Salvatore Giuliano (1962)

100% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
66% of users liked it
(723 ratings)

This is a documentary-style Italian drama chronicling the rise and fall of the title character, a real-life Mob chieftain who rose to prominence in post-WWII Sicily. Salvatore Giuliano himself is almost unseen and his career is recalled in flashbacks after his assassination in 1950. With the help of… More This is a documentary-style Italian drama chronicling the rise and fall of the title character, a real-life Mob chieftain who rose to prominence in post-WWII Sicily. Salvatore Giuliano himself is almost unseen and his career is recalled in flashbacks after his assassination in 1950. With the help of his right-hand man and cousin Gaspare Pisciotta (Frank Wolff), Salvatore becomes a guerilla leader whose resistance to the corrupt politicians dominating his post-war nation leads to his popularity among the Sicilian peasant class. As time passes, though, Salvatore becomes more of a criminal than a rebel, threatening Mafia income. Even Salvatore's own devoted followers begin to doubt him, and when he orders the slaughter of communist supporters at a rally, a bloody shootout with police ensues. Salvatore Giuliano (1962) was such an effective anti-organized crime film that it inspired a real-life investigation into Mob activities in Sicily. The Giuliano story was later filmed as The Sicilian (1987) starring Christopher Lambert as the title character. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 5 min.
Directed By: Francesco Rosi
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Feb 28, 1962 Wide
On DVD: Feb 24, 2004

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
This is arguably as good as or better than anything Rosi has done since.
Variety Staff, Variety
An outstanding film has been fashioned by Francesco Rosi using the story of Sicilian bandit Giuliano as a pretext for a historical, political, and social document of its times.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
There are no actors acting in "Salvatore Giuliano," only people living and dying for what they believe.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
This was the groundbreaking political film of director Francesco Rosi.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The political, historical, and social references are not always clear, which can be distracting, yet this still works and works well.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Rosi is cinema.
Tom Milne, Time Out
Stunningly shot in stark black-and-white by Gianni Di Venanzo.
Doug Cummings, Filmjourney
Rosi adopts an austere structure with a complex timeframe that provocatively avoids narrative embellishment and the usual emotional padding.
, Film4
If you want a true insight into the workings of a Mob ruler, this is really the one to watch.
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
Rosi extended neorealism and made it his own by marrying the realist aesthetic to the exposure of power dynamics

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Walter M

"Salvatore Giuliano" starts on July 5, 1950, just after Salvatore Giuliano(Pietro Cammarata) has been murdered. There is differing testimony from the eyewitnesses that not only contradicts the police account but each other. Five years previously, in the wake of the end of… More
"Salvatore Giuliano" starts on July 5, 1950, just after Salvatore Giuliano(Pietro Cammarata) has been murdered. There is differing testimony from the eyewitnesses that not only contradicts the police account but each other. Five years previously, in the wake of the end of World War II, Sicily is on the verge of proclaiming its independence.(I had never heard of this before but it makes sense considering the cultural differences between Sicily and the mainland.) The leaders of the indpendence movement enlist bandits to the cause, giving Giuliano a field commission of colonel and a provisional amnesty. "Salvatore Giuliano" is for the most part a riveting docudrama about the legendary independence fighter and bandit, the movie spending a good deal of thought wondering about the difference between the two. Throughout, Giuliano is protrayed as a shadowy figure, mostly known by his distinctive white duster as the police and army try more restrictive methods with each successful strike in order to try and stop him and his bandits which in turn just alienates the native populace. And director Francesco Rosi shows a fine touch with the natural locations and crowd scenes. However, the movie almost falls apart at the end due to a marathon court session that instead of resolving the central mystery, just manages to confuse things even further.