Massacre in Rome (Rappresaglia) is a 1973 film directed by George Pan Cosmatos about the Ardeatine massacre which occurred at the Ardeatine caves in Rome, 24 March 1944, committed by the Germans as a reprisal for a partisan attack. It stars Richard Burton as the Gestapo chief Herbert Kappler who organises the killings of 320 mostly randomly and hurriedly selected victims as revenge for partisans killing 32 Germans: using a ratio of ten Italian victims for every one German. Meantime the Vatican s