A startling allegory and impenetrable mystery, TEOREMA follows the strange sexual exploits of a family that falls prey to the allure of a sudden intruder. Terence Stamp delivers an eerie performance as the mysterious guest, known only as “the Visitor,” who completely enamors family members Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky and Andrés José Cruz Soublette. The second installment of Pasolini’s “Mythical Cycle” and the first time he worked primarily with professional actors, the film is a haunting critique of bourgeois society.

As the first notes ring out from Luis Bacalov’s iconic theme song, dark-clad, blazingly blue-eyed Franco Nero enters dragging a coffin through the inches-thick mud of a crummy town fought over by ex-Confederate soldiers and Mexican Revolutionaries. Director Sergio Corbucci easily could have followed the spaghetti Western template created by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, but instead he and Franco pushed things into a more subversive, political and violent direction. This is the original of at least 30 official and unofficial sequels, and Quentin Tarantino lists this film as No. 3 in his 20 favorite spaghetti Westerns (RESERVOIR DOGS’ infamous ear-cutting scene was a direct reference).