A tall set of outdoor steps, shown through several wide shots at night, symbolizes XXXX  in Damiano Damiani’s Il sicario (US: Blood Feud), a psychological crime noir in which a nearly bankrupt millionaire hires a hit man to kill his main creditor. Focusing on psychology more than action (even the murder isn’t shown on screen), the film is more a slow boil of tension than a fire of thrills, Damiani directing his actors to demonstrate the psychological complexity of desperation with which each character is struggling in their own way. Sergio Fantoni stars as Riccardo, a wealthy construction company owner drowning in debt to a man named Burlando (Lauro Gazzalo), who is demanding immediate repayment and couldn’t care less if it ruins Riccardo’s life’s work. Desperate, Riccardo persuades a former employee, Giulio Torelli (Alberto Lupo), who is also desperate for money to save his marriage to Ileana (a brunette-dyed Belinda Lee whose character longs to have her hair dyed blonde), to murder Burlando for a payout. Plotting for the event to take place on the aforementioned steps which Burlando uses most nights, Fantoni and Giulio share a sense of desperation, but their guilt before and after the murder will take on different forms. Sylva Koscina plays Fantoni’s wife Carla, who’s grown very accustomed to her life of luxury yet still nearly collapses when her husband confesses his crime in a private train car (this protracted scene is brilliantly played by both actors, Carla framed in the light of a bedroom as Riccardo lurks just outside in the dark). The relatively unknown Lupo would go on to star in Passport for a Corpse the following year.