rodrig58 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.

Eumenides_0 I keep getting pulled into these film adaptations of Leonardo Sciascia's novels and I never cease to wonder at their fine quality. Sciascia was an Italian novelist from Sicily, famous for being one of the first writers to openly write about the Mafia, a subject that in the early '60s was still prickly, in fact many still denied the Mafia existed when The Day of the Owl was published in 1961. Today this criminal organization is an incontrovertible fact, which perhaps affects the impact this film adaptation has on modern viewers.I would still heartily recommend this movie to fans of the crime genre on the simple fact it remains a gripping and well-written crime drama. Franco Nero plays Bellodi, a police captain recently transferred to Sicily, where he's slowly learning the ropes. Full of new ideas and a passionate attitude, he tries to rip the veil of silence that covers Mafia hits when the owner of a construction company shows up murdered. As always everyone denies having seen anything. His only possible witness is a man who lives in a house nearby the murder scene; but he's nowhere to be found, and his wife, Rosa (played by Claudia Cardinale), doesn't know where he's gone to.Bellodi not only has to investigate a murder that leads to one of the most important men in the town, Don Marino (played by Lee J. Cobb), the local Mafia don, but he also has to untangle the truth from the lies surrounding the case, since the Mafia tries to hide the true motives of the murder by making it look like a crime of passion involving Rosa, the victim and Rosa's wayward husband – in that society honour can be conveniently used to cover up all crimes.Nero, Cardinale and Cobb are excellent, and the other actors, mainly unknown Italian actors, do a great job bringing the movie to life too. The movie doesn't have a boring moment, and the intellectual conflict between Bellodi and Don Mariano is gripping. The movie, being one of the first ones to tackle the Mafia, uses many tropes that since then have become trademarks of the genre – the cop willing to bend the rules a little for justice, for instance, but more importantly the sense that the Mafia is an unbeatable opponent, too rich and powerful ever to be brought down. Compared to American movies, this one is quite pessimistic, but then again the Mafia in America is not half as chilling as it is in Italy and Sicily.

ma-cortes Highly intense and intriguing Poliziesco film with a good cast who gives fine performances . ¨Il Giorno della Civetta" - Italy original title or "Mafia" - , International , USA title , results to be a nice cop/political/Sicilian Mafia thriller , being professionally filmed and rightly made by Damiano Damiani . It's a hard boiled movie that packs a noir story , police procedural , intrigue , detective inquiries and a final twist in the plot . It concerns a dedicated captain what tries to wipe out the Mafiosi and bureaucratic corruption that is infecting his village . This story deals with the difficulties facing a northern Carabinieri captain named Bellodi (Franco Nero), he is a proverbial honest men , a stiff , idealistic officer and investigating a Mafia killing in a small Sicilian town in 1961 . He is helped by an upright Brigade , both of whom contend dangerous enemies , but determined in their will to fight crime and corruption . Salvatore Colasbena , a construction supplier has been killed because he refused to join the Mafia-controlled road building bunch . His widow, Rosa (a gorgeous Claudia Cardinale) , is investigated by the Carabinieri , but Captain Bellodi comes to suspect Mafia boss Don Mariano Arena (Lee J. Cobb) when he can encounter no witnesses , no evidence, only hostile obstruction by sabotage and blackmail . Captain Bellodi holding a firm belief in the law and justice system but he has no idea that his chase of the truth will stir up powerful foundations , but the Carabinieri takes on Mafia which the fight is hopeless . Everyone in the village is afraid to inform to Bellodi for fright they will be silenced forever and fearing the main Mafiosi and his hoodlums (Nehemiah Persoff) . The Carabinieri on the edge while investigate ties between the mob , politics and State departments . Important figures have a vested interest in ensuring that the very existence of the Mafia can be denied . Meanwhile , Bellodi finds corpses buried under a blanket of tar and faces several risks . But ambition , vendetta , corrupt government influences and decay reach everything and everybody .This exciting and thought-provoking Italian cop thriller turns out to be one of the first and best films about the mafia . This heavy-going tale has an interesting and politically incorrect writing by the same director Damiano Damiani along with Ugo Pirro and especially dealing with corruption interwoven between high authorities and Mafia . Based on the Leonardo Sciascia novel of the same title , the movie dramatizes the hold that the Mafia has on Sicilian life : the blackmail, the Omertá , the power and politics . The picture displays thrills , disturbing issues , suspenseful , great visual style and is pretty entertaining , though sometimes is hard to follow . Excellent main cast as Franco Nero as a rough-and-ready captain who attempts to prove the wealthy man in the city is in the mafia , being very good played by the great Lee J. Cobb . Supporting cast is frankly magnificent such as Nehemiah Persoff as Pizzuco , Tano Cimarosa as Zecchinetta and Serge Reggiani as informer . Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli though being necessary a right remastering . Sensitive as well as appropriate musical score by Giovanni Fusco who composed an enjoyable soundtrack .The motion picture was well directed by Damiano Damiani . He's an expert on all kind of genres as Drama (¨Arthur's island¨ , ¨The Most Beautiful Wife" , ¨The witch¨ , and ¨Empty canvas¨ based on the Alberto Moravia novel) , Terror (Amytiville 2 : the possession) , Historical (¨The Inquiry¨) , Spaghetti Western (¨Trinity is back again¨and the prestigious ¨A bullet for the General¨) . Damiani was specialized on crime-thriller-Subgenre or Italian cop thriller (¨Confessions of a Police captain¨ , ¨How to kill a judge¨, ¨The case is closed , forget it¨, "Goodbye e amen" , ¨Mafia¨, "I Am Afraid" and ¨Warning¨ starred by Martin Balsam) . "Il Giorno Della Civetta" seems to be a ¨must see¨ for the Poliziesco fans . This is one of the crowns of the Italian Poliziotteschi (police thrillers) and Mafia film of the 1970s , along with other films directed by Enzo G . Castellari , Ferdinando Baldi or Umberto Lenzi . Rating : Better than average . Essential and indispensable watching , this highly recommended film is the same for the Italian "mafia-film" of that period.

MARIO GAUCI Being the first of a series of expose' films directed by Damiano Damiani and starring Franco Nero, this was more sober than the rest - with few of the typical "Euro-Crime" trappings - even receiving some accolades when it emerged; it's really a police procedural, with the only action sequence occurring at the very beginning.The film is also among the first to deal with the Mafia - though it's never mentioned by name - with the characters governed by their own sense of honor and Sicily's distinctive rustic feel lending vividness to the setting. As with the other Damiani/Nero films, the downbeat ending offers no easy answers.Apart from a dynamic score by Giovanni Fusco, it features an above-average international cast - Claudia Cardinale (as the defamed wife of an eye-witness to murder, who has gone missing), Franco Nero (as the rugged young cop), Lee J. Cobb (as the 'boss'), Nehemiah Persoff (as one of his associates) and Serge Reggiani (as a stoolie); the hilarious contribution of Gaetano Cimarosa as the wisecracking hit-man is also noteworthy.