Very good, obscure and underrated movie with three excellent male leads. Enzo Cerusico was prolific and began as a child actor in the 50s plays the poor guy caught up in this violent murder case, Riccardo Cucciolla plays the villainous professor and was in loads including Bava's Rabid Dogs and Melville's Un Flic. Meanwhile the colourful journalist, not too keen on the police line of investigation, is played by Enrico Maria Salerno, elder brother of the director and had most varied career including playing the Inspector in Bird With Crystal Plumage.Movie begins with graphic sex killing in a cornfield and the witness becomes the suspect as a very well told tale takes us around the streets of Rome and surrounding countryside as a most believable story unfolds and a working class lad seems likely to take the rap instead of the society man. How very Italian.

While fishing at a quiet lake, a blameless civil servant happens to witness a murder. Although he and the killer suddenly stand in front of each other, the witness (Signore Santamaria) manages to escape. At home, however, he decides not to call police, assuming that he won't be bothered by the incident any further. The murderer, on the other hand, plays his only card: He goes to police, claiming that he is in fact the witness and the Santamaria the killer. Following the honorable professors description, police go on a hunt, forcing the real witness to destroy all "evidence". As journalists write about the "witness", Santamaria confronts the killer, only to learn that the truth has been turned around: The professor tells him to keep his mouth shut, otherwise he – Santamaria – will be the one to end up in jail. Still, after speaking to a priest, the witness finally confesses to police, only to be arrested and sentenced to 24 years of prison. - In a manner that sometimes looks a bit humorist, this rarely seen picture portrays the witnesses' fear of being confronted with any trouble. In his attempt to live on with his unvaried life, he wants to avoid uneasiness at any cost. The killer is shown as a cold blooded intellectual capable of deceiving everyone of his false innocence. From a psychological point of view, the characters are to one-dimensional, and the build-up of the story leaves many (plot) holes to be filled. Then again, it's a quite an entertaining film. Although the political message is no very strongly displayed, this one still has the special aura Italian "political" films used to have back in that era.

A classic 'italian story', in which an innocent and ignorant worker (witness to a crime) pays in the place of the real guilty, a high society professor. Besides the not so original topic the movie offers good acting performances and depicts perfectly the life of a low-class worker living in the suburbs of an italian city in the mid-70's.