Illustrious Corpses
Director: Francesco Rosi, Elio Petri
Genre: Thriller, Psychological thriller, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Political thriller, Crime Thriller, World cinema
Year: 1976
Country: Italy, France
Language: Italian Language
Starring: Lino Ventura, Paolo Bonacelli, Marcel Bozzuffi, Max von Sydow, Luigi Pistilli, Alain Cuny, Maria Carta, Tino Carraro
Illustrious Corpses (Italian: Cadaveri eccellenti) is a 1976 thriller film directed by Francesco Rosi and starring Lino Ventura. The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. Its title refers to the surrealist game, Cadavre Exquis, invented by André Breton, in which the participants draw consecutive sections of a figure without seeing what the previous person has drawn, leading to unpredictable results, and is meant to describe the meandering nature of the film with its unpredictable foray into the world of political manipulations, as well as the ("illustrous") corpses of the murdered judges.
The film starts with the murder of District Attorney Vargas in Palermo, amongst a climate of demontrations, strikes and political tension between the Left and the government. The subsequent investigation failing, the police assign the protagonist Inspector Rogas (Lino Ventura) to solve the case. While he is starting his investigation, two judges are killed. All victims turn out to have worked together on several cases. After Rogas discovers evidence of corruption surrounding the three government officials, he is encouraged by superiors
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