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Elio Petri (1929-1982) was one of the most commercially successful and critically revered Italian directors ever. A cultured intellectual and a politically committed filmmaker, Petri made award-winning movies that touched controversial social, religious, and political themes, such as the Mafia in We Still Kill the Old Way (1967), police brutality in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), and workers' struggles in Lulu the Tool (1971). His work also explored genre in a thought-provoking and refreshing manner with a taste for irony and the grotesque: among his best works are the science fiction satire The 10th Victim (1965), the ghost story A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), and the grotesque giallo Todo modo (1976). This book examines Elio Petri's life and career, and places his work within the social and political context of postwar Italian culture, politics, and cinema. It includes a detailed production history and critical analysis of each of his films, plenty of never-before-seen bits of information recovered from the Italian ministerial archives, and an in-depth discussion of the director's unfilmed projects.
List of contents
Table of ContentsIntroduction
One-Open City, Open Mind: The Early Years
Two-The Burden of Guilt: L'assassino (1961)
Three-Numbered Days: I giorni contati (1962) and Nudi per vivere (1964)
Four-To Have and Have Not: Il maestro di Vigevano (1963) and Peccato nel pomeriggio (1964)
Five-POP! La decima vittima (1965)
Six-Death of an Intellectual: A ciascuno il suo (1967)
Seven-A Portrait of the Artist as a Schizoid Man: Un tranquillo posto di campagna (1968)
Eight-Repression Is Civilization: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (1970) and Ipotesi sulla morte di G. Pinelli (1970)
Nine-Working Class Anti-Hero: La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971)
Ten-The Thief, the Actor, the Butcher and His Lover: La proprietà non è più un furto (1973)
Eleven-Maudit: Todo modo (1976)
Twelve-"Unsalvageable!": Le mani sporche (1978)
Thirteen-Before Dying: Buone notizie (1979)
Fourteen-The Long Night
Filmography
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Roberto Curti is an Italian film historian and the author of numerous published books and articles. He lives in Cortona, Italy.
