This bleak, tragicomic family drama created an uproar after its release in 1968, ostensibly for offending basic moral values and assailing the virtues of Catholicism, and the title is a metaphorical reference to the turbulent psychology of epileptic sociopath Alessandro. Played with burning ferocity by Swedish actor Lou Castel, Alessandro is a loose cannon of teeming hate who seemingly has no qualms about pushing his blind mother off a cliff or penning incestuous verse to his sister Giulia (Pitagora). Perverse but enthralling, "Fists" instantly secured Bellocchio's reputation as a coolly assured director, and ranks among the seediest of family-dysfunction tales.