Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Day of the Owl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 8, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani set from Radiance Films.

Franco Nero is one of those huge international superstars who perhaps perplexingly never really seemed to make a consistent impact in the United States market for whatever reason, though some have mentioned his lack of facility with English for having potentially contributed to that situation. In that regard, it's at least arguable that the "average Joe" and/or "Joanne" filmgoer on this side of the pond would only be able to point to Camelot, perhaps ironically even if they hadn't actually seen it, simply because of the gossip column fodder that erupted courtesy of his burgeoning relationship with co-star Vanessa Redgrave. That said, Camelot and maybe, just maybe titles like The Bible: In the Beginning... and/or Die Hard 2: Die Harder might occur to some stateside fans as offering Nero performances they've seen, but of course his European popularity was unmatched in his heyday, spurred by his star making performance in Django. As is recounted in some of the supplements Radiance has included with this three disc set, Nero matriculated from westerns in the sixties into some late sixties through seventies films that were at least tangentially related to Poliziotteschi, though often from the "flip side", i.e., focusing on the criminals rather than the good guys. Radiance has aggregated three of those entries in this appealing set, which features productions ranging from 1968 to 1975 all directed by Damiano Damiani, and at least somewhat interestingly only one of which features Nero as a policeman.

Though this data point might need to be taken with that veritable grain of salt, some of the supplements included on this disc as well as the reverse cover's backside verbiage state that the book on which this film was based was supposedly the first to openly deal with organized crime in Sicily. As "groundbreaking" as the source novel may have been, The Day of the Owl is in some ways a kind of "old school" property for those acquainted with any kind of organized crime outing, whether or not it's the Mafia and/or Italians or some other group and/or nationality. This is the one film in the Cosa Nostra set where Franco Nero is a cop, in this case a captain named Bellodi who is tasked with figuring out whether a murdered truck driver met his end because he crossed paths with a corrupt Mafia don named Mariano Arena (Lee J. Cobb) or because he crossed paths with a married woman named Rosa Nicolosi (Claudia Cardinale), whose husband may have not wanted that particular "path" crossed, so to speak.

If Nero is an ostensibly unabashed "good guy" as a cop, it's soon revealed that he's not above using some questionable methods to get to the truth, but that aspect only tends to make the film's supposed point about "corruption" seem almost painfully obvious, and indeed there's a kind of stifling feeling of moral turpitude infusing the film, which rather strangely also has some lighter moments in its depiction of a more rustic, quasi-rural sensibility. This is a rather interesting story one way or the other that doesn't completely rely on some of the tropes that it admittedly traffics in.

The Day of the Owl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Day of the Owl is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Radiance's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

The Day of the Owl was scanned in 2K from the original camera negative and restored and colour graded by Studio Cine, Rome. The original Italian and English mono soundtracks were restored by Radiance Films in 2022.

This is a great looking transfer with secure detail levels and a really nicely organically resolved grain field, along with an often quite sumptuously suffused palette. The color timing may strike some as just a tad on the yellow side at times, but a lot of the outdoor material in particular pops beautifully and offers sometimes surprisingly fulsome fine detail levels even in midrange and wide framings. There are some very slight deficits in shadow detail in some nighttime scenes and a couple of dimly lit interior moments.

The Day of the Owl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Day of the Owl features LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks in either Italian or English. The English track at least gives you Lee J. Cobb's memorable voice, but the Italian track struck my ears as being noticeably brighter and louder, perhaps helping to deliver a more generally satisfying listening experience. Both tracks offer dialogue cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Day of the Owl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Italian Version (HD; 1:48:40) and English Version (HD; 1:43:11) are accessible under the Play Menu.


• Franco Nero (HD; 17:21) reminisces about The Day of the Owl in this newly produced interview done for Radiance Films. Subtitled in English.


• Franco Nero, Ugo Pirro, Lucio Trentini (HD; 26:34) is an archival documentary shot in 2006 featuring Nero along with the film's screenwriter and production manager. Subtitled in English.


• Claudia Cardinale (HD; 22:20) is featured in this interview done for Belgian television in 2017. Subtitled in English.


• Identity Crime-Sis: An Italian Genre Finds Itself (HD; 20:04) features genre expert Mike Malloy discussing Italian crime and Mafia movies.


• Casting Cobb: A Tale of Two Continents (HD; 32:36) is a video essay by Howard S. Berger and David Nicholson-Fajardo focusing on Lee J. Cobb.


• Trailer (HD; 2:50)

The Day of the Owl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Day of the Owl serves as a potent introduction to some of the themes that Damiano will explore in all three of the films in the Cosa Nostra set, though it is arguably the most "standard" of the three in terms of its depiction of a powerful crime family and attempts to clean things up. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.