Rome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and the social order it protects.
The movie survives beautifully both as an elegant thriller and as a study of the twisted infantilism that shapes the fanatic heart.
– Ella Taylor,
L.A. Weekly,
25 Sep 2003
fresh:
A provocative political thriller that is as troubling today as when it came out in 1970. Maybe more so.
– Kenneth Turan,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Sep 2003
fresh:
A paranoid police procedural, a perverse parable about the corrupting elements of power, and a candidate for the greatest predated Patriot Act movie ever ...
– David Fear,
Time Out New York,
25 Sep 2012
fresh:
Its portrait of a loner and his lusts comes up frighteningly fresh, and the whole conceit would collapse without the muscular, rousing presence of Gian Maria Volonte in the central role.