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Lucky Luciano (Italian and English with English subtitles)
Location
Main screening room
Date
September 22nd, 2023
Duration
105 min
Cycle
Ciné-mafia

To introduce the cycle, a lecture by a Mafia historian sets the tone. How does cinema relate to a certain Mafia mythology ? To what degree does it detach itself from it, or portray it in its most complex and troubled aspects ? The answer in fourteen films.

Lucky Luciano
Directed by
Francesco Rosi
Language
Italian and English with English subtitles
Actors
Gian Maria Volonté, Rod Steiger, Vincent Gardenia, Silverio Blasi
Origins
Italy, United States, France
Year
1973
Duration
105 min
Genre
Drama, crime, biography
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Expelled from the United States in 1946, Lucky Luciano settles in Italy. He sets up a drug trade of unprecedented scope.

Lucky Luciano

Francesco Rosi

After attending law school during the Second World War, the Neapolitan Francesco Rosi carried out various activities in the 1940s: illustration of children's books, radio serials, plays with Ettore Giannini... He began his film career as an assistant director to Luchino Visconti for La terre tremble (1948). After several contributions as a screenwriter, he made his first films at the end of the 1950s. But it was with Salvatore Giuliano (1961) that the filmmaker refined his style and made himself known beyond borders. He adopts a method close to the investigation, starting from historical figures and extensive research to deliver his political analysis. Rosi has often worked with writers, in particular Tonino Guerra (Uomini contro, Il caso Mattei, Lucky Luciano, Cadaveri eccelenti). In addition to his native Mezzogiorno, he made Spain (which occupied Naples for centuries) a source of inspiration: Il momento della verità, Carmen or Cronaca di una morte annunciata.

Explore

A little stroll in the company of the romantic ghosts of our cycle, cinema creatures par excellence, at the crossroads of feelings, illusions and the desire for projection.

Since he represents the Mafia, Lucky Luciano must be the central figure of the film. Everything goes through him. More exactly, we guess that everything goes through him. The power is organized and woven around his person. But, at the same time, as his personality doesn't matter, as he mustn't be singular, he must be only a white presence. In short, he remains this presence-absence, this figure who is at the center of the film only to better disappear in favor of what surrounds him.
Frédéric Vitoux
1974
About Lucky Luciano
Full cast
About Francesco Rosi
Filmography | Director
Filmography | Scenarist
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Presented in collaboration with

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