Lux/Vides/Galatea. Director Francesco Rosi; Producer Franco Cristaldi; Screenplay Francesco Rosi, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enzo Provenzale, Franco Solinas; Camera Gianni Di Venanzo; Editor Mario Serandrei; Music Piero Piccioni
Salvo Randone
Frank Wolff
Federico Zardi
Pietro Cammarata
An outstanding film has been fashioned by Francesco Rosi using the story of Sicilian bandit Giuliano as a pretext for a historical, political, and social document of its times (the late 1940s and early 1950s), and of the island setting (Sicily) which made it possible.
Though the pic has many moments of suspense and excitement as it tells the Giuliano story and all that went with it, it is by no means the usual bandit-gendarme yarn. In fact, one rarely if ever catches a closeup of the notorious outlaw who made national and international headlines in the post-war years.
Tale is told in flashback, beginning with a graphic re-enactment of Giuliano's death (shot by his best friend, then again by the police, who claimed credit for the deed), and the ending when still another gang member, who betrayed, is shot during a recent Sicilian night.
Of the name players, Salvo Randone does an outstanding job as the judge charged with the impossible job of seeking clear-cut justice for those involved, gang members and not. Frank Wolff, an American, is standout as Gaspare Pisciotta, Giuliano's right-hand man.
All of the pic was shot on location in Giuliano's home territory. An extra nod must go also to Piero Piccioni's fine musical scoring.
(B&W) Extract of a review from 1961. Running time: 125 MIN.
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