(Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto). “Elio Petri’s most compelling films are social satires played out as genre pieces. . . . Citizen, a potent study of power as pathology, is his most successful use of the highly marketable suspense-thriller form. Its protagonist is a psychopathic police chief, an antihero who reflects Fascist ideals that harken back to Il Duce. . . . He cuts the throat of his masochistic mistress, then deliberately plants clues that implicate himself to prove that he’s entirely above suspicion . . . the man thinks he can commit any crime he wants. . . . The film is dominated by the mesmerizing performance of Gian Maria Volonté. . . . Hardly ever offscreen, he struts through the entire movie—nattily dressed, smirky, charismatic, simultaneously handsome and repellent as Petri's visually flamboyant film turns into a heady mix of Marx, Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Brecht, with a bit of Dashiell Hammett thrown into the blender.”

—Elliott Stein, Village Voice

• Written by Ugo Pirro, Petri. Photographed by Luigi Kuveiller. With Gian Maria Volonté, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio, Sergio Tramonti. (112 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Sony Pictures)