Please don't spend money on this.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The acting in this movie is really good.

Strong and convincing prison drama from versatile director, Damiano Damiani, he of Bullet For The General, The Witch and How To Kill A Judge, another crime movie starring Franco Nero. Indeed this is more a crime drama than simply a prison movie, even though it takes place on the inside. I've been putting this to the bottom of my viewing list because of the prison element. I'm not a great fans of WIP and men in prison even less but this is not all about the showers and the beatings and the revenge of that sub genre but more about the corruption of the Italian justice system and the extent of organised crime that make it impossible to conduct properly. Great performance from Nero, of course and a most surprising score from Morricone and some may know of this film only because of the non musical nature of it. More or less made up entirely of odd sounds and general sound effects it is nevertheless most effective.

This may not be Damiano Damiani finest work, but I still believe it is a very good movie. In line with his pessimistic beliefs on the possibility that Justice prevails, Damiani's plot develops this time within a prison (it is not a poliziottesco, but rather a prison drama) where an innocent man is held on suspicion of murder and where he gradually will be forced to change his beliefs and his moral in order to survive the brutal laws of the place. This is on a different level a metaphor on our society, where choices to act according to the moral come often at a price which we may not be ready to pay. Easier is to "forget". Inevitably the few brave who choose the straight way forward, find themselves lonely and pay the consequences. Recommended.

This poliziottesco of sorts isn't quite what I was expecting as lead Franco Nero's plight is only one of several events tackled in the film. The star is ideally cast as a wronged prisoner; however, Riccardo Cucciolla's paranoid character grows in importance in the film's second half. The initial stages are actually akin to bizarre black comedy (detailing all the various eccentric antics of the inmates), which doesn't quite jell with the more serious tone later on; John Steiner (as a despicable lifer) and Georges Wilson (as a dying old-timer) make a particular impression during this first part.The film - whose translated title, "The Case Is Closed: Forget It", is no better than that of the novel "Many Bars" on which it's based - depicts everybody as corrupt and reprehensible, with even Nero's everyman hero succumbing in the end (indulging in clandestine sexual encounters with a female inmate and keeping silent over Cucciolla's harrowing murder)! Though the score is by Ennio Morricone, it's nothing like the iconic work by the maestro we all know and love - consisting solely of sound effects (in fact, I had first heard of the film by way of a CD featuring some of his oddest soundtracks)! This was Nero's third of four films he made with director Damiani, all in the same vein; two of them, which I hadn't watched before either, followed this viewing (I had caught up with HOW TO KILL A JUDGE [1974], recently released on R1 DVD by Blue Underground and perhaps the most satisfactory of them, a couple of years ago).

Because of a violation of traffic regulations an architect is put in prison. There he witnesses the grim reality of life behind bars: corrupt staff, corrupt inmates, an inhuman judicial system and the power of the Mafia."L´istruttoria e chiusa: dimentichi" - which translates into "The investigation is closed: forget about it" is one in a series of political thrillers Damiano Damiani (when he was good, he could to some extent rival Francesco Rosi, when he became pretentious and preachy he was intolerable) specialized in in the late 60´s through the 70´s. Its overall target is the corrupt Italian state of that day and age. Its means is classic melodrama of the wrongful accused who has to live through purgatory. Because he is wrongful accused, an intellectual and played by the then handsome Franco Nero we pity him for that (there is ample space for the suspicion that we would perceive his private hell in public custody as appropriate were he a criminal).To prove his case Damiani this time took the easy way out and that´s why his film is - judged by Damiani´s own best abilities - bordering on the mediocre side - and still worth watching; which is an achievement in itself.