Overview: The Day of the Owl stars Franco Nero as a police chief who, while investigating the death of a construction worker, goes up against corrupt officials and a ruthless mafia boss (Lee J. Cobb).

Nero portrays a simple man thrown in jail for a misdemeanour in The Case is Closed: Forget It and in How to Kill a Judge, Nero plays filmmaker Giacomo Solaris, whose latest film features a judge corrupted by the mafia and who is later found murdered.

Blu-ray Verdict: Adapted from the celebrated novel by Leonardo Sciascia (Illustrious Corpses, Todo Modo), The Day of the Owl was the book first to openly deal with organized crime in Sicily. A prestigious production, it was in the running for best film at the Berlin Film Festival and found wins at home in the David di Donatello Awards for Claudia Cardinale, Nero, Damiani, and Best Production.

Capt. Bellodi (Nero) not only has to investigate a murder that leads to one of the most important men in the town, Don Marino (played by Lee J. Cobb), the local Mafia don, but he also has to untangle the truth from the lies surrounding the case, since the Mafia tries to hide the true motives of the murder by making it look like a crime of passion involving Rosa, the victim and Rosa’s wayward husband – in that society honour can be conveniently used to cover up all crimes.

Nero, Cardinale and Cobb are excellent, and the other actors, mainly unknown Italian actors, do a great job bringing the movie to life too. The movie doesn’t have a boring moment, and the intellectual conflict between Bellodi and Don Mariano is gripping.

Inside, he sees the grim reality of life behind bars, where the mafia controls everything, here in The Case is Closed: Forget It. A powerful production with Nero in top form and supported by a strong cast including Riccardo Cucciolla (Rabid Dogs) and John Steiner (Tenebrae), the intensity of Damiani’s film places it among the finest prison dramas. Presented in Italian and for the first time with the original English dub.

Strong and convincing prison drama from versatile director, Damiano Damiani, he of Bullet For The General, The Witch and How To Kill A Judge, another crime movie starring Franco Nero. Indeed this is more a crime drama than simply a prison movie, even though it takes place on the inside.

Great performance from Nero, of course and a most surprising score from Morricone and some may know of this film only because of the non musical nature of it. More or less made up entirely of odd sounds and general sound effects it is nevertheless most effective.

The real judge the character is based on in How to Kill a Judge, seizes the footage, but is later killed in the same way. Feeling a degree of responsibility, Solaris investigates, but as the assassinations increase around him, will he reach the source of the conspiracy?

Full of twists and a fascinating meta-commentary on cinema through the film-within-the-film, Damiani points the camera at himself and the genre as he investigates the social impact of mafia violence, a fitting end to this survey of Damiani’s Cosa Nostra.

For me, the film is very interesting in more than its sweeping story line, for it also shows the differences of the people speaking Italian from the North with the Sicilian population.

For example, Nero pronounces Italian well while the Sicilians have a particular accent due to the influence of their local dialect. It also reflects well the environment in Sicilian towns. So, it may well be a modest film compared to others, but it is most assuredly one of the best, for a lot of reasons.

Three Blu-rays featuring new restoration from the original negative, each presented in English and Italian with new interviews with the cast and crew, including Franco Nero on each disc, extras with experts on the films and more.