La sfida (1958)

Vito Polara lives in one of Naples’s many poor neighborhoods, where the scars of the Second World War bombings are still plain to see. He makes a living smuggling cigarettes with Gennaro and Raffaele. One morning, his partners return to tell him that the usual “run” was impossible because the Guardia di Finanza had set up an ambush, so they decided to buy a load of pumpkins and zucchini from farmers to cover the cost of renting the truck. Vito is angry at first, but soon realizes that his partners’ gamble could turn into an excellent business opportunity. After overhearing his own relatives talking about current market prices, he adjusts the selling price and manages to quadruple his earnings, helped by the fact that a strike in the preceding days had emptied the markets of all fruit and vegetables. He decides to give up cigarette smuggling and start a new business: trading in fruit and vegetables. He and his associates rent a car and set out to find farmers in the Neapolitan hinterland who will sell them their produce. Many refuse to sell to just anyone, except for a certain Antonio, who then disappears after being kidnapped by the men of a local boss. Vito, unaware of the rules of the rural Camorra, is approached by one of the boss’s men and decides to meet him. The meeting takes place in the courtyard of the village trattoria, where Don Salvatore Aiello and his associates are waiting to have lunch during the town’s festival. When Vito sees Antonio again—the farmer who had previously promised to sell him his produce—he goes after him and, in the ensuing fight, hurls him into Don Salvatore. Don Salvatore draws his gun, but his brother Ferdinando stops him. Don Salvatore leaves, while his brother tries to persuade Vito to think carefully about his choices. The village procession interrupts their discussion, but Vito has by now understood that he must accept Don Aiello’s rules. Some time later, from his balcony, he notices a girl from the neighborhood, Assunta, paying attention to him. She lures him onto the rooftops of the apartment building, where they are discovered by her mother and a washerwoman. Vito promises to marry her, and spares no expense in doing so, thanks to the position he has built for himself since beginning to work with Aiello. At a meeting with Aiello and his men, they decide that for a week no produce is to be sent to the fruit and vegetable markets, in order to drive up prices. Vito disagrees because he has meanwhile gone into debt for his upcoming wedding, but the others take no notice of his opinion. He decides to load the produce anyway, without anyone’s knowledge; his naïveté leads him to cross Don Salvatore Aiello for a second time. On the wedding day, Ferdinando and Salvatore Aiello, along with all his men, are absent from the guests. It is a sign that the Aiello brothers’ revenge can begin. During the reception, Vito is told that Don Salvatore’s men have stopped the shipment of tomatoes. He leaves the reception and heads for the countryside, where, after a fierce confrontation, he manages to free the truck and take it to the fruit and vegetable market. But Salvatore Aiello is waiting for him there too, and kills him to avenge the affront.