Elio Petri (1929-1982), a painstaking intellectual and screenwriter, made his directorial debut with the psychological whodunit The Assassin (1961). His other films include His Days Are Numbered (1962), We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) which marked the start of his socially committed films, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) winner of an Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film, starring Gian Maria Volonté, Lulu the Tool (1971) awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Todo modo (1976) and Le mani sporche (1979).