The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le Clergyman)
France, 1928
Director: Germaine Dulac
Genre: Surrealism, silent films
Plot
A man pours a dark liquid into bottles, using a conch shell. He is indignantly spied by a highly decorated military man, who carries a long, gleaming saber.
The bottles, once filled with liquid, are dropped to the ground by the character who fills them. We see that he is a priest, as he wears a cassock with a collar. He is very concentrated in his work, but he looks nervous. The bottles are shattering at his side.
The soldier approaches him at a slow pace, taking the conch shell from him and breaking it with his saber.
Afterwards, the priest walks on all fours through the city; until he sees an attractive woman in a horse-drawn carriage. It is the wife of the soldier, and he sits down next to her. A short time later, in a church, the clergyman eavesdrops that the woman is going to confession, and that the one hearing the confession is her own husband. Enraged, the priest intervenes to strangle the soldier…
Comment
A year before Buñuel and Dalí made their famous “An Andalusian Dog” (1929), this film was also shot in France (which, being about 40 minutes long, can be considered a medium-length film). The film that concerns us today is therefore a precursor and pioneer of the avant-garde genre of surrealism on the big screen. The film has a clearly dreamlike atmosphere. The screenwriter was none other than Antonin Artaud, a French playwright known for being the father of the so-called “theater of cruelty”, and whose aesthetics and stylistic positions are very close to the surrealist current that Breton, Dalí and Buñuel, among other artists, cultivated in France in the 1920s. Artaud, very interested in esoteric and psychonautic themes (he experimented in Mexico with peyote) would also be one of the inspirers of the “panic movement” that several decades later would be developed by Jodorowsky, Arrabal and Topor. Artaud, who among many other works published a book about the Roman emperor Heliogabalus, wrote several movie scripts, when the seventh art was still in its infancy.
Among these scripts, the best known is that of “The Conch and the Clergyman”. Apparently, Artaud was not satisfied with the final result of the film and considered that the director Germaine Dulac had adulterated the intentionality that he tried to capture in his script.
It should be noted that many were the scripts written in the 1920s by surrealists, but few were taken to the big screen. For expressing in images the wanderings and digressions of the mind was still too complicated.
Be that as it may, the film gives the viewer the impression of living a kind of hypnotic dream, to which contribute (in addition to a story beyond all logic) the shots (many of them chopped, and from unlikely perspectives), as well as the soundtrack (which at times seems to incite drowsiness and at others has a polyphonic and somewhat chaotic chords, as in the strangulation scene). Also present in the film is an obvious occult symbolism, such as the checkerboard floor (in the ballroom).
Of the actors, the one with the longest career (I am referring to his film career) is the one who plays the general, Lucien Bataille, who participated in 80 titles between 1910 and 1945. Alex Aillin (the priest) and Genica Athanasiou (the girl), who came from Romania, only appeared in a dozen films (mostly silent).
Particularly interesting is the musical accompaniment, added much later, which enhances in an enveloping way the dreamlike atmosphere of the film.
Zinksärge für die Goldjungen, a.k.a. The Battle of the Godfathers
Germany, 1973
Director: Jürgen Roland
Script: Werner Jörg Lüddecke
Main actors: Herbert Fleischmann (Otto Westermann), Henry Silva (Luca Messina), Horst Janson (Erik Westermann), Patricia Gori (Sylvia)
Plot
Italian-American gangster Luca Messina (Henry Silva) arrives by ship from the USA to Hamburg, accompanied by his elderly Sicilian mother, his teenage daughter Silvia, and several of his bodyguards and underlings, including a black boxer named Tiger. Their intention is to seize control of the illicit business in the German city, and displace the native underworld boss Otto Westermann as king of Hamburg organized crime. Westermann and his group run the criminal affairs from their “Black Poodle Bowling Club”. Shortly after Messina’s arrival, Westermann’s men begin to be intimidated into paying a “protection” fee to the “new boss”. The German is unwilling to consent to such an outrage, and an escalation of violence between the local gang and the newcomer will escalate.
Westermann has two sons: One of them is a boxer, and in a pugilistic match he defeats Tiger, the black man from Messina. On that occasion, Luca’s daughter Silvia meets Westermann’s other son, Erik, while he is cheering on his brother in the ring. Erik and Silvia quickly fall in love and it doesn’t take the young German ten minutes to get her into bed. Thus begins between the two a kind of romance of “romeoyjulietesque” characteristics, behind the backs of their respective (and opposing) parents.
To teach his rival a lesson, Messina orders the kidnapping of his boxer son (had he known that the other was courting his daughter, he probably would have preferred to kidnap him), who is lured by a bandit disguised as a motorcycle cop under a false pretext to an abandoned junkyard or car graveyard. There they try to shoot him dead, but the young man manages to evade the bullets. He is then confronted by two Asian martial arts experts… After a fierce fight, the boxer is stripped naked and dies.
Meanwhile, at Messina’s residence, his mother is feeling ill. At that very moment, they receive a visit from Westermann himself and two of his men, who try to get the Italian and his gang to leave town. At the mother’s discomfort, Westermann strangely sympathizes and, at Luca’s request, agrees to send for a doctor. After the doctor’s visit, the lady feels better, recovered from her heart attack, and Westermann and his men also leave, reminding Messina of the “recommendation” to leave town as soon as possible. Luca replies that he will “think about it.” He then calls his men to the scrapyard with instructions to free Westermann’s son… but it is too late.
When Westermann discovers that his son has died at the hands of Messina’s thugs, he decides that he is going to take revenge: “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, and that since Messina has taken his son from him, he will eliminate his daughter… But he does not yet know that his other son, Erik, is in love with the young woman.
Comment
Curious, colorful and lighthearted Italian-German co-production, with the great Henry Silva in the leading role. As always, the hieratic interpreter of “Milano caliber 9” stands out for his icy stare and lapidary phrases. (When Messina/Silva catches his treacherous mistress stealing money from the safe, “red-handed”, and plotting an escape attempt with his right arm Sergio, Messina shoots the latter dead without batting an eye, and calmly puts the wads of bills back in the safe… The mistress asks him “Aren’t you angry? “to which he replies: “You know I only get angry for important things… you are not important” and slaps the unfaithful whore…).
It is rare to see “German gangsters”, who, in the image and likeness of Italian-American mafiosi or other exponents of organized crime, run their business from their social clubs or their lavish villas.
“Zinc Coffins for Golden Boys” (such is the literal title of the film in German) can be considered a kind of kraut-polizziotesque. It is not exactly a masterpiece, but it is recommendable to spend a pleasant time; very funny.
Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Raoul Bova, Ricky Memphis, Francesco Benigno, Romina Mondello, Tony Sperandeo
Plot
A Mafia “pentito” (“repentant”) reveals to the police the name of Turi Leofonte, an accountant with numerous data on the financing of boss Scalea’s organization. Commissioner Nino Di Venanzio is tasked with convincing Leofonte to cooperate with the authorities (following a house search of his villa), and once he agrees to cooperate, to escort him and his family from Palermo to Milan, where he is to testify at the trial.
Precipitously, Leofonte, his wife and young son, as well as Chiara, his teenage daughter (who at the time of her father’s arrest was at a high society party in Palermo); must leave their residence to be driven in three different cars to the airport, from where they will fly to Milan in the midst of a heavy security detail. Di Venanzio urges Leofonte to say goodbye to his wife and son at the gates of his villa, because “there won’t be time for that at the airport”; after which they are put into separate police cars. Chiara is picked up by two other agents, one of whom (Tarcisio) recognizes her because he had seen a photo of her in the house during the search.
On the way to the airport, Leofonte’s grief-stricken wife has a melancholy feeling that this is the last time she will see Palermo, as she looks out of the window at the city.
The car Chiara is in is farther away, while the car carrying Leofonte (and the commissioner) and the one carrying his wife and son are practically side by side…
In a sort of square, still in the middle of the city, an ambush treacherously takes place: from a van that cuts them off, several individuals equipped with automatic rifles emerge and unload bursts of lead on the first two cars of the retinue. An intense firefight ensued, claiming the lives of two of the escort agents and several of the assassins. Finally, when the hail of bullets seems to have ceased, Leofonte’s wife, carrying her son, gets out of the leaky car (even though the policemen had urged her not to do so), and runs to where her husband is hiding… One of the hitmen takes advantage of the opportunity that the unhappy woman has been shot and riddles her with bullets, with her son in her arms; both perish as a consequence, and Leofonte – witness of the tragedy – is devastated. Meanwhile, Chiara is unaware of what has just happened to her mother and brother (she will find out much later, listening to the radio), because the car in which she is traveling was at a considerable distance.
The attack, which was intended to silence Leofonte forever and prevent him from testifying in court, could only have been carried out due to some “leak” of information within the police or judicial apparatus (the sewers of the state), someone “in high places” with political and administrative connections, who seemed to have an interest in preventing Leofonte from arriving alive in Milan. This is the only way to explain why the hitmen knew that the accountant had decided to collaborate with the authorities, and – what is even more surprising – why they were aware of the specific route the motorcade was taking on its way to the airport.
Di Venanzio realizes this truism; they have been betrayed. They have been used, and as agents of the escort “rightly” were chosen policemen with no experience; in order to facilitate the work of the assassins; this is mentioned by Leofonte himself. Di Venanzio, who receives a call from one of his superiors, and who speaks with a judge, refuses to inform about his whereabouts, and says that they will travel to Milan by their own means, without counting on the state coverage, in order to avoid new attacks.
They will no longer use telephones to avoid being traced, and from then on their mission will be to reach Milan alive, escorting Leofonte and his daughter, and repelling the assassins who are hot on their trail. They will travel by car, train and bus, in strict incognito, suffering multiple mishaps before finally reaching their destination – which not all the members of the entourage will reach…
Comment
Very entertaining post-poliziotesque (which, being shot in 1995, is late for its genre, so characteristic of the seventies), which combines drama, intrigue and action with great success. The frustrated love story between the beautiful and sprightly Chiara and her escort, the shy and diligent Tarcisio, deserves a special mention. Also the soundtrack, with its epic touches, especially towards the end of the story, when Leofonte arrives at the courthouse, escorted by more and more agents.
The film’s director, Claudio Fragasso, is especially known for having made B (and Z) series productions during the ’80s, in the shadow of masters such as Lucio Fulci and other compatriots. Fragasso was involved in the project “Zombi 3” (1988), which was intended to be a sequel to Fulci’s “Zombi 2” (1979), in turn an (apocryphal) sequel to George Romero’s famous film “The Night of the Living Dead” (1968). Fragasso is also responsible for making “Troll 2” (1990), an unintentionally hilarious, supposedly horror film.
Especially in comparison to his other works, “Palermo Milano solo andata” is highly convincing and recommendable. Fragasso more than worthily revisits the genre that twenty years earlier was masterfully cultivated by the Italians Enzo Castellari, Umberto Lenzi and Damiano Damiani, among others. The story of “Palermo Milano…” is an original creation written by Fragasso and his wife, Rosella Drudi, authors of the screenplay.
Cast: Ramiro Meneses, Carlos Mario Restrepo, Jackson Idrian Gallego, Vilma Díaz
Plot
Medellín, 1990. Rodrigo is a teenager with a passion for punk-rock who, together with his friends, tries to create his own band. Some of the members of his circle are involved in various crimes, and are even forced to flee. Rodrigo tries to buy a drum kit to rehearse, but only manages to buy the sticks.
Commentary:
Soporific and at times unintelligible (mainly due to the lousy sound quality, and not only to the cryptic jargon used by the Colombian punks). Complete indifference towards the fate of the characters, no empathy is felt for them. The film goes on, tiresomely and leadenly, without anything relevant happening (at least during the first hour). Rodrigo with his friends listening to music, Rodrigo arguing with his sister, being reprimanded by his father, his buddies playing a knife fight in a ruined house, while he “plays the drums” on a wall, the young people swimming in the pool… Banal and everyday scenes accompanied by punk music… “Rodrigo D: No argument” would perhaps be a more appropriate title. The involvement of some of the young people in criminal acts is treated in a very superficial way, as if it were something secondary, so that it is not possible to generate intrigue.
Generally, critics have praised this film, putting it on a par with the Brazilian “Cidade de Deus” (2002), the Mexican “Amores Perros” (2000) or comparing it to the also Colombian – although produced by Venezuela – “Sicario” (1995). However, these three are far superior to Gaviria’s film, which disappoints for not delving into a subject that could have given a lot of potential, especially considering that it was shot in the troubled city of Medellin in 1990.
Screenplay: Arduino Maiuri, Massimo De Rita, Enzo G. Castellari
Cast: Fabio Testi, Vincent Gardenia, Renzo Palmer, Orso Maria Guerrini, Glauco Onorato, Marcella Michelangeli
Plot
A gang of extortionists is dedicated to terrorize the businessmen (store owners, supermarkets, restaurants…) of a Roman neighborhood in order to charge them weekly “protection” taxes. They have absolutely no scruples and their methods are ruthless. The head of the organization is an elegant individual with a thin mustache known as the Marseillaise.
The maresciallo Nico Palmieri (Fabio Testi) tries to put an end to the gang, but this proves difficult, because the witnesses (the shopkeepers) are too intimidated to testify against the criminals, for they are soulless psychopaths who will not hesitate to commit the most abject monstrosities. Only the owner of a modest trattoria, father of a pre-adolescent daughter, dares to sign a statement incriminating the suspects. And he will pay the consequences: his daughter, about 12 years old, is kidnapped by the criminals, raped and murdered.
The next time members of the gang come to the poor man’s place, he, far from paying “the taxes”, will receive the criminals with bullets, doing what the police and “justice” have their hands tied to do.
Palmieri (who has been the victim of an attack by the gang, surviving a brutal aggression – the racketeers threw his car down a ravine… with him in it), looks for a way to dismantle the organization, but he encounters several obstacles within the police force itself, because his “methods are not liked”, for being too “expeditious” (or perhaps, for being too effective…). In addition, the members of the Marseillaise gang (who always keeps a low and distant profile, remaining in the background) have the constant help of a (corrupt) lawyer, and every time they are arrested, a few hours later they are back on the street.
Palmieri’s (individual) investigations (for whom the case becomes a personal matter), lead him to the conclusion that the gang’s extortion activities are only the “tip of the iceberg”, and that the Marseillaise is involved in drug trafficking and other international business.
In his inquiries, the tough maresciallo is assisted by a veteran criminal, “Tio Pepe”, who, despite committing illegal acts, is a kind-hearted character who repudiates the violence and terror used by the gang of racketeers, and is willing to inform Palmieri about the movements in the underworld.
When shortly afterwards the agent is dismissed from the police force on orders from the “higher-ups” (who cover up for the criminal group), Palmieri will form an alliance with several inmates, helping them escape from prison and organizing them for a ruthless confrontation against the Marseillaise’s subordinates. Among the freed prisoners are “Uncle Pepe”, and the owner of the trattoria, who was serving time for the murder of three of the criminals, in revenge for the rape and murder of his daughter. Also a rival of the Marseillaise, and an expert hunter with firearms, who wishes to make amends for the murder of his wife at the hands of the criminals.
Comment
Very good polizziesco by Enzo Castellari, full of huge doses of violence, great dialogues and shocking action scenes, among which the shootings stand out. The cruelty of a certain type of urban crime (which usually acts under the orders of other even more dangerous criminals, but with a “respectable” mask), as well as the impotence of the system to defeat it, is shown without ambiguity. The impunity of the real and worst criminals, who are protected by the sewers of the “rule of law”.
Among many other titles, Castellari is also the director of “La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve” (1973), another polizziesco with a similar theme (the title says it all); of “Keoma” (1976), an Italian Western seen from the perspective of a half-breed Indian (played by Franco Nero); or of the original “The Inglorious Bastards” (1978), which inspired Quentin Tarantino to make his Hollywood monstrosity.
“Il Grande Racket” recalls in its style Mario Bava’s ‘Cani arrabbiati’ (1974) (a.k.a. ‘Rabid Dogs’), Sam Peckinpah’s films like ‘Straw Dogs’ (1971), and also a lesser known (but no less excellent) film called ‘L’ultimo treno della notte’ (1975), by Aldo Lado.
Director: Giuseppe Greco (a.k.a. Giorgio Castellani)
Film Genre: Social drama, tragicomedy
Guión: Giuseppe Greco
Intérpretes: Gianni Celeste (Rosario Raito), Filippo Genzardi (Pietro), Maurizio Prollo (Salvatore Arcuri), Salvatore Termini (Scimmietta), Alfredo Li Bassi (Filippo)
Plot
The film tells the story of the adventures of a group of young, half-baked delinquents in the turbulent Palermo of the early 1990s (sort of like the Sicilian “street dogs”). Several episodes follow one another, interrelated by the involvement of the members of the gang, who also separately do their own thing, in their respective microcosms.
At the beginning of the film, the story begins from the perspective of a poor starving wretch, who manages to steal a roast chicken with the help of a kind of trident, and who is madly in love with Lucia, a girl from a well-to-do family, who ignores him completely. As the unhappy man has no telephone at home, he writes a letter to Lucia begging her to call her neighbor’s phone, Signora Carmella, and she will call him back. Obviously, she will never call him; and without any news of the unfortunate man, the next scene takes us back to the criminal group’s escapades…
The leader of the gang is a twenty-year-old man named Rosario. He and his gang organize the kidnapping of Lucia, the daughter of a rich family. One day they intercept her at the exit of her house and force her into a car and drive away. A secret police patrol in the vicinity observes the events and sets out to arrest the criminals. A long chase through the streets of Palermo ensues, which then continues on the road through the mountains on the outskirts of the city. The kidnappers flee in two different cars, and one of them (with the police “already on their heels”), the one in which the kidnapped woman is also in, runs off the road and rolls down a steep slope, crashing into the rocks and exploding. Rosario, who was in the other car a little further ahead, watches the scene stupefied, and to avenge his friends, brakes, gets out of the car and riddles the pursuing policemen with bullets, whom he considers responsible for the tragedy.
At night he is in bed trying to sleep, unable to get to sleep because of the anguish caused by the events of the day, when his mother arrives (very worried about his unstable and erratic life) and admonishes him for “not continuing with his studies”, “not looking for a job”, etc., as mothers typically do.
Rosario’s mother works as a maid in the house of an influential politician, who is erotically attracted to her. She is logically a mature woman, but the chubby and bald “onorevole” is even more “mature”, and will take sexual advantage of her when Rosario is imprisoned after an attempted robbery, because with his influence he obtains the quick release of the young man in exchange for certain “favors” from the latter’s mother. Rosario is released not only due to the intercession of the politician, but also because an uncomfortable witness of his misdeeds has been intimidated by his henchmen so that at the time of the confrontation he suffers certain “mnemonic gaps”, declaring “not to remember” and “not to recognize” the offender among the suspects… Once the leader of the group is on the street, he meets with his “disciples” and a sort of parody of the last supper takes place.
But a policeman who looks like Bud Spencer, dissatisfied with the unfortunate fact that the thieves go out on the street shortly after being arrested and fed up with the impotence of justice to convict the criminals, will try to put an end to the raids of Rosario and his gang.
Comment
The plots within the plot are not always well woven, so that sometimes the “story-skeleton” that sustains the film is not fully understood. For example, the poor wretch who appears at the beginning, who in the first ten minutes is supposed to be the protagonist, and with whom the audience begins to feel great empathy, never appears again. This is attributable to the flaws in the script of this unknown (but interesting) transalpine production.
There are certain Pasolinian reminiscences, since we find portrayed that sub-proletariat with a tendency to commit criminal acts, a recurrent theme of the Bolognese filmmaker, as in “Accatone” (1961) or “Mamma Roma” ! 962) (and in Spain, of the cinema of Eloy de la Iglesia, among others)… In this context Claudio Caligari’s “Amore Tossico” (1983) also comes to mind (starring, like “El Pico” (1983), real junkies and crooks), although this film is more along the lines of “Christiane F.” (1981) and the dramas of “Amore Tossico” (1983) and the heroin addict dramas of the eighties.
The director of these “Lost Lives” is the son of none other than the Sicilian Mafia boss Don Michele Greco (1924-2008), known as “The Pope” and mediator between the families of the Cosa Nostra, condemned in the Maxiprocesso of Palermo in 1986 – a sort of real-life Vito Corleone.
The soundtrack is provided by a great musician: Claudio Simonetti, leader of the Goblin, composer also of the excellent seventies/early seventies synth-rock-wave music that accompanies most of Dario Argento’s films (“Suspiria”, “Profondo Rosso”, etc).
Script: Steven Shagan (based on book by Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain)
Cast: Armand Assante (John Gotti), William Forsythe (Salvatore Gravano), Richard C. Sarafian (Paul Castellano), Frank Vincent (Robert Di Bernardo), Anthony Quinn (Aniello Dellacroce), Dominick Chianese (Joe Armone), Vincent Pastore (Angelo Ruggiero), Tony Sirico (Joe Dimiglia)
Music: Mark Isham
Argument
In the 1970s, John Gotti (Armand Assante) was a gangster associated with the faction of Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce (Anthony Quinn) within the Gambino family of the New York Mafia. Gotti usually meets his subordinates at the Ravenite social club on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. Among the men on his crew are his brother Gene and Angelo “Quak-Quak” Ruggiero. One day, Neil Dellacroce visits Gotti at the Ravenite and tells him that Don Carlo Gambino, the capo di tutti capi, wants to talk to him. John and Neil arrive at the house where the old boss resides, and there he, his right arm Paul Castellano (cousin and brother-in-law) and the consigliere Joe “Piney” Armone (Dominic Chianese) are waiting for them. Don Carlo has a job for Johnny-Boy: to liquidate the Irish gangster who killed his nephew in a fight.
After fulfilling the assignment, Gotti’s influence begins to grow in the family. But a soldier who collaborated with him in the elimination of the Irish turns out to be a source of potential problems, due to his too impulsive and indiscreet behavior, influenced by the excessive consumption of cocaine. Gotti decides to get rid of this nuisance. But he does so without the family’s consent. This is a break with the strict rules of the Mafia. Moreover, unlike Gotti (who is still only an “associate”) the soldier was a “made man”, who had undergone the initiation rite of Cosa Nostra. And as if that were not enough, he was a member of the Castellano faction, cousin and brother-in-law of Don Carlo and his designated successor.
According to the laws of the Mafia, John should be executed for having broken the rules in such a flagrant way. But thanks to the intercession of his mentor Dellacroce, one of the underbosses of the family along with Castellano, he is forgiven. He is thus saved from death, but not from prison: shortly afterwards he must go to prison for the murder of the Irishman. He spends a couple of years behind bars, and after serving his sentence he is received by the family as a hero. Now he is “one of us”, a made man (although the initiation rite is not seen in the film).
It is 1976, and old Don Carlo has passed away. Paul Castellano, whom Gotti detests, succeeds him as head of the family. For over a decade, the Gambinos have been made up of two complementary factions (both united thanks to the authority of Don Carlo, but with no good relations between them); that of Neil Dellacroce (to whom Gotti and his family belong) and that of Castellano. While Castellano is in charge of supervising high-level financial operations, white-collar crime (in construction, garbage collection, commissions, etc.); Dellacroce manages the tough guys, the hard guys on the street, and coordinates their extortion operations, armed robberies, hijackings (or hijacking of trucks full of merchandise, etc.). Dellacroce is the boss of the typical gangsters, and Castellano for his part, is more of a businessman (dirty, yes; but office business, which keeps him away from the street world).
There is only one thing that, under Gambino’s guidelines, has always been essential to both factions: No drug dealing. Drug trafficking gets too much attention from the authorities. Buying and selling drugs is a “no go”, a taboo subject, for the uomini d’onore, for the old school Mafia. However, to Gotti’s dismay, several men in his team do not abide by this golden rule, including his own brother. Blinded by greed, Genie and “Quak-Quak” (named for his propensity to talk too much, which is also unacceptable – and can be dangerous – when you’re a member of a secret society) are trafficking huge amounts of heroin, which soon becomes an open secret throughout Brooklyn.
Generally, by this time in the 1970s, drug trafficking was already widespread among the members of the five families, but it was still officially banned by the Commission – although the bosses were generally “tolerant” and looked the other way (the Bonanno’s leader, Carmine Galante, was himself a large-scale drug trafficker, one of the major architects of the “Pizza Connection”). But this policy of turning a blind eye was not practiced by Paul Castellano, who, like his predecessor, was very severe on drug issues. Dellacroce warns Gotti about the danger that hangs over his team if Big Paul finds out, and John warns his people, without this making them change their ways.
In 1980, a tragedy strikes the family. Not Cosa Nostra’s family, the Gambinos, but Gotti’s own family. His son Frank, who was riding his bicycle in the neighbourhood, is hit by a car and dies on the spot. Responsible for this is a neighbor of the Gottis, John Favara. Despite the fact that it is an unfortunate accident, Favara will not be able to escape the gangster’s revenge. One day he is assaulted by his men, including Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, who shoot him in retaliation.
By the mid-eighties Gotti has risen from “soldier” to caporegime, or capo. Tensions within the Gambinos escalate, and the two factions (hitherto somewhat complementary) begin to distance themselves. Especially in Gotti’s team, the discomfort over Paul Castellano’s leadership is becoming more and more evident. In 1985, Gotti weaves a conspiracy to eliminate the boss (and replace him). To do so, he conducts “polls” within the family, and manages to gain the support of a significant portion of the other capos, including Sammy Gravano. At the beginning of December, the old and sick Neil Dellacroce, Gotti’s mentor, a kind of father for him in the Mafia, dies. John’s hatred for Castellano grows as Castellano has not come to pay his respects to the late Gambino’s historic underboss, preferring not to attend the funeral.
On December 16, 1985, Big Paul and his faithful lieutenant (underboss and bodyguard) Tommy Bilotti are murdered. Both are shot at as they are getting out of the limousine that had just parked in front of Spark’s Steak House restaurant in Manhattan. Gotti and Gravano supervise the operation from a car across the street. Shortly thereafter, in early 1986, John Gotti is officially appointed as the new head of the Gambino family. The break with the old school Mafia, with Don Carlo´s times, is now total. Sammy Gravano becomes the underboss, and from the old guard only Joe Armone remains, who approved the elimination of Castellano and continues to be the consigliere.
From now on, thanks to his charisma and his peculiar style, Gotti is beginning to become very popular in the media. Because of his expensive custom-made suits, they start calling him “The Dapper Don”. To that nickname a new one will soon be added: “The Teflon Don”, since no case “stuck” to him; he managed to emerge victorious from two trials. The first of the trials, for assaulting a driver in a street dispute; a trivial parking lot issue. The individual in question, called to testify, had no idea who Gotti was at the time of the events. In court, when the judge urged him to point out his assailant, when asked if he recognized him, the poor man, already aware that he was the Gambino boss, replied (fearing for his life) that he “did not remember”, that he had “forgotten everything”. Thus, the boss was acquitted, and the next day the newspapers headlined “I Forgotti”. The second trial, however, was about something far more serious: The prosecutors tried to put the “godfather” behind bars on the basis of the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), by which the other four families of the New York Mafia had been successfully beheaded: The respective bosses of the Bonanno (Phillip Rastelli), the Genovese (Anthony Salerno), the Lucchese (Anthony Corallo) and the Colombo (Carmine Persico). Paul Castellano was also indicted, but Gotti saved him from jail, as he fell the bullets before the verdict. Now it was Gotti who was facing a trial that was intended to be the continuation of the so-called Commission Case. But he also managed to get off free, thanks to the expertise of his lawyer Bruce Cutler, and was acquitted for lack of evidence.
The agents who day and night surveilled the Gambino leaders, constantly watching over the Ravenite social club and its surroundings, learned that when Gotti and his closest collaborators had to discuss really relevant matters, they went up to an apartment located in the same building, belonging to an old lady, widow of one of Dellacroce’s men. The good lady would go out for a walk and the gangsters would stay there, feeling safe and speaking their minds, describing their business in no uncertain terms. One night, FBI agents installed microphones in the house. From then on, they would listen to the elusive gangster’s conversations, and they would gather enough evidence to bring about their definitive incarceration.
Not everyone was satisfied with Gotti’s leadership. “Piney” Armone, the old consigliere, reproached him for being too “extroverted” towards the media, for his love of the limelight. Eccentricities and attention-seeking are characteristics that may please “the public” but are not well regarded by the taciturn old-school mafiosi (who keep a low profile). This unwise approach can be counterproductive to the safety of the clan. Likewise, the decision to liquidate Castellano was made without the consent of the other four families. So, just as to remove a “soldier” you have to ask the chief’s permission; to “hit” the boss you have to have the agreement of the other four bosses. Therefore, Armone recommends Gotti to “be on guard”. Indeed, not long after, in April 1986, a car bomb aimed at the new Gambino boss blows Frank DeCicco to pieces, one of his closest collaborators. Gotti becomes obsessed with safety, and his eccentric and quarrelsome behaviour is now compounded by paranoia. He sees potential traitors and conspirators everywhere, and orders the murder of several of his men, including Robert “DeeBee” DiBernardo (Frank Vincent), a capo dedicated to the pornography business. “DeeBee” is lured to Sammy Gravano’s office, and while Gravano distracts him by inviting him to coffee, one of his hit men shoots him in the back of the head.
The recordings at the old lady’s house finally pay off. On December 11, 1990, FBI agents break into the Ravenite and arrest Gotti, Gravano and the new consigliere Frank LoCascio. When they hear their own voices, which have been recorded by police microphones in the house the gangsters thought was safe, they know that this time they will not get rid of prison so easily. Sammy Gravano is outraged to hear Gotti on those tapes speaking ill of him behind his back, calling him “greedy”, among other things. The FBI agents and the prosecutor’s office rejoice to see that putting one against the other will be very useful to send Gotti to jail forever…
John Gotti, the real one.
Commentary
This HBO (Canadian-American) television co-production narrates the rise and fall of John Gotti (1940-2002) based on the script of journalist Jerry Capeci, who specialized in the Italian-American Mafia and managed the website Ganglandnews with weekly updates. In general the film is quite faithful to the real story, and the characters look very credible. Armand Assante brings “Dapper Don” to life with great skill, but what would have been really sensational would have to allow Gotti to get out of jail to play himself. With his love for the cameras and his “audience”, he would surely have been delighted to do so. Aniello Dellacroce is characterized by Anthony Quinn, who in real life was apparently a friend of John Gotti, or at least a supporter of him (as well as actor Mickey Rourke). DiBernardo is played by Frank Vincent, a regular secondary character in gangster movies, who also appears in “Goodfellas” (1990) and “Casino” (1995), both by Martin Scorsese. These two great films, by the way, are far superior to Robert Harmon’s “Gotti” (1996) that we are dealing with, as well as “Donnie Brasco” (1997) by Mike Newell with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp, also based on real events (the infiltration of FBI agent Joe Pistone in the Bonanno family). The melancholic melody of the film is good and emotional, but the soundtrack in general (always very important) could be better. Still, “Gotti” is highly recommended and its vision will be especially interesting for lovers of the genre, and for those who have previously read about the intrigues within the New York Mafia, of which John Gotti (the real one) was one of the most important protagonists.
Cast: Henry Silva (Tony Aniante), Barbara Bouchet (Margie), Fausto Tozzi (Don Ricuzzo), Vittorio Sanipoli (Don Cascemi)
Plot
Tony Aniante (Henry Silva) is a hitman recently returned to Sicily from the USA. He has been hired by Don Cascemi, one of the local Mafia bosses, to sow the tares between two rival families; so that they proceed to decimate each other, leaving the way open for Cascemi’s group, who intends to climb to the pinnacle of power once his adversaries are weakened. With his dangerous two-pronged game (never better said), Tony is looking for discord to break out between the Cantimo and the Scannapieco, who are fighting over a lucrative heroin trafficking business.
Ricuzzo Scannapieco, the head of one of the two families, is married to Margie (Barbara Bouchet), an American ex-prostitute with a penchant for drinking, who constantly insinuates herself in front of Tony. He rejects her, because he wants to avoid problems, but she insists (on several occasions), until the icy and stony hitman in the first occasion possesses her forcefully in the kitchen and in the second he has no choice but to beat her up in the haystack (“belts” included) to make her leave him alone.
Tony achieves Don Cascemi’s goal: the Scannapieco and the Cantimo kill each other; through ambushes, assaults and mutual attacks. The leader of the Cantimo is mortally wounded in a shootout when one night they are picking up on the beach a stash that has just washed ashore.
There is also a “Romeo and Juliet” love story in the background between two teenagers from rival families. Tony tries to help them escape from this atmosphere of violence, but shortly before he succeeds, Scannapieco’s men (who have been ordered to kill Tony for having beaten Margie) burst in, armed with shotguns, manage to reduce Tony and subject him to a brutal beating, after which they leave him for dead and throw him down the ravine.
But Tony manages to recover, receives a gun from the paralyzed grandson of the deceased Don Cantimo and goes to the farmhouse of Ricuzzo Scannapieco to take revenge. Margie, his wife, has committed suicide after a massive ingestion of barbiturates. Tony arrives alone and is greeted by Scannapieco and a dozen of his men, all armed. At the least expected moment, men who were hiding behind the walls of the farmhouse emerge with their shotguns and shoot Scannapieco and his henchmen. Tony has managed to disintegrate the rival gang.
After completing his mission, he is reunited with the boss Don Cascemi, who in the back of his vehicle congratulates him for having fulfilled his objective and is ready to thank him for his collaboration… paying him with lead. He points his gun at him, pulls the trigger… but nothing happens. Tony had already counted on that betrayal and had taken care of getting the bullets out. Moreover, it is discovered that the main reason he had returned to Sicily was not to carry out that assignment as a sower of tares, but something more personal… to take revenge on his mother’s murderer, who turned out to be Don Cascemi himself. As if that were not enough, the elimination of Don Cascemi had already been decided by the Mafia Commission (“those who count”, hence the title of the film); for Cascemi was engaged in heroin trafficking using methods that were too unscrupulous and grotesque (hiding the drugs inside the corpses of small children).
Finally Don Cascemi is shot by his own bodyguards and Tony takes power within the Mafia.
Comments
Violent and shocking polizziesco full of fast-paced action and memorable scenes. Its protagonist Henry Silva (American of Puerto Rican origin) appeared in numerous films of the genre, the most noteworthy being Fernando Di Leo’s excellent “Milano Calibro 9” (1972), which also features the attractive Barbara Bouchet. Director Andrea Bianchi is the director of the unintentionally hilarious “Le Notti del Terrore” (1981) (a.k.a. “Burial Ground”) a zombie nonsense that is highly entertaining.
It is quite obvious that “Quelli che contano” has marked stylistic reminiscences of italo-western; in fact it is basically an italo-western in mafia context and set in 20th century Sicily. Also the detail of the melody that the protagonist whistles mysteriously before each intervention recalls works by Sergio Leone, see Charles Bronson and his harmonica in “C’era una volta il West” (1968) (a.k.a. “Once upon a Time in the West”). Likewise the plot of the lone outlaw/hitman between the two gangs/clans is reminiscent of “For a Fistful of Dollars” (1964) (which in turn is based on the chambara ‘Yojimbo’ – 1961 – by the Japanese Kurosawa), and the final detail of the family revenge also once again takes us back to “Once upon a Time in the West”.
