Joe Castagnato, an Italian-American gangster, pulled a big job in the United States, which yield 20.000 pounds in gold. The American authorities, who have suspects on him, send him back to Naples. In the meantime, Joe manages to send the stolen loot to an imaginary Neapolitan buyer, by hiding it into jam jars. Vincenzo, a porter of the harbor, accidentally finds the money and, together with his brother and wife, decides to take it and to blackmail the gangster. The police are also working on the case: police commissioner Di Sapio, helped by an officer who came from the USA, tries to put Castagnato with his back against the wall. In the meantime, Joe is hiding and, relying on his ability in finding an alibi, he plans another job against a profiteer. But the theft happens at the same time as Vincenzo, his wife and his brother’s attempt to get Joe’s money. Their inexperience triggers a chain of troubles, which ends with the death of a watchman. That is what police commissioner Di Sapio was waiting for. Joe is arrested and accused of murder. In order to clear his name, he must confess the theft against the profiteer, helping the police to find the real culprits. So everyone is going to prison.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Biography
film director
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (Rome 1927-1996) begin his cinematographic career bas assistant director and screenwriter with Steno and Riccardo Freda. In 1959 he debutes as a director with The Thieves, followed by two musicals, The Jukebox Kids and Howlers of the Dock. He later tries various genres: comedy and comic films, westerns, and thrillers. In 1979, he reappeares on the international scene with Zombie 2, a sequel to Romero's film. He continues his work until the early 1990's (A Cat in the Brain, 1990), when his health worses. He dies of diabetes in 1996.
FILMOGRAFIA
Colpo gobbo all'italiana (1962), 002 agenti segretissimi (1964), I maniaci (1964), Tempo di massacro (1966), Una sull'altra (1968), Beatrice Cenci (1969), Una lucertola dalla pelle di donna (1971), Non si sevizia un paperino (1972), Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca (1974), Sella d'argento (1978), Zombi 2 (1979), Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980), Il gatto nero (1980), L'aldilà (1981), Quella villa accanto al cimitero (1981), I guerrieri dell'anno 2072 (1983), Il miele del diavolo (1986), Il fantasma di Sodoma (1988), Zombi 3 (1988), Il gatto nel cervello (1990), Demonia (1990), Voci dal profondo (1991), Le porte del silenzio (1992).
Declaration
film director
Lucio Fulci
When I was in Spain for my first film with Totò, I realised that the Spanish producer Marcos was a thief and a crook. One day I had to make a panning shot and while I was shooting from the left to the right, they were moving the furniture. “What’s going on?”. Then the producer Mondello said to me: “They are taking the furniture because Marcos didn’t pay”. The rental of the furniture had expired. The movie was I ladri. The real producer, the person who deals with everything doesn’t exist. He usually is a small profiteer, or maybe a very pretentious clever man, like Amato, like Donati, the general manager of the product. There is no structure. Italy has cinema only thanks to the will of the authors, or it would have already been dead. In order to be a director, in Italy, compared to other places, you really need a lot of strength; a director needs to do his job against everyone, against the stupidity of the renter, of the producer, the arrogance of the actors, basically the lack of a cinema education. The directors should be all honoured in field, from Tanio Boccia to Fellini. (...)
Totò’s film was a real break, because he used to solve most of the problems by himself. He was a real professional. He needed just a scenario to fill without any problem. He used to come to work without even reading the script, but he had the ability of never leaving the character. He was really extraordinary when the story allowed him to act in a sort of aggressive way. If he had the right partner, he could do miracles! (...)
They used to do revisions. There were no specific companies, such as Age and Scarpelli. So there were these extremely long lists of names among the screenwriters. The producer didn’t have a clue, so when they had a text they would tell someone: “Have a look, fix it and write a revision”. When he found flaws, he would make a revision. Then the producer used to go to another person and the scripts would pass from hand to hand, like a rugby ball. I used to live on revisions. Like Continenza, who was called “Lazzi Express”, as the transportation company. The thing is that at that time, there was a lot of work. Metz and Marchesi, for example, could wake up one morning and say: “We need money. Let’s go to Sabatello (their patsy) and tell him a story”. “What story?”. They would take some pills, go there, tell him the story, or better, an idea, take their half a million and then, if the story didn’t work out, there would be another screenwriter, and then another one, and then another one...
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Cast
& Credits
Aiuto regista: Felice d'Alisera.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: Lucio Fulci, Vittorio Vighi, Marino Onorati (secondo fonti spagnole: M. Coxia, Nanni Loy, Luis Ojeda Lucas, José Gallardo Rimbau).
Director of photography: Carlo Fiore, Manuel Berenguer.
Art director: Ugo Pericoli.
Editor: Gino Talam.
Music: Franco Ferrara (la canzone "Che notte!" è cantata da Fred Buscaglione).
Cast and characters: Totò (il commissario Di Sapio), Armando Calve, (Joe Castagnato), Giacomo Furia (Vincenzo Scognamiglio), Giovanna Ralli (Maddalena, sua moglie), Enzo Turco (il brigadiere Nocella), Fred Buscaglione (se stesso), Renato de Simone, Juan José Ménéndez, Maria Luisa Rolando, Rafael Luis Calvo.
Production company: Roberto Capitani, Luigi Mondello per la I.C.M. Roma - Fenix Film Madrid.
Italian distribution: indipendenti regionali.