Following the success of the crime novel La mazzetta, which sold over 55,000 copies in a few months, Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis acquired its rights and brought Sergio Corbucci on to direct it. The first screenplay, written by Dino Maiuri and Massimo De Rita, was considered unsuitable by Corbucci for being too hard-boiled and lacking credibility; Luciano De Crescenzo and Elvio Porta were then brought in and, working with Manfredi, reworked the screenplay with a stronger focus on its Neapolitan setting.
Reception
Released in March 1978, the film was a massive success, grossing 4,2 billion lire at the Italian box office.
Sequel
Following the commercial success of the film, it was planned an adaptation from the Veraldi's second novel based on the character of Sasà Jovine, L'uomo di conseguenza (1978), still directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Marcello Mastroianni in the role of Jovine. After a series of meetings Mastroianni declined: he was not enthusiast to resume a character already successfully performed by Nino Manfredi, and the plot of the sequel involved incest, a scabrous subject he had treated the same year in the movie Stay As You Are. The production then decided to make him play a story with a tone more similar to The Payoff but not based on any novel, Neapolitan Mystery.
References
12"La mazzetta (1978)". Archivio del Cinema Italiano (in Italian). Retrieved 2 June 2021.
↑Lino Miccichè. Storia del cinema italiano, Vol.13. Edizioni di Bianco & nero, 2001. p.273. ISBN88-317-8537-0.
123Ciaffaroni, Andrea (2021). "Giallo napoletano". Alla ricerca di Nino Manfredi. Sagoma Editore. ISBN978-88-6506-125-1.
↑Matilde Hochkofler (2006). Marcello Mastroianni: il gioco del cinema. Gremese Editore, 2006. p.129. ISBN88-8440-447-9.
