Slap the Monster on Page One 12/14/24

Some Italian thrillers post-1968 became very political. Marco Bellocchio’s outright accusation against the power elite of Milan all but drops the thriller aspect to concentrate on exposing the evil of partisan media manipulation. Sound familiar?  Scheming newspaper editor Gian Maria Volontè leverages a sex murder to smear the left and throw an election. With police approval, he railroads a suspect by browbeating reporters and influencing a witness. Screenwriter Sergio Donati also wrote ‘political’ westerns; Italy was so caught up in divisive violence that the filmmakers were able to film actual demonstrations. On Blu-ray from Radiance.
12/14/24