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The Assassin
The Assassin
Directed by	Elio Petri
Screenplay by	Tonino Guerra; Elio Petri; Pasquale Festa Campanile; Massimo Franciosa;
Story by	Tonino Guerra; Elio Petri;
Produced by	Franco Cristaldi
Starring	Marcello Mastroianni; Cristina Gajoni; Micheline Presle; Salvo Randone; Andrea Cecchi; Giovanna Gagliardo; Max Cartier; Toni Ucci; Paolo Panelli;
Cinematography	Carlo Di Palma
Edited by	Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by	Piero Piccioni
Production; companies	Titanus; Vides Cinematografica; Société Générale de Cinématographie;
Distributed by	Titanus (Italy)
Release dates	1 April 1961 (Italy); July 1964 (France);
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Assassin (Italian: L'assassino) is a 1961 Italian-French crime drama film directed by Elio Petri starring Marcello Mastroianni.^[1]^[2]^[3] It was Petri's feature film debut as a director.

Plot

Antiques dealer Alfredo returns to his exclusive apartment in Rome in the early morning hours. When his fiancée Nicoletta rings him up on the phone, he pretends that he had spent the whole night at home. Shortly after, the police arrive and arrest Alfredo, as his former mistress Adalgisa, with whom he had spent the previous night, has been found murdered in her hotel at the seaside. Also, Nicoletta has suddenly disappeared. While Alfredo is in custody, the police research his past and uncover an egotistical, ruthless careerist who uses the people around him to climb the social ladder at any cost, selling fake antiques, having his mistress pay for his expenses and dropping her at the prospect of marrying Nicoletta, the daughter of a rich industrialist. When Nicoletta shows up again and the true murderer is convicted, Alfredo is released. Showing remorse for his past behaviour at first, Alfredo soon returns to his previous ways.

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni as Alfredo Martelli
Micheline Presle as Adalgisa de Matteis
Cristina Gaioni as Nicoletta Nogara
Salvo Randone as Commissario Palumbo
Andrea Checchi as Morello, Adalgisa's husband
Francesco Grandjacquet as the old gentleman
Marco Mariani as Commissario Margiotta
Franco Ressel as Doctor Francesconi
Mac Ronay as the suicide
Toni Ucci as Toni
Max Cartier as Bruno
Bruno Scipioni
Giovanna Gagliardo as Rosetta
Liana Ferri
Carlo Egidi as the friend of Alfredo
Eugenio Maggi
Ubaldo Micacchi
Silvio Bastianelli
Paolo Panelli as Paolo

Release

The Assassin was released in Italy on 1 April 1961, distributed by Titanus.^[2] It was shown in competition at the 11th Berlin International Film Festival June–July the same year and released in France in July 1964.^[2]

Legacy

The film was restored in 2011 by the Cineteca di Bologna.^[3] The restored version was screened at the same year's 64th Cannes Film Festival in the "Cannes Classics" section.^[4]

Awards

Nastro d'argento for Best Supporting Actor Salvo Randone^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "L'assassino". Ciné-Ressources (in French). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Curti, Roberto (2021). Eltio Petri: Investigation of a Filmmaker. McFarland. ISBN 9781476680347.
^ ^a ^b ^c "L'assassino". Cinematografo (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ "L'assassino". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 18 December 2023.