''Hands over the City'' ( it, Le mani sulla città) is a 1963 drama film directed by

Francesco Rosi Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director. His film ''The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, often appeared to hav ...

. It is a story of political corruption in post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Plot

A ruthless

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

land developer and elected city councilman, Edoardo Nottola (

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...

), manages to use political power to make personal profit in a large-scale

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

an real-estate deal. However, after the collapse of a residential building, the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

councilman De Vita ( Carlo Fermariello) initiates an inquiry into Nottola's possible connection to the accident.

Cast

as entrepreneur Edoardo Nottola *

Salvo Randone Salvatore "Salvo" Randone (25 September 1906 – 6 March 1991) was an Italian theatrical, television and film actor. Born in Syracuse, Sicily, Randone debuted on stage in mid-1920s and, after some years in which he played roles of little we ...

as De Angeli *

Guido Alberti Guido Alberti (20 April 1909 Birth name: Guido Renato Vittorio Alberti. – 3 August 1996) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1963 and 1993. Selected filmography * ''Wild Love'' (1956) - Sor Alberto (uncredited) * ...

as Maglione *

Angelo D'Alessandro Angelo D'Alessandro (1926–2011) was an Italian screenwriter and film director who worked on feature films and television.Brunetta p.250 He worked as assistant director on Federico Fellini's ''Variety Lights'' (1950). Abridged filmography * ''At ...

as Balsamo * Carlo Fermariello as De Vita * Marcello Cannavale as Nottola's friend * Alberto Canocchia as Nottola's friend * Gaetano Grimaldi Filioli as Nottola's friend * Dante Di Pinto as the president at the commission of enquiry * Dany Paris as Maglione's lover * Alberto Amato as a counsellor * Franco Rigamonti as a counsellor * Terenzio Cordova as the inspector * Vincenzo Metafora as the mayor

Awards

The film won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...

award at the 1963

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

References

External links

* *
''Hands over the City''
an essay by Stuart Klawans at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

1963 films 1960s political drama films Italian black-and-white films Films set in Naples Italian political drama films 1960s Italian-language films Golden Lion winners Films directed by Francesco Rosi Films scored by Piero Piccioni 1963 drama films 1960s Italian films {{1960s-Italy-film-stub