Romanzo di Un Giovane Povero

• 1995
• 1 hr 58 mins
• NR

• Watchlist

This Italian mystery owes a tip-of-the-hat to Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. It centers on a 70-year old man who is bitterly tired of his fat, domineering wife's constant nagging. Meanwhile Vincenzo graduated from college six years ago and still hasn't found a teaching job. Extreme poverty forces him to live with his mother and share her meager pension. This is terribly humiliating for Vincenzo and he feels so depressed, that he won't even see his girl. One night the old man Bartoloni invites Vincenzo over for a few drinks. As soon as Vincenzo is nice and drunk, Bartoloni springs his plan upon him: if Vincenzo will kill his hated wife, Bartoloni will give him all her money. The thoroughly soused Vincenzo counters with a better idea. He will kill the wife if the old man will kill his mother. Vincenzo stays true to his word and Bartolini's enormous wife is last seen hurtling off her balcony to the unforgiving ground below. Soon after the death, the young man finally finds a job. To celebrate he buys his mother a television and takes his lover out for dancing. Things are fine until the old man shows up and accuses Vincenzo of killing the wife. The police look around and find some damning evidence-money under his bed. But did Vincenzo really do it? A public prosecutor is determined to find out.