TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES
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Il giorno della civetta
Damiano Damiani
1968 - Italy / France - 1h48
Recently posted to a small town in Sicily, Captain Bellodi is given the investigation of the murder of a local contractor who was in conflict with the mafia. The only person could possibly help him is a woman who witnessed the murder.
Based on a novel by the famous Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia (who also wrote the novel that led to Francesco Rosi's Cadaveri eccellenti (Illustrious Corpses) in 1976), Il giorno della civetta (The Day of the Owl) started the “mafia movie” sub-genre, described by Olivier Père as “a sub-genre of Italian crime cinema that exposes the violence and customs of the mafia in Sicily, in a style that combines degraded neo-realism, melodrama and conventions from film noir.” Damiano Damiani rigorously examines the effects of the “piovra” on institutional powers as well as on everyday relationships and orchestrates a macabre open-air theatre whose mastermind is none other than godfather Don Mariano Arena, played by Lee J. Cobb. Alongside him are Franco Nero, Claudia Cardinale and Serge Reggiani.
CAST AND CREW
Cast : Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, Lee J. Cobb, Serge Reggiani
Screenplay : Ugo Pirro, Damiano Damiani
Cinematography : Tonino Delli Colli
Sound : Carlo Palmieri
Editing : Nino Baragli
Music : Giovanni Fusco
Production : Panda Societa per L'Industria Cinematografica, Les Films Corona, Corona Cinematografica
French distributor : Tamasa Distribution