Il giorno della civetta

In a town in Sicily, a truck driver is found dead by the side of the road, his truck nearby. Newly appointed captain of the Caribinieri, Franco Nero, investigates, and notices a nearby house. Claudia Cardinale is there with her daughter. Her husband, she says, went out looking for work and she doesn't know when he will be back. As Nero investigates, he knows it has to do with the Mafia, under the control of local capo Lee J. Cobb. He's the man in charge of dividing up local contracts for public works, although he is not the top man; that's someone in Rome. His fellow Mafiosi continue on with business as usual, while Miss Cardinale's story changes as she realizes her husband is dead. But no one will talk in public.

It is directed by Damiano Damiani from his own novel, loosely based on the 1947 murder of Sicilian trade unionist Accursio Miraglia. Everyone gives good performances, but it's Cobb, of course, who stands out as a man who comes to respect Nero, who's willing to use extra-legal methods to obtain justice, and who is constantly frustrated by the fear that enforces silence among the people of the town. Slower and more deliberate than the usual movies about the Mafia, it offers a telling portrait of a system that no one is willing to change.

Damiano Damiani was an expert in Mafia movies. Confessions of a Police Captain (1971), L'istruttoria è Chiusa: dimentichi (1971), How to Kill a Judge (1975), I Am Afraid (1977),The Warning (1980), The Octopus(1984) are just some of its excellent movies. Mafia(Il Giorno Della Civetta) is one of the best. The actors are all impeccable, brilliant. Claudia Cardinale is more beautiful and compelling as ever. Lee J. Cobb is a great actor. Tano Cimarosa is downright incredible. Franco Nero, Serge Reggiani, Nehemiah Persoff, are very good. Great music also by Giovanni Fusco. A very good film, from all points of view.

For more years than I care to think about, I have strongly felt that anything shot/written by the venerable, hugely versatile Italian film-maker, Damiano Damiani is well worth any film fans attention; and as far as I'm concerned, his exemplary, compellingly acted, immaculately crafted crime thriller, 'Day of The Owl' is most certainly no exception to that rule. The uniquely refined entertainment quotient of, 'Il giorno della civetta' elevated by its dazzlingly stellar cast, featuring that implausibly charismatic icon, Franco Nero, the uncommonly beauteous, Claudia Cardinale, a barnstorming, Lee J. Cobb, and another fine performance by the singularly underappreciated character actor, Nehemiah Persoff.

It could be argued that, 'Il giorno della civetta' (1968) aka 'Day of The 'Owl' might also be regarded as one of the earliest examples of the gritty, soon to be ubiquitous, hyperbolically violent Italian police procedural, that would luridly devolve into the more overtly reactionary, action-orientated, Fiat-fragging, blood-spattered poliziotteschi genre which we fans know and love so dearly! As with many other thrilling, Damiani titles, his richly layered, elegantly nuanced Mise-en-scène focuses far more on dense, relatable character development, seamy political machinations, and spell-binding plotting, than tumultuous car chases, and skull-wreckingly vicious haymakers! (Aye!! That would be you, Maurizio Merli!) Even if one were not all that familiar with the more boisterous end of 70s Italian exploitation cinema, maestro Damiani's ceaselessly fascinating dissection of Mafia corruption should still prove to be a most edifying viewing experience!

Italian films have always been the ebst of the best concerning the Sicilian Mafia, or even any Mafia in Italy; Camorra, Ndrangheta.... It brings something authentic, accurate, even more efficient and riveting than any US action flicks. Francesco Rosi, Damiano Damiani and Pasquale Squieteri were the masters on those topics. This one is one of the best examples of what I say. It s a fiction, but facts. It is not an action crime film, such as those Italian film industry made during the late sixties and especially the seventies: the famous poliziottescos, all violent, brutal, misogynist at the most, nothing to do with the films made by Damiani, Squieteri or Rosi. In those Poliziottescos, you have gunfights, car chases, tortures scenes galore till you get fed up. I prefer the Damiani style, more minimalist but true, showing informers, details on corruption, embezzlements, swindles. Acting absolutely flawless. Once more in his career Lee J Cobb, after ON THE WATER FRONT and PARTY GIRL, plays a mob boss.

Wow,the composer of the music for The Godfather could be cited for plagiarism. LISTEN to this production. Ah yes this is a more accurate account of what the "Black Hands " are all about. Deceit,obfuscation, murder and corruption of government. Performances are okay a little overdone in spots. Something very Italian to the whole production. Sound is not well produced and camera movement can be distracting. The mafia as an entity is the main character. The organization was at that time even in Sicily openly discussed as "no such thing." What one should perceive from watching this film is the fundamental institutionalization of that concept. The social imperatives on the island perpetuate that pernicious myth.