El clan siciliano

Roger Sartet (Alain Delon) is a high profile career criminal who is top of the French police wanted list, so when he escapes from their custody for a second time under the nose of dogged cop L'inspecteur Le Goff (Lino Ventura), he goes immediately into hiding as the police try to locate him. Vittorio Manalese (Jean Gabin) a Sicilian born criminal and godfather of a mob style family, is the man who sprung him from police custody, he has long planned his retirement back in Sicily but is immediately interested in one last heist after hearing Sartet's plan for a big jewel heist in Rome. Together with some mobsters from New York, they set in motion a daring plan to steal the jewels while on route to the US. All goes well for Sartet until a child's indiscretion alters his fate for good.

Entertaining enough crime flick, with some excellent set pieces and made with plenty of style, the funky main theme by Ennio Morricone being a highlight. All three legends of French cinema are excellent although none have enough screen time to truly rank in their best. Verneuill's direction is uber stylish, with some passing similarities to Leone in framing and tone, although some elements of the main heist are quite dated they are still quite fun. Its not a film for the pc brigade however as there is plenty of sexual denouement, Sartet's affair with the beautiful Jeanne Manalese (Irina Demick) producing one of cinemas most outrageous moments of sexual symbolism, its so absurd you just have to laugh.

Summary: A Near Classic, Top Notch Crime Drama

It might sound cliché, but I'm just going to use it and say it: "They just don't like that anymore". The Sicilian Clan truly deserves it and every second of the film is tightly acted and directed. We also have an absolutely magnificent soundtrack here courtesy of the Italian master composer Ennio Morricone which perfectly matches the mood and look of the film. Alain Delon, in one of his best performances, plays a master thief who gets hired by Jean Gabin for the occasion of pulling off a 50 million dollar jewel robbery. The jewelry is being shipped to a museum in New York by a passenger airplane and The Sicilian Clan want them all. The best way: hijack the plane! There is also a very good subplot involving Delon and the wife of the one of the Clan boys that runs along the way which is ultimately responsible for the film's very very satisfying finale. Beautifully shot in Panavision, the imagery is also great with lots of on location photography of the late 60's Paris. Sadly, this movie is not currently available on home video. It was theatrically released in North America by the 20th Century Fox and it grossed over $1 million dollars at the time which quite respectable. I don't know who currently has the rights to it but hopefully Anchor Bay will license and release it now that they have released another great one "Un Flic". Until then, I'm glad that at least I have a pan & scan copy I made from the cable.

the music. and the acting. as inspired meet. a film who remains, after almost a half of century, more than seductive. for Ventura, Gabin and Delon, sure. but, more important, for the clear/precise definition of the rules of a genre. because it is a classic. like a diamond, each line is clear and impeccable. the family spirit , the work of stubborn policeman, the charming and vulnerable - in a specific way - criminal, the " Pater familias" who knows and proposes the rules and has the solutions. short, a film who I saw in many occasion. like the first time. because not only the story is fascinating but its many details who refresh memories and gives new clues. so , a great film.

As one of the IMDb reviewers said, "The best feature of this film is the fantastic sound track by the genius composer Ennio Morricone". Morricone's catchy, wistful, longing, mourning and absolutely mesmerizing score elevates this typical (in a good sense) French crime noir to even higher level. I first heard it couple of years ago when I bought Morricone's "Once Upon A Time: The Essential Ennio Morricone Film Music Collection", a double disc superb collection. Even among legendary Morricone's scores, the music for "Le Clan des Siciliens" stands alone. It created a mood that mixed suspense, melancholy, danger, and regrets, and it made me fell in love with the movie that I had not even seen. Since I heard the score for the first time, I tried to find the film and finally I purchased a Region Free, NTSC, widescreen DVD with French, English and Russian Audio tracks and English subtitles. The film looks gorgeous and I was pleased with the clean and clear DVD transfer. I have been a fan of French crime/heist/noir/mystery of 1960-1980 films for long time and to see three of my favorite actors (Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, and Lino Ventura) who had made many classics of the beloved genres acting in the same movie added to my excitement. All three are excellent, and one of the advantages of the new DVD was the chance to see the film in its original French and to hear the real voices of three screen legends. Nobody could be cooler than Delon as Roger Santet, a convicted murderer, ruthless, violent yet irresistibly and dangerously charming, a "beautiful destructive angel of the dark street". Lino Ventura is reliable and convincing as a chief of detective inspectors who had vowed to hunt Santet down. Aging Jean Gabin, one of the most beloved French actors with the wide acting range who could play successfully the characters as diverse as inspector Maigret and Pépé le Moko is wonderful as Vittorio Manalese, the father and "the Godfather" of the Sicilian Clan, the family which is tied by blood in more ways than one. Vittorio certainly lived by an old wisdom, "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer."

I first saw "The Sicilian Clan" at the Mayfair theater in Fresh Meadows, in 1970. A Woody Allen movie was the main feature then, but I went to see "The Sicilian Clan," a great crime movie then and now. The Mayfair, then operated by the Weinstein brothers of Miramax fame, changed in 1974 from showing foreign and off-beat movies to X-rated movies, movies hard-core enough to get the new theater operator sent once to Rikers Island by the Queens DA. The Queens DA at the time, John Santucci, never bothered the wise guys portrayed in "Goodfellas," but then, Santucci never went to jail like his predecessor, former DA Thomas Mackell. In the glossy world of "The Sicilian Clan," the criminals are professionals who make money the old-fashioned way - they plan robberies. The picture starts with members of the Manalese family, arranging for the escape from custody of career criminal Roger Sartet (Alain Delon). Sartet is in big trouble, having killed two policeman during his capture, according to a comment later made by Lino Ventura's character, a tough cop. The escape from the police van is suspenseful, as is most of this movie. "The Sicilian Clan's" plot has the thieves take a hijacked jet to New York. Instead of landing at an airport in Queens, though, the jet lands on an unfinished highway. To show the attention to detail director Henri Verneuil took, as the jet rolls over a bridge, you briefly see dirt from the bridge supports fall down, from the weight of the landing jet. About eight years after I saw this movie, Queens mobsters using inside information robbed the high security vault of Lufthansa airlines at JFK Airport. That robbery and its aftermath are part of the plot of "Goodfellas." In "The Sicilian Clan" Sartet's character has inside information on the burglar alarm installation at the Villa Borghese, where a big jewelry exhibit is taking place. He uses this information to get Jean Gabin's character, the head of the family, involved in the robbery. Thinking it over, Queens in the 1970s was the most appropriate place to see a crime movie like "The Sicilian Clan." A French crime movie that in part imitated what was happening in Queens.