Police inspector Ingravallo (Germi) investigates a theft, then a murder in the same building. Are they connected? "Another of (Germi's) fictional self portraits....Like all such police stories, this one provides an occasion to explore the multiple subcultures of a city-Rome, in this case. But the hustlers, hookers, and schemers have seldom been so pathetically unequal to their crimes, the police so inept, or the chief detective so clumsy in his vulnerability. Growling, hulking, and ranting his way through the film, Ingravallo discovers (of course) that everybody's guilty of something-but the big scoundrels get away, while the little ones take the rap. Faced with such corruption, he can only sink deeper into a furious but clear-sighted isolation. Or he can make comedies..." (Stuart Klawans, N.Y. Times) "Never have mystery, high literature, and the commedia all'italiana been made to work together so shrewdly and intelligently." (Mario Sesti)