Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973)

A bank cashier, who's allergic to banknotes, quits his job after an armed robbery. He decides to start a new life, as a thief. He starts by targeting a popular former client, a butcher. But being a neurotic Marxist has its drawbacks.

Director:

Elio Petri

Writers:

Elio Petri (story and screenplay), Ugo Pirro (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Ugo Tognazzi, Flavio Bucci, Daria Nicolodi

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ugo Tognazzi	...	Macellaio
Flavio Bucci	...	Total
Daria Nicolodi	...	Anita
Mario Scaccia	...	Alessandro 'Albertone' Marzo
Orazio Orlando	...	Brigadiere Pirelli
Julien Guiomar	...	Direttore Banca
Cecilia Polizzi	...	Mafalda
Jacques Herlin	...	Impiegato Banca
Ada Pometti	...	Domestica
Pierluigi D'Orazio	...	Complice Albertone
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Protestante (as Luigi Guerra)
Gino Milli	...	Zaganè
Gigi Proietti	...	Paco (as Luigi Proietti)
Salvo Randone	...	Padre di Total

Storyline

Total, a young bank cashier, has been wondering for some time if his life, with its grey, dismal prospect, is worth living. He is aware of the illicit careers and rise to riches of many of his clients. He decide to start a new life : new clothes, new cars, new women. His "new look" begins discreetly, a few small robberies in supermarkets, progressing to more important fraud.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | years of lead | flushing money down a toilet | allergic reaction | robbery | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title is a reference to socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's famous assertion that "property is theft!"

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Connections

References Tout Va Bien (1972)

User Reviews

progressive Italian surrealism

If you want to know what marxism-madrakism is, don't miss this movie! A great example of smart and politicized Italian cinema of the seventies, a real cult in my opinion. The main character is a sort of modern times psychopathic robin-hood whom works as a clerk in a bank, but is allergic to money! At a certain point he is so exasperated that he decides that he must mine rich people's private property in order to give a shock to their lives. His main target is a rich butcher (Ugo Tognazzi), but he decides not to steal his money, but things that he needs more: his butcher knife, tool of his trade, his hat, his woman... In the meantime, he enters the dark world of delinquency meeting a professional thief which he manages to blackmail so that he can help him in his misdoings. Between the world of marxist idealism and pure delinquency, the whole story is fantastic and unreal, with references to Fromm's "Life between having and being". The character would like to "have" (money and things) but in the same moment he also wants to "be" (save his personality), but he undesrtands that it's impossible ("This is the problem!", he repeats) . The final is also fantastic, with the thief's funeral in which a great Gigi Proietti gives us a monologue on the importance of thiefs in society. A must for lovers of the genre.

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

4 October 1973 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Property Is No Longer a Theft

Company Credits

Production Co:

Quasars Film Company, Labrador Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technospes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1