An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.
Acting
Oliver Reed's simmering desperation — a man unraveling in real time.
Direction
Sollima turns Milan into a concrete labyrinth of moral dead ends.
Director
Sergio Sollima
Fabio Testi
Milo Ruiz
Oliver Reed
Vito Cipriani
Paola Pitagora
Carlotta
Agostina Belli
Anna Cipriani
Frédéric de Pasquale
Michel Granier
Bernard Giraudeau
Kidnapper
Reinhard Kolldehoff
French Lawyer
Peter Berling
Grappa
Michel Bardinet
French Policeman
Daniel Beretta
Al Niko
Calisto Calisti
Maresciallo Fantuzzi
Steffen Zacharias
Joe Lacours
Sal Borgese
Suicidal Prisoner
Giovanni Pallavicino
Kidnapper
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Italy's 1970s 'poliziotteschi' wave — gritty crime films born from real Red Brigade terrorism and institutional collapse.
Sollima originally wanted Gian Maria Volonté; Reed's casting added a uniquely British volatility that rewrites the film's DNA.
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