Runtime:
95 minutes
Directed
by: Fernando Di Leo
Starring:
Harry Baer, Al Cliver, Jack Palance, Vittorio Caprioli
From:
Cineproduzioni Daunia 70
Here's
another Italian movie from the 70's that I watched courtesy of
Netflix Instant Streaming. The big reason why I picked this out was
that it starred Jack Palance but I still wasn't sure about it so I
saw the first scene, which was a surreal thing but eventually I
figured out what was going on and it ended with Jack bitch-slapping a
boy who looked to be about 12 and knocking him unconscious; after
that, it went to the top of my queue and I watched it in full
tonight.
The
plot: Tony (Baer) works for the Mob but isn't that high on t e totem
pole. He collects debts from debtors who haven't paid their
protection fee. He and another guy (Cliver) tick off Scarface Manzari
(Palance), a rival gangster and a big bad guy. Those two guys do
battle with Scarface and other people get involved too, including the
most memorable character of the entire movie, the old and old-school
gangster known as Napoli... who happens to be flamboyantly gay! Hey,
he always wears and ascot and just from the way he acts, it's
obvious.
After
watching it this evening, here are the highlights of something I
thought was great entertainment:
Concerning
Tony, he's obsessed with Brazil. He wears a shirt that says Brasil on
it and the cartoon image under those words... I have no idea why it's
of a black and white cat fishing on a red sailboat, but I would SO
wear that shirt. He also drives around a Brazilian car, the Puma GT,
converted to a dune buggy.
The
only woman character who really gets any time is a dame named Clara
who happens to be a whore. Someone accuses her of being a whore and
sleeping with a few of them. She actually admits to being a whore,
but says that none of them satisfied her!
Early
on, Tony fights a few guys and wins. The fighting itself wasn't too
spectacular. But what made it was that some little kids were
watching, and once he won... they cheer and applaud.
There
is a guy who looks a LOT like either Bud Spencer or Ricky Jay, but is
neither of them. I'll go with Ricky Jay as he's a card dealer. It's
just a brief appearance.
There's
another guy who looks like former football coach Dave Wannstedt. This
made me laugh as Wannstedt used to coach my favorite team, the Chicago Bears.
Overall, this is a wildly entertaining crime drama that happens to have its fair share of humor too; there's also some homoeroticism and I'm not talking about Napoli here. Anyhow, the story is always entertaining and the action is usually fine or better. It's an hour and a half that goes by rather quickly. I am so glad I picked this out at random.
I'll be back Friday night.
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