"[3] Totonno is the leader of a gang of Italian workers who for years have been in West Germany.

Mario is a fellow Italian in Germany to work as a miner but decides to return to Italy after losing his job.

Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and then offers Mario a job as “magliaro” (cloth seller).

[7] It won best black and white photography at the Italian Film Critics Award.

[8] Senses of Cinema wrote "Unfairly neglected by critics and historians, the film is usually regarded a prelude to the Neapolitan director's ambitious, labyrinthine chronicles of power and corruption of the 1960s and 70s.