Pietro Germi is both star and director of Il Ferroviere. Germi plays Andrea, a railroad engineer with a large and troublesome family. Faced with a choice between supporting his fellow workers in a strike and keeping his family fed, Andrea opts for the latter. Branded a scab by his former cohorts, he is likewise given the cold shoulder by his wife and children. Drowning his disappointment in liquor, Andrea is saved from self-destruction when his youngest son decides to forgive and forget. Il Ferroviere was released in the U.S. as The Railroad Man and Man of Iron.