Synopsis
July 5, 1950—Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano’s bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind the death of this young man, who, at the age of twenty-seven, had already become Italy’s most wanted criminal and celebrated hero. Filming in the exact locations and enlisting a cast of native Sicilians once impacted by the real Giuliano, director Francesco Rosi harnessed the facts and myths surrounding the true story of the bandit’s death to create a startling exposé of Sicily and the tangled relations between its citizens, the Mafia, and government officials. A groundbreaking work of political filmmaking, Salvatore Giuliano established Rosi’s reputation and assured his place in cinema history.
Cast
| President of the Court of Assize | Salvo Randone |
| Gaspare Pisciotta | Frank Wolff |
| Salvatore Giuliano | Pietro Cammarata |
| Reporter | Sennuccio Benelli |
| Minor Official | Giuseppe Calandra |
| Francesco | Max Cartier |
| Bandit | Fernando Cicero |
| Spy | Bruno Ukmar |
| Frank Mannino | Cosimo Torino |
| Pisciotta’s defense counsel | Federico Zardi |
| Residents of Castelvetrano, Montelepre, and Palermo, Sicily | Themselves |
Credits
| Director | Francesco Rosi |
| Producer | Franco Cristaldi |
| Screenplay | Francesco Rosi |
| In collaboration with | Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enzo Provenzale and Franco Solinas |
| Director of photography | Gianni Di Venanzo |
| Production manager | Enzo Provenzale |
| Editing | Mario Serandrei |
| Music | Piero Piccioni |
| First assistant directors | Franco Indovina and Fernando Cicero |
| Second assistant director | Roberto Pariante |
| Camera operator | Pasquale De Santis |
| Additional camera | Tullio Kezich and Lina Wertmüller |
| Sound | Claudio Majelli |
| Production Design | Sergio Canevari and Carlo Egidi |
| Costumes | Marilù Carteny |
| Production inspectors | Luciano Cattania, Aldo Pace and Bruno Sassaroli |
| Production secretary | Lamberto Pippia |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE–DISC SET:
- New high-definition digital transfer, with restored picture and sound and enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Audio commentary by film historian Peter Cowie
- Witness to the Times, a new discussion with director Francesco Rosi and film critic Tullio Kezich
- Il cineasta e il labirinto, a 55-minute documentary directed by Roberto Andò showing Rosi revisiting his life and career in cinema, with personal comments by directors Giuseppe Tornatore, Martin Scorsese, and others
- Excerpt of an Italian newsreel from July 12, 1950, reporting the shocking death of the infamous and charismatic bandit Salvatore Giuliano
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: written tributes by Francis Ford Coppola, Federico Fellini, and Martin Scorsese as well as a new essay by writer Michel Ciment
From the Current
Salvatore Giuliano
by Feb 23, 2004With Salvatore Giuliano (1961), Francesco Rosi developed the style and method that would make him, during the sixties and seventies, the greatest political filmmaker of his time. If Sergei Eisenstein could be considered the master of political cinema in the first half of the twentieth . . .
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