Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

Original title: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto

1970
R
1h 55m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)

A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.

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Cop Drama Police Procedural Political Drama Psychological Drama Crime Drama

A high-ranking police inspector kills his mistress and deliberately plants clues indicating his responsibility for the crime in a sardonic test to prove that he is above suspicion.A high-ranking police inspector kills his mistress and deliberately plants clues indicating his responsibility for the crime in a sardonic test to prove that he is above suspicion.A high-ranking police inspector kills his mistress and deliberately plants clues indicating his responsibility for the crime in a sardonic test to prove that he is above suspicion.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

14K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 16 wins & 6 nominations total

Trivia
During post-production, Elio Petri and his editor pranked Ennio Morricone by showing him an alternate edit of the opening scene with a completely different score. Morricone was visibly upset, at which point Petri apologized and said "You've composed the best score ever, you should punch me in the face for pulling a stunt like this!". This was revealed by Morricone himself in a posthumously released documentary.

Quotes
Il Dottore - Former head of homicide squad: The people are underage, the city is sick. Others are tasked with educating and curing this. Our duty is to repress it! The repression is our vaccine! Repression and civilization!

Alternate versions
The subtitled American version distributed by Columbia has slight differences in the credits. The Italian version opens with blank white-on-black credits (as many other Petri films do). The American version projects the credits onto the opening scene with the Dottore walking around the street. Both the opening and the closing credits (including the film's title and the Kafka quotation) are translated to English as well.

Connections
Edited into Colpiti al cuore (2019)

User reviews50

Review

Featured review

8/10

Should Be Essential For Crime Thriller Fans

A chief of detectives (Gian Maria Volontè), homicide section, kills his mistress (Florinda Bolkan) and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.

I absolutely loved this film. It is part crime thriller, part detective story, and a bit of political corruption. Being Italian and having an Italian sensibility, it reminded me more than a little bit of the giallo film genre. But yet, it was distinct. The giallo is in some ways the precursor to the slasher, and this was not that sort of film -- not gory and the killer is not a masked and gloved man.

What really stands out is the score from Ennio Morricone. He has made many scores over the years and without exception they have been quite good. Is he the best composer of the 20th century? Maybe. And I would daresay this is among his very best, easily in the top three. The score alone makes the film worth watching.