Otello Celletti, Alberto Sordi, is a war veteran from a small Latium town who has been unemployed since the end of the conflict. He lives with his father, his wife, Marisa Merlini as Amalia Celletti, and their son, relying on his brother-in-law’s support. When a menial job opens in the town’s markets, Otello rejects it in disdain. Yet after a stubborn stand before the town’s Mayor Vittorio De Sica and by leaning on his veteran status, he finally secures a position with the local traffic police. Although his performance is flawed, he still wields his authority to settle petty scores against those who teased him during his unemployment, turning irritation into a form of quiet vigilante justice.
One day, Otello assists a famous actress, Sylva Koscina, on the roadside. He enjoys a courteous chat, invites her for coffee, and chooses not to fine her for missing her driving license and car documents. That night, during a guest appearance on the television program Il Musichiere in front of 18 million viewers, Sylva publicly greets Otello, but the host Mario Riva nudges her to reveal that Otello had let her go when a fine or arrest might have been due. The moment shakes Otello’s standing and invites political fallout.
Under mounting pressure, the Mayor scolds Otello for tarnishing the police force’s image and threatens to fire him. Later, Otello catches the Mayor himself speeding on a dangerous curve, and, driven by a sense of tested integrity, he chases him to a private meeting with his mistress. He issues a speeding ticket that inadvertently exposes the Mayor’s extramarital affair, and the Mayor responds by suspending Otello and appealing the ticket.
Seeking leverage, Otello turns to the local monarchists who name him their candidate for the upcoming mayoral race, opposing the current Mayor. In a tense private meeting with the Mayor’s party, Otello hints at bringing years of mismanagement to light. In retaliation, the Mayor reveals compromising information about Otello and his family: Otello’s sister, once thought to be a masseuse in Milan, is described as a prostitute; Otello himself is not legally married to Amalia, as her legal husband from before the divorce still lives; and Otello’s father, revered as a war hero, had a criminal past that could alienate monarchists by undercutting the myth of unquestioned loyalty to the crown.
At the subsequent appeal hearing, Otello relents and exonerates the Mayor, claiming the fine arose from a faulty odometer and withdrawing his candidacy. After being reappointed to the traffic police, Otello again yields the road to the Mayor as he speeds along the same curve, only for the Mayor to crash and be hospitalized, delivering a form of poetic justice that echoes the town’s capricious sense of power and punishment.
