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This miniseries has stayed with me long after I saw it. I was thinking about actors who never got rid of their local accents but were still great actors. Raul Julia was one of them. He could have played Count Ciano way over the top here, but he didn't. Yet he was so moving as Mussolini's conniving, but very human son-in-law. I hope you're doing well wherever you are, Raul.

This review is based on the DVD release that has it on two double-sided discs, and comes with no extras. I do not know much about the real events, so I can't say if this is an accurate account or not. This takes us through over two decades, starting in 1922. It is a tale of love and hate, rise and fall, life and death. From the very beginning to the ending... a well-chosen and memorable final image... this is engaging. The plot is good and well-written, as is the dialog. This is excellent, in the way of its characters... thoroughly developed, credible, and it doesn't try to include a greater amount than it can do justice to. Most of the drama comes from the interactions and relationships, not from the visuals. The acting is all marvelous, and the roles are well-cast. Downey Jr. is instantly accepted as the young and energetic Bruno, Byrne as the more serious Vittorio, Mastrantonio as the strong-willed Edda, Julia is charming as ever as Galeazzo, and last but by no means least, C. Scott adds tremendous depth to the part of Benito himself, in his portrayal. The score is fitting. This has nice cinematography and editing, if neither are beyond what we've seen from other mini-series. It was an interesting choice to cut in actual footage from the time. Of course, you can tell, still, it's reasonably well added in. In spite of what the cover and this site both suggest, this is about five hours and twenty minutes long... I suppose the other count is with commercials. The violence is not excessive or graphic. Sexuality is tasteful and not gratuitous. Language is infrequent. This has disturbing content, and is not for children. I recommend this to anyone who wants a presentation of the history of Mussolini, the man and the family, in the time before, during, and until the end of, the second World War. 7/10

There's one thing you should know before starting the six-hour miniseries Mussolini: The Untold Story - no one puts on an Italian accent. Alright, now that that's out in the open, there's nothing else to criticize. I understand director William Graham's choice, though. It would have eventually become distracting to have all the actors and actresses try (and most likely fail) to put on Italian accents. This way, we can all focus on the acting and the story. For example, Lee Grant (Mussolini's long-suffering wife) talks in her normal New York accent, but in every other respect, she comes across as an authentic Italian woman, wife, and mother. If her voice had been digitally altered, you'd think she was an Italian actress. George C. Scott has never been better, taking up every inch of the screen with his intense energy. He's completely in command and constantly comes across as being one of the most powerful world leaders. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays the eldest daughter, torn between love and loyalty and finding out the benefits and detriments to being Mussolini's daughter. On one hand, she wears beautiful clothes and lives in a palace; on the other, she'll never know whether her boyfriend Raul Julia only wants to marry her for political reasons.

You'll see lots of familiar faces that are much more well known now but were just starting out in the 1980s, which is fun. Virginia Madsen is Mussolini's long-suffering mistress, Robert Downey Jr. Is his younger, favored son, and Gabriel Byrne is the older, more ignored son. Even David Suchet has a small role before his Poirot fame.

I can't believe it wasn't nominated for more Emmy and Golden Globe Awards, rather than just Editing and Sound in the former. The amount of work that went into every aspect of the production should be applauded. The costumes and production design were beautiful, and the inventive splicing in of real footage (including colorization in some scenes) added realism to an already true story. George C. Scott poured his heart into the miniseries, and Lee Grant showed the heavy dramatic talents she usually kept hidden. Yes, parts of the story (especially the ending) are hard to watch, but that isn't usually a deterrent come awards season. If you don't know much about Mussolini, you'll be absolutely fascinated by all the information packed into the six hours.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to gruesome mob violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

Some of the acting is a bit less than stellar, and this certainly wasn't George C. Scott's best role, but the series was entertaining. I did watch it in 1985, and I watched again on Amazon Prime. The only scene I remembered was the market scene with Il Duce's wife being scorned.

Duce - Duce - Duce the crowd screams as the little giant struts out to give the faithful a tough face. George C Scott best known for playing the invincible George Patton on the silver screen has the mannerisms and the facial expressions of the sawdust caeaser who led Italy into a disastrous war and brought about his own downfall.

One of histories great ironies lies in this: Had the Deuce avoided WWII which the Germans really didn't want him involved in anyway, he might have had the acclaim for glory that he vaingloriously sought.

The film presents with a degree of historical accuracy the terrible end to which Italy and its Deuce came as a result of the quest for glory. It comes as a shock that the Anglo-Americans would bomb Rome. Count Ciano lolling on the beach at Lido as the flying fortresses zoom over exclaims, "The Pope lives here." This film is an excellent warning for our time which has produced a new pied-piper. This one claims to personally talk to God. The Deuce at least had the good graces to be an atheist.

There needs to be a good film about Italian fascism, but this isn't it. It's soap opera for the most part.

Who cares about Mussolini's daughter marrying a playboy? (And far from being a dutiful wife, she had plenty of affairs herself.) Who cares about his son, played by a young Robert Downey, taking the virginity of his girlfriend? This soap opera thinks the viewer does when I just laughed and fast forwarded.

The soap opera also hides how much Mussolini's family were nearly the evil he was. The daughter was an honorary member of Hitler's SS, the death camp killers. The son portrayed by Downey, shown as a romantic pilot with lots of hot sex scenes? The film leaves out that he bombed Ethiopian civilians, mass killing them with chemical weapons. Photos also show he was fat and homely.

The good part, the reason it doesn't deserve a 1 or 0, is George C Scott. He is perfect to show Mussolini as the blustering blowhard and mass murderer who smiled while viewing photos of mass executions he ordered and bombing African civilians while claiming he brought "civilization to these savages."

The soap opera nonsense is a wildly disturbing attempt to humanize him, or more charitably at least get the Harlequin Romance readers to sit through a history lesson.

And for the record, the rape scene didn't happen just once, but hundreds of times. Mussolini had his men bring him women for sex partners every week. Those who refused he raped.

This man was a monster who killed two million people for his own greed, power, and bigotry. The non soap parts of this film make that clear. Those posting their admiration of a mass murderer should be ashamed of their ignorance.

The final thing the film changes is how he died. He was hiding fearfully when the partisans found him. He groveled like a coward when he was executed too.

One could also wish there were more actual Italians in this film. Lee Grant and Virginia Madsen are so out of place.

I guess playing George Patton a very strong authoritative figure qualified George C. Scott to play another. Seeing Scott out there as a strutting peacock he really captures the charisma and the appeal that was Mussolini. In America we're getting set to have a taste of that right now. Highly appropriate I'm writing this review after Election Day 2016.

Mussolini, newspaper editor came to power after total Italian disillusion with World War I and their participation in it. Probably most in Italy felt they should have stayed out. They started as an ally to Germany and Austro-Hungary with the Central Powers. Then overnight they switched sides and fought a bloody war of attrition for three years. A post war depression with a lot of parliamentary politicians unable to solve an economic crisis and Italy was in the mood to listen to anyone promising prosperity and stability.

How stable? Italy was a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy. King Victor Emanuel gave Benito Mussolini the seal of office and as Prime Minister he ruled for over 20 years under those auspices. Another war removed him though the Nazis tried to prop him up.

With the trappings of democracy Mussolini ruled as dictator with a dummy parliament and reserved unto himself the title of Il Duce. Just like his chum Adolph Hitler appropriated Der Furhrer for himself.

Unlike Hitler who was an aesthete and maybe impotent, Mussolini liked living large. Married with a family, his wife played by Lee Grant here he had one voracious appetite for the opposite sex. There is a famous story of how he raped a famous American correspondent, most likely Dorothy Thompson which is reenacted here. Did this past election ever bring that one to the forefront of my viewing memories.

In the end all Mussolini had was his mistress Clara Petacci or I should say the last and most well known of them. Virginia Madsen plays Clara exactly as she was a rather naive and stupid groupie. Take note of Robert Downey, Jr. playing Bruno Mussolini, a favored younger son, a chip off the old block who was killed in World War II.

Still the main feature of Mussolini: The Untold Story is a fascinating and compelling performance by George C. Scott. As Il Duce Scott is the real deal. And instructive in light of an uncertain future America faces.

It starts out once he's already in power. I was hoping it would explore how he developed from a boy to a man. What moulded him psychologically. Instead it's mostly about his family life. A few brief bit of politics, but most lovey-dovey daytime tv poop (romance is the genre I'm thinking of). That said, the acting is good so I lasted 2hrs. Perhaps the downfall in the later half is better, but I doubt it.

If you are lucky enough to be able to locate this film, it is well worth the effort.

I found it accurate (to a point) and one of George C. Scott's greatest works. This film did not receive the acclaim it should have. It must be seen to be appreciated.

Mussolini is generally depicted as not only a one-dimensional antagonist, but also a buffoon - almost "comic relief" amid the horrors of WWII. Without whitewashing any of his crimes or shortcomings, George C. Scott portrays a human, relatable, interesting character with a family and a life outside of war and politics. I miss the days when talented stars like Scott, Julia, Mastrantonio, and Byrne brought history to network television.

a pity more credit not given this was an excellent true account a george c scott was great. war is tragic but after knowing 10 people in close circle of the truth vittorio mussolini version is accurate. raul giulia gabriel byrne lee remick are the best one can only hope to see this on vhs but i believe no copy exsists since a bias against this film is everywhere.George c scott was one of the best character actors and he more of the biographical truth type (patton)he would not do a portrayal that is false.Lee Remick is as serious as they come and in this film most who knew the duce's wife would say it is 99% accurate anyone who can get a copy (vhs) would have an excellent piece of history and those who were on the world stage changed the world as the moment and for centuries to come

If you can find this anywhere, watch it. An excellent cast, featuring George C. Scott and Raul Julia, propel this engaging and often historically-accurate tale of one of the Twentieth Century's most influential men. Memorable production values.

It is not surprising that the life of Il Duce is depressing and awful--he was a brutal, evil little man after all. However, after watching it I was kind of wondering WHO the intended audience was. After all, you might have noticed that many of the worst monsters of the 20th century have been so rarely portrayed on film. While there have been a few films that talk about Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin and Pot Pot, the lives of such evil men are rarely the sole focus of movies. Probably because the public has no interest in finding out about the real-life stories of these men--we ALL know they are scum! Instead, this has been more the domain of documentaries on the History Channel--and I think that's where these characters should remain. I don't want to see them humanized or explore their motivation (except perhaps in a psychological/sociological sense). And this is the heart of the problem with this movie. Benito Mussolini was scum--he cheated on his wife, was violent to those around him and was an inflated blow-hard. Not exactly something I want to see on the big screen or in a TV movie.

On the plus side, George C. Scott was excellent...as I would have expected from the actor. Otherwise, it's a story that just makes me wonder WHO would want to see this?

Although it says here it is a seven hour title, I disagree. I recorded the series when it was broadcast in 1985/6, in the USA on a Betamax system, and it was five and half hours long.

I also recorded it in 1989 here in the UK on a VHS system.

The DVD is exactly the same running time today and is exactly the same program scene by scene.

Unless it was drastically cut by one and half hours before it was originally broadcast,I cannot see how it was seven hours long.

All three programs are exactly the same running length.

This does not detract from the program which I think is an excellent portrayal of a man who was corrupt, immoral, and blinded by his own power and ideology.

The acting by George C Scott and Raul Julia is superb,who demonstrate the differences between the two men.

Although not always historically accurate, it does provoke thought about WWII not just from the usual UK/USA & Germany angle, but to the situation in Italy which was still only a country 50 years old and full of conflict after the results of the 1st world war.

I would recommend this to any person interested in a different aspect to troubled period.