Kidnap Syndicate / La citta sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori (1975)

La citta sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori (Kidnap Syndicate) represented for di Leo the opportunity of working on a story which was not his own, the first time this had happened during his career. The idea of the film was originally Galliano Juso's, for whom di Leo had already directed "Il poliziotto e marcio" ("Shoot First, Die Later"). The idea was to dramatize in a cinematographic form the phenomenon of kidnappings which was at that time sadly in the forefront of news reports.

Starting from the story of two children belonging to different social classes (one is the son of a rich building contractor, the other is the son of a mechanic) kidnapped in order to extort money who go on to experience different destinies. Despite the fact that the initial idea was not one of his own, di Leo managed to elaborate the plot in such a way as to intertwine into the actions which the producer requested and which were inevitable in a story of this kind, a critical reflection on the kidnapping industry and everything which lay behind it and for whom a police inspector becomes the spokesperson for, equally honest and disappointed, interpreted by Vittorio Caprioli, an actor which di Leo entrusted with his own ideas and his own vision of the world in his films.

The script was written by di Leo and Ernesto Gastaldi and Nicola Mannari. La citta sconvolta… was also successfully distributed overseas with the title "Kidnap Syndicate" and boasts the presence of James Mason in the cast as well as numerous names who were hand in glove with the director's films, from Valentina Cortese to the aforementioned Vittorio Caprioli, from the main character Luc Merenda (who gives a good interpretation of a "proletarian executioner") to Marino Mase in the role of a merciless executor who works for the kidnapping racket which Di Leo examines closely in a psychological way with his usual talent, especially in the final part of the film.

More info: IMDB