Based on a true story


This is a very good movie but from reading the reviews I see people miss an important fact: it is not fictional at all but it is based on real events, indeed the second part recreates in a documentary-like accuracy the robbery at the Banco di Napoli, in Milan, of september 25, 1967. This tragic event was still fresh memory when the movie came out.

http://milano.corriere.it/gallery/milano/08-2013/cavallero/banda/rapin a-banco-napoli-1967_01f2bc1e-08b7-11e3-abfd-c7cdb640a6bb.shtml#1

The lead bandit, Pietro Cavallero, was really as boastful as portrayed in the movie and Gian Maria Volontè plays him perfectly with his mannerism and speech. During the car chase the Cavallero band killed 3 civilians and wounded other 15 civilians and 6 policemen, another civilian died later of heart attack (in the movie he's the guy who helps the police to track a bandit and later asks to be carried to the hospital because he doesn't feel well).
At the trial Cavallero, Rovoletto and Notarnicola were sentenced to life in prison. Lopez, who was underage, got 12 years. Interestingly Cavallero later changed life, he converted to christianity, started painting and wrote a book trying to make amends for his past. He was released in 1992 and did charity work until his death in 1997.

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Pretty good experimental (in the first half) crime action film----is it available on DVD anywhere?

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I can't find any official DVD, there's one on Ebay that looks suspiciously as a TV recording

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Currently streaming on Amazon

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It's interesting to read how Cavallero converted in later life. He certainly was a character.

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