The Day of the Owl

Il giorno della civetta

Italy, France

1968

112 Min

Color

2.35:1

Italian

Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
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PROD Luigi Carpentieri, Ermanno Donati

SCR Damiano Damiani, Ugo Pirro

CAST Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, Lee J. Cobb, Tano Cimarosa, Nehemiah Persoff, Ennio Balbo, Ugo D'Alessio, Fred Coplan, Giovanni Pallavicino, Giuseppe Lauricella, Vincenzo Falanga, Laura De Marchi, Brizio Montinaro, Lino Coletta, Vincenzo Norvese, Serge Reggiani

Based on the Leonardo Sciascia novel of the same title, this story deals with the difficulties facing a northern police officer investigating a Mafia murder in a small Sicilian town in 1961. Salvatore Colasbena, a construction supplier, was murdered # and buried under a blanket of tar # because he refused to join the Mafia-controlled roadbuilding group. His widow, Rosa, is investigated by the police, but honest Captain Bellodi comes to suspect Mafia boss Don Mariano Arena when he can find no witnesses, no evidence, only hostile obstruction by corrupt government influences. Captain Bellodi has no idea that his pursuit of the truth will stir up a hornet’s nest. Powerful figures have a vested interest in ensuring that the very existence of the Mafia can be denied. The movie dramatizes the hold that the Mafia has on Sicilian life: the police, the judiciary, politics, and the Catholic Church. Everyone in the village is afraid to talk to Bellodi for fear they will be silenced forever. —IMDb

Director

Damiano Damiani

Damiano Damiani (born 23 July 1922) is an Italian screenwriter, film director, actor and writer. He was born in Pasiano di Pordenone, Friuli

Damiani began making short documentaries in the late ‘40s, and was writing and assistant directing features by the mid-’50s. He debuted as a director in 1960 with the prize-winning Il Rossetto (aka Lipstick), and over the decade helmed such offbeat films as the Alberto Moravia adaptation La Noia (aka The Empty Canvas) with Bette Davis, the occult romance La Strega In Amore (aka The Witch), and the violent spaghetti western Quien Sabe? (aka A Bullet for the General).
His contribution to the Italian political cinema, it was very important, with such films as Il Giorno della Civetta (aka The Day of the Owl), Io Ho Paura (aka I Am Afraid), Perchè si uccide un magistrato (aka How To Kill A Judge), L’istruttoria è chiusa: dimentichi! (aka The Case Is Closed, Forget It), and much more…

His later films include the crime drama Confessione… read more

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Silenzio

23Sep11

Maybe the first key film (and before book) about the Sicilian Mafia and among the best Sciascia adaptations. The dialogue is superb (most of the memorable lines were in the novel) and there are too many great performances too mention. Cardinale is excellent and has rarely looked so stunning, Nero proved to dubious critics that he was a genuinely good actor but Cobb and Sicilian actor Tano Cimarosa almost steal it...