Cinematographic debut of Giuseppe De Santis, this film, whose script was written by the director together with Michelangelo Antonioni, Umberto Barbaro and Cesare Zavattini -is a crime story unfolding around several contemporary popular stories and slightly evoking the style of some American movies.
The protagonists are the farmers of a farmers’ cooperative oppressed by authoritatian bosses and also some detention camp survivors who strive to get back into society after the devastating events of the war. Michele (Massimo Girotti) and Giovanna (Carla Del Poggio), a newly wed couple, is travelling on a truck with the accountant of a farmers’ cooperative who has to bring four millions to the cooperative’s headquarters, when they are suddenly attacked by two criminals. The driver and the accountant are immediately killed, the money is stolen and Giovanna is taken as a hostage. A manhunt starts involvi g both the farmers and the local police, Carabinieri.

LOCATION The film was shot in the surroundings of Ravenna – Marina di Ravenna and Marina Romea (viale Italia and Viale dei Pioppi) – and in the Valli di Comacchio.