''The Law'' (, and originally released in America as ''Where the Hot Wind Blows'') is a 1959 French-Italian film directed by

Jules Dassin Julius "Jules" Dassin ( ; December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, where he continued hi ...

Plot

Beautiful Marietta (

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...

) is a small-town girl who lives in southern Italian fishing village of Porto Manacore, a corrupt village ruled by a petty crook Matteo Brigante (

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a ...

). An engineer, Enrico Tosso (

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

) comes into town to drain the marshes, and helps the villagers to take back their town.

Cast

- Marietta *

Pierre Brasseur Pierre Brasseur (; 22 December 1905 – 16 August 1972), born Pierre-Albert Espinasse, was a French actor. Biography The son of actors Georges Espinasse and Germaine Brasseur was an actor as well. The family tradition of using the name ''Br ...

- Don Cesare *

- Enrico Tosso, the Engineer *

Melina Mercouri Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri (, 18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a prominent political family for multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a F ...

- Donna Lucrezia *

- Matteo Brigante * Raf Mattioli - Francesco Brigante * Vittorio Caprioli - Attilio, the Inspector * Lidia Alfonsi - Giuseppina * Gianrico Tedeschi - First Loafer * Nino Vingelli - Pizzaccio * Bruno Carotenuto - Balbo * Luisa Rivelli - Elvira * Anna Maria Bottini - Maria * Anna Arena - Anna, Attilio's wife * Edda Soligo - Giulia *

Joe Dassin Joseph Ira Dassin (; November 5, 1938 – August 20, 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter. In his career spanning sixteen years (1964–1980), he enjoyed numerous successes in France and the French-speaking world, as well as singing ...

- Nico

Production

The shooting took place in particular in the Gargano: precisely in Carpino, while some scenes were shot in Rodi Garganico, Ischitella, Peschici and San Menaio. The locality "Baia di Manacore" really exists a short distance from Peschici. It is one of the first films shot on the Gargano promontory. If in the novel and in the French version the story is set in the Gargano, in the Italian version the setting of the story is moved to Corsica.

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $750,000 in the US and Canada and $325,000 elsewhere, resulting in a net loss to the studio of $39,000.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Law, The 1959 films 1959 drama films French drama films Italian drama films English-language French films English-language Italian films 1950s English-language films 1950s French-language films 1950s Italian-language films French black-and-white films Italian black-and-white films Films directed by Jules Dassin Films scored by Roman Vlad Films shot in Corsica Films set in Italy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1950s Italian films 1950s French films 1950s multilingual films French multilingual films Italian multilingual films