Saturday, June 8, 2013

The Boss


Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: Fernando Di Leo

Starring: Henry Silva, Richard Conte, Gianni Garko, Antonia Santilli

From: Cineproduzioni Daunia 70

Yep, I decided to go back to the good old poliziotteschi genre as part of my World Tour for Letterboxd, and this was the one movie of director Di Leo's Milieu Trilogy that I hadn't seen, despite having watched Caliber 9 and The Italian Connection last summer. The three movies aren't really connected except for them being in the same genre. I heard this was the least of the three but tonight was finally the time for me to check it out.

The plot: The movie is set (and filmed) in Palermo, on the island of Sicily in Italy. There's gang warfare going on between a few different families and the police force there is corrupt too. There's a gleefully over the top opening involving a private screening of pornographic films to some gangsters, and Lanzetta (Silva) blowing away everyone there with... a grenade launcher! He works for mob head Corrasco (Conte) and understandably people are pissed at what happened so the daughter of one of Corrasco's associates gets kidnapped. She's a young adult lady and she's yet another attractive brunette Italian dame. She in particular is not a strong empowering female character. Instead she's a nymphomaniac marijuana smoker who gets slapped around by any male she spends any time around, including Silva! Feminists, never see this movie. I did feel uncomfortable at times watching that on screen. Anyhow, Silva gets her back and then complications happen...

It is true that it isn't as great as Caliber 9 or The Italian Connection. Still, I happened to enjoy it. What action you do see is well-done and exciting, and while it doesn't have all the hallmarks I expect from the genre (there's no vehice chases) it's never boring due to all the drama going on with the gangs feuding with each other and even the people of the police department feuding with each other due to all the corruption going on. The daughter (Santilli) you mainly see wearing not a lot of clothing... if any at all. I did not complain with that arrangement! As you can probably guess with what I said already, this is pretty sleazy and trashy... just how I like it. No, but really, it fits right in with the typical movie in the genre and I am glad I finally saw it. If nothing else, Silva plays a great badass character. He was... boss.


I'll be back Sunday night.

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