Salvatore Giuliano (film)

Reception

Derek Malcolm called it "almost certainly the best film about the social and political forces that have shaped [Sicily,] that benighted island." Gino Moliterno argued that "Rosi's highly original strategy in this landmark film is to aim at neither an "objective" journalistic documentary nor a fictional recreation but to employ as wide a range of disparate formal and stylistic elements as necessary to conduct a committed search for the truth that becomes, in a sense, its own narrative."

David Gurevich said that "Rosi marries the neo-realist, black-and-white, populist aesthetic to the mad media circus of La Dolce Vita, tosses in some minimalist alienation from Antonioni, makes the film jump back and forth in time without any markers (so that you realize you're back in the present only a few minutes after you're already in a sequence), and makes his despair so infectious that we would probably be disappointed to know the truth." Terrence Rafferty noted that "Salvatore Giuliano manages to sustain an almost impossible balance of immediacy and reflection: it's such an exciting piece of filmmaking that you might not realize until the end that its dominant tone is contemplative, even melancholy."

Director Martin Scorsese listed Salvatore Giuliano as one of his twelve favorite films of all time.

Cast

Salvo Randone as President of Viterbo Assize Court

Frank Wolff as Gaspare Pisciotta

Director Francesco Rosi provided narration in the Italian version.

Most of the other cast members were non-professional locals.

Known uncredited cast members:

Pietro Cammarata as Salvatore Giuliano

Sennuccio Benelli as Reporter

Giuseppe Calandra as Minor Official

Max Cartier as Francesco

Fernando Cicero as Bandit

Bruno Ukmar as Spy

Cosimo Torino as Frank Mannino

Federico Zardi as Pisciotta’s Defense Counsel

The Citizens of Castelvetrano, Montelepre, and Palermo, Sicily as Themselves

Crew

Director: Francesco Rosi

Writing credits:

Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Enzo Provenzale

Franceso Rosi

Franco Solinas

Producer: Franco Cristaldi

Awards

Silver Bear for Best Director, 1962

Silver Ribbon Award for Best Cinematography, 1963

Silver Ribbon Award for Best Director, 1963

Silver Ribbon Award for Best Score, 1963