Don't Torture a Duckling

Don't Torture a Duckling
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lucio Fulci
Produced by	Renato Jaboni
Screenplay by	Lucio Fulci Roberto Gianviti Gianfranco Clerici
Story by	Lucio Fulci Roberto Gianviti
Starring	Florinda Bolkan Barbara Bouchet Tomas Milian Irene Papas Marc Porel Georges Wilson
Music by	Riz Ortolani
Cinematography	Sergio D'Offizi
Edited by	Ornella Micheli
Production company	Medusa Produzione
Distributed by	Medusa Produzione
Release date	29 September 1972
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian English
Box office	ITL 1,101,461,000

Don't Torture a Duckling (Italian: Non si sevizia un paperino) is a 1972 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci, starring Florinda Bolkan, Tomas Milian and Barbara Bouchet. It is significant within Fulci's filmography as it is one of the first in which he began using violent gore effects, something he would continue to do in his later films, most notably Zombi 2, The Beyond and City of the Living Dead. The soundtrack was composed by Riz Ortolani and features vocals by Ornella Vanoni.

In the small Southern Italian village of Accendura, three local boys, Bruno, Michele, and Tonino are engaged in mischief and other activities. Giuseppe Barra (Vito Passeri) a local simpleton and peeping tom, who is seen spying on two rowdy swinging couples, is surprised when which the three boys appear behind him and taunt him. Meanwhile, in the hills surrounding the village, a reclusive Gypsy witch named La Magiara (Florinda Bolkan), is conducting sinister black magic ceremonies, first by digging up the skeletal remains of an infant, and then plunging pins through the heads of three tiny clay dolls. It makes it clear that these are the three youths taunting Giuseppe.

When Bruno Lo Casio goes missing, a media circus begins as reporters from all over Italy converge on the town. One of them is Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian) a sharp-witted journalist from Rome whose insights into the case are acknowledged by the regional police commissioner (Virginio Gazzolo) working with the collaboration of the village chief of police Captain Modesti (Ugo D'Alessio). Amid local hysteria, Giuseppe is soon arrested when he's found near the dead body of Bruno. But he protests his innocence for he claims to have only discovered the body of the boy and then phoned the parents in a feeble attempt to extract a pitiful ransom. When another dead body of a young boy, that of Tonino is found, the police realize that he really is innocent. A few nights later, during a raging thunderstorm, Michele Spriano, sneaks out of his house to meet with someone he speaks to over the phone, and he too is strangled by an unseen assailant and his body is found the following morning.

Martelli soon meets and befriends Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet) whom he recognizes from newspapers where he used to work in Milan. Patrizia is living at her father's house in the town as she is laying low after a drug scandal. She considered a slut by rest of the insular villagers mainly because of her modern style of dress with halter-tops and mini-skirts. Martelli also meets with the amiable young village priest, Don Alberto Avallone (Marc Poreli) and his strangely reserved mother Aurelia (Irene Papas). Don Alberto runs a boys group at the church (which the murder victims came from) and he also encourages the boys to play soccer on the church grounds to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. Since he is the priest and connected with the Catholic Church, he is well known and respected by everyone in the village and surrounding area. But Aurelia is a dour mysterious woman.