I watched the Criterion DVD of this last night and was pleasantly surprised to see small roles by Terence Hill and Giuliano Gemma, before their spaghetti debuts, in addition to the large supporting roles by Romolo Valli (later to play Dr Villega in ‘Duck, You Sucker’) and Claudia Cardinale.
This is a very deliberately paced and quite magnificent production. I particularly liked this line by Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: “We were the leopards, the lions; those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth.”