Vento del Sud

Enzo Provenzale is a not so well known but major figure in Italian film for his work with Federico Fellini and especially Francesco Rosi, several of whose key works about organized crime he scripted.This sole directorial credit for him is one of the better works about the Mafia in Sicily, giving hunky Renato Salvatori another good role the same year he memorably played Simone in Rocco And His Brothers.Here he is a working class youth recently out of the Army who fails to pay a family debt to the Mafia and is relentlessly pursued.His fate intertwines with that of the young aristocrat played by Claudia Cardinale (her voice dubbed by another actress) also leaving the countryside for Palermo. Even the nobility in Sicily has to pay their respects to organized crime. The drama is enriched by the beautiful black and white lensing of Gianni Di Venanzo and another key credit is that of Elio Petri who assisted with the screenplay.