision: 1341599410 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For other films with similar names, see [The Clown (disambiguation)](/source/The_Clown_(disambiguation)). 1970 film The Clowns Italian I clowns Directed by Federico Fellini Written by Story and Screenplay: Federico Fellini Bernardino Zapponi Produced by Elio Scardamaglia Starring Federico Fellini Cinematography Dario Di Palma Edited by Ruggero Mastroianni Music by Nino Rota Release date December 25, 1970 (1970-12-25) Running time 92 minutes Language Italian ***The Clowns*** ([Italian](/source/Italian_language): ***I clowns***, also known as ***I pagliacci***) is a 1970 [mockumentary](/source/Mockumentary) film by [Federico Fellini](/source/Federico_Fellini) about the human fascination with [clowns](/source/Clown) and [circuses](/source/Circus).[1] ## Plot summary This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (November 2022) The film begins with a semi-autobiographical childhood recollection of Fellini’s youth where a young boy watches from his bedroom window, a circus arrive in his hometown. The boy is simultaneously fascinated and frightened by the clowns it brings. Driving this memory is the director’s long-standing obsession with the world of the circus. From this opening, the narrative transitions into a pseudo-documentary journey in which Fellini (as himself) and a film crew travel through Italy and Paris in search of the great clowns of Europe. Along the way, the film blends interviews with veteran clowns, staged circus routines, & archival footage while constantly blurring the line between fiction and reality. Ultimately, it culminates in a surreal, operatic “clown funeral” sequence which is a metaphoric lavish farewell to a dying art form.[2][3][4] ## Cast ### Main - [Riccardo Billi](/source/Riccardo_Billi) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Billi) - [Federico Fellini](/source/Federico_Fellini) as himself - [Gigi Reder](/source/Gigi_Reder) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Reder) - [Tino Scotti](/source/Tino_Scotti) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Scotti) - Valentini as himself – Italian Clown - [Fanfulla](/source/Fanfulla) as himself – Italian Clown - [Merli](/source/Merli) as himself – Italian Clown - [Carlo Rizzo](/source/Carlo_Rizzo) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Rizzo) - Colombaioni as Themselves – Italian Clowns (credited as I 4 Colombaioni) - Pistoni as himself – Italian Clown - Martana as Themselves – Italian Clowns (credited as I Martana) - [Giacomo Furia](/source/Giacomo_Furia) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Furia) - [Alvaro Vitali](/source/Alvaro_Vitali) as himself (The Troupe) - [Dante Maggio](/source/Dante_Maggio) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Maggio) - Galliano Sbarra as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Sbarra) - Peppino Janigro as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Janigro) - Carini as himself – Italian Clown - Maunsell as himself – Italian Clown - [Nino Terzo](/source/Nino_Terzo) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Terzo) - Osiride Pevarello as Clown (Credited as Peverello) - [Nino Vingelli](/source/Nino_Vingelli) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Vingelli) - [Alberto Sorrentino](/source/Alberto_Sorrentino) as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Sorrentino) - Fumagalli as himself – Italian Clown - Valdemaro as himself – Italian Clown - Luigi Zerbinati as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Zerbinati) - Ettore Bevilacqua as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Bevilacqua) - Maya Morin as Maya (La troupe) - Anna Lina Alberti as herself – Alvaro's mother (La troupe) (credited as Lina Alberti) - Gasparin as Gasparino (La troupe) - Alex as himself – French Clown - [Georges Loriot](/source/Georges_Loriot) as himself – French Clown (credited as Père Loriot) - Maïs as himself – French Clown - Bario as himself – French Clown - Ludo as himself – French Clown - Nino as himself – French Clown - [Charlie Rivel](/source/Charlie_Rivel) as himself - [Pierre Étaix](/source/Pierre_%C3%89taix) as himself - [Annie Fratellini](/source/Annie_Fratellini) as herself - Victor Fratellini as himself - [Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Thierr%C3%A9e) as himself (credited as Baptiste) - Tristan Remy as himself - [Liana Orfei](/source/Liana_Orfei) as herself - Rinaldo Orfei as himself - Nando Orfei as himself - Franco Migliorini as himself – Animal Tamer - [Anita Ekberg](/source/Anita_Ekberg) as herself ### Cameo/Uncredited - [Maria Grazia Buccella](/source/Maria_Grazia_Buccella) as herself - Aristide Caporale as Railwayman - [Victoria Chaplin](/source/Victoria_Chaplin) as herself - Liliana Chiari as herself - Dante Cleri as Fascist - Shirley Corrigan as Audience member - Feverello as himself – Italian Clown - Gustavo Fratellini as himself – Italian Clown - Adelina Poerio as Dwarf nun - [Richard Simmons](/source/Richard_Simmons) – Clown - Tonino Tommasi – Audience Member ## Production The film was made for the Italian TV station [RAI](/source/RAI) with an agreement that it would be released simultaneously as a cinema feature.[5] RAI and co-producer Leone Film compromised on its release, with RAI broadcasting it on Christmas Day, 1970, and Leone Film releasing it theatrically in Italy the following day, December 26, 1970.[6] It is a [docufiction](/source/Docufiction): part reality, part fantasy. The film has sometimes been referred to as one of the first [mockumentaries](/source/Mockumentary) in film history (Woody Allen's *[Take the Money and Run](/source/Take_the_Money_and_Run_(film))* having been released in just the previous year).[7] Being [documentary](/source/Documentary) and [fiction](/source/Fiction) in one, *The Clowns* distinguishes itself by being a mockumentary with unique characteristics, not the least of which is reflecting Fellini's own increasing fascination with how documentary films reflect "reality". Fellini had already explored this semi-fictional documentary genre in 1969's *[Fellini: A Director's Notebook](/source/Fellini%3A_A_Director's_Notebook)* and would further do so in 1987's *[Intervista](/source/Intervista)*, both of which contain unreliable depictions of Fellini himself making the film within the film narrative. ## Reception The film has a 100% approval rating on [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes), based on 18 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10.[8] Film Critic [Roger Ebert](/source/Roger_Ebert) gave the film three stars out of four.[9] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [I Clowns review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/26/i-clowns-review-philip-french-fellini-1970) by [Philip French](/source/Philip_French) at [The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian), October 26, 2014 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["The Clowns"](https://www.peramuseum.org/film/the-clowns/211/58). *www.peramuseum.org*. Retrieved 2025-11-04. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["The Clowns"](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-clowns-2022-07). *Harvard Film Archive*. 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2025-11-04. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["The Clowns movie review & film summary (1971) | Roger Ebert"](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-clowns-1971). *www.rogerebert.com*. Retrieved 2025-11-04. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Baxter, J.: *Fellini*, page 260. St. Martins Press, 1993. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Baxter, J.: *Fellini*, page 270. St. Martins Press, 1993. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [I clowns: Fellini's Mockumentary](http://the-artifice.com/i-clowns-fellini-mockumentary/) - article at *[The Artifice](/source/The_Artifice_(magazine))* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["The Clowns (1970)"](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_clowns). *[Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes)*. [Fandango Media](/source/Fandango_Media). Retrieved 11 July 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["The Clowns"](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-clowns-1971). *rogerebert.com*. 7 July 1971. ## External links - [*The Clowns*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066922/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*The Clowns* at AllMovie](https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-clowns-am46672) - [*I pagliacci*](https://web.archive.org/web/1/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/491756/enwp) at the [TCM Movie Database](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies#TCMdb) (archived) - [*The Clowns*](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_clowns) at [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes) v t e Federico Fellini As director Variety Lights (1950) The White Sheik (1952) I Vitelloni (1953) Love in the City (1953) La Strada (1954) Il bidone (1955) Nights of Cabiria (1957) La Dolce Vita (1960) Boccaccio '70 (1962) 8½ (1963) Juliet of the Spirits (1965) Spirits of the Dead (1968) Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969) Fellini Satyricon (1969) The Clowns (1970) Roma (1972) Amarcord (1973) Casanova (1976) Orchestra Rehearsal (1979) City of Women (1980) And the Ship Sails On (1983) Ginger and Fred (1986) Intervista (1987) The Voice of the Moon (1990) As writer only The Last Wagon (1943) Rome, Open City (1945) Paisan (1946) Flesh Will Surrender (1947) Bullet for Stefano (1947) L'amore ("The Miracle" segment, 1948) Without Pity (1948) In the Name of the Law (1949) City of Pain (1949) The Mill on the Po (1949) The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Path of Hope (1950) Four Ways Out (1951) Cameriera bella presenza offresi... (1951) The Bandit of Tacca Del Lupo (1952) Fortunella (1958) Works about E il Casanova di Fellini? (1975 documentary) Federico Fellini: His Life and Work (1987/2002 biography) Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002 documentary) I'm a Born Liar (2003 book) How Strange to Be Named Federico (2013 documentary) Related Giulietta Masina (wife) Fellini Museum Asa Nisi Masa Paparazzi v t e Clowns List of clowns / List of jesters Types Blackface Bouffon Canadian Chou Circus Contemporary Evil Harlequin Harlequinade Heyoka Jester Mime Pierrot Pueblo Ritual Rodeo Scaramouche Silly Billy Skomorokh Organizations Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army Clown Conservatory Clowns of America International Clowns Gallery-Museum International Clown Hall of Fame Loldiers of Odin Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College World Clown Association World Festival of Clowns in Yekaterinburg Related 2016 clown sightings Clown alley Clown bicycle Clown car Clown Care Clown ministry Clown society Coulrophilia International Clown Week Motley Toronto circus riot Documentaries The Clowns (1970) Category Authority control databases: National United States Israel --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Clowns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clowns) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clowns?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.