Mister Scarface

I have to admit that I collected this one because it had Fernando di Leo writing and directing, but got around to watching it because I just couldn't fathom the way the reviews are love it/hate it. I still don't get that. My best WAG is that the Italian and American releases are *very* different. I watched the original Italian release with English subtitles.

There are better ones in the genre, but only a bit so. It never failed in any important way, imho. Elements were really, really great. The location shots were divine. Sitting there with some venison bolognese and a glass of red wine, you could just *wallow* in some of the location scenery. For those with marginal Italian, it was one of the easiest to understand I've ever watched. Barely needed the subtitles. That's a good comment on it, compared with other Italian crime flicks. It's very straight ahead. Not so predictable as to be boring, but what you see is what you get and that's quite satisfying.

I thought the humor was well done, never over the top or distracting. And, unlike a lot of token crime film humor...it was funny. Every now and then you say, "Wait...how?...oh", but rather than being a continuity problem I thought that gave it a real-life kind of feel. Bits that would have been dragged out forever in most any movie, boom!, just happen, again giving it a real life effect. Other bits are drawn out. Well balanced, on balance, I thought.

So, I just don't understand the negative reviews on this one. It has to be that the American release is very different and really crap. Most the negative reviews I've seen have been in connection with the "Fernando di Leo Crime Collection" DVD. I collected all the ones on that release from the original Italian ones, so I don't know anything about it, but I'm thinking it could be a poor release of this movie. I'll stand by my opinion that there is nothing in the world wrong or not to like about the Italian release of this one. Light hearted at times, it's not lightweight by any stretch.

Energised to some degree by some inspired acting, this violent little crime caper has a young, carefree protection collector (Baer) swindling a big-time hood (Palance) out of 10 million Lira only to discover that his "good deed" has deadly consequences for all concerned. His alliance with a former gang member of the hood (Cliver) may be the only chance he has to clear his debts, and survive, but there's another motivation for Cliver's expert assistance.

Palance is wasted talking out the corner of his mouth while he incessantly chews on a durry filter, while poor old Edmund Purdom really has things tough in this film. His character is publicly emasculated and betrayed by his own favoured son. The role isn't especially prominent, nor key to the plot, so Purdom's appearance in it is both unusual (for such a distinguished actor) and ultimately frivolous. Baer is likable as the charismatic "enforcer", who attracts as much attention from the ladies as he does from those attempting to kill him. Rotund funny-man Caprioli as the wily old Purdom gang member over-indulges in the humour, becoming a parody. Overall, it's very hit and miss.

There's not much to recommend; lots of fisticuffs, gun-fights, car-chases and the like, but the tongue-in-cheek element is never consistently applied, and consequently, the tone is confusing, the film itself a dull experience.

What went wrong here? Fernando Di Leo drops the ball in a meandering crime film that takes almost fifty minutes to get anywhere and doesn't feature any particularly interesting characters. All Jack Palance does is scowl with a cigarette in his mouth, something you've seen him do in a dozen other films.

It starts out with a kid witnessing his father being killed by Jack Palance, then we fast forward to the present (seventies Rome), where Tony works for local mob guy Luigi (played by a very pale Edmund Purdom). Tony wants to work the big leagues and ends up teaming up with Al Cliver, a guy who until recently worked for Palance. I guess the mystery is figuring out which one of them was the kid at the start of the film.

The first two thirds of the film concentrate on these two scamming Palance while also fighting with Purdom's second in command, and the main problem is neither of the leads are that interesting. The only character with any depth is the old Neopolitan pickpocket who gets caught up in the all the madness. For some reason though his character has an over the top Italian accent whilst everyone else is dubbed American.

Most of the action takes place in the last half hour of the film, where finally everyone gets their guns out. This is where Al Cliver shines as he's not the best at being emotional, but at least he looks cool gunning people down. The whole film seems a bit tired and it's as if Di Leo didn't know where to take the story, and as there's about a million Eurocrime films from 1976, this one doesn't quite cut it.

"Rulers of the City" is enjoyable for fans of the Italian crime flick, with a fast moving story and a sense of humour to let you know that it's never taking itself too seriously. The actors are all good and the film is effectively violent without ever getting very bloody. True enough that it may not be all that believable, but it *is* entertaining, if not memorable in the end. Director Fernando Di Leo was prolific in this genre and the viewer may want to check out his other works; they're available in DVD and Blu-ray box sets from Raro Video.

The amiable Harry Baer stars as Tony, a young debt collector who's tired of his go-nowhere job. So he hatches a scheme with aging mobster Napoli (Vittorio Caprioli) and his new friend Rick (Al Cliver of "Zombi 2") to con big time hood Manzari (Jack Palance) out of several million. Naturally, things don't work out the way that they want and they end up having to make a stand against Manzari and his goons.

It's enjoyable to see this international, familiar cast at work. Palance is convincing as the bad guy, the engaging Caprioli supplies a good deal of the comedy relief, Edmund Purdom (the dean in "Pieces") has a welcome presence as mafioso Luigi Cherico, the lovely Gisela Hahn provides the eye candy (and also sings some tunes), and Enzo Pulcrano is amusing as volatile jerk Peppi, who's out to get Tony. Co-scriptwriter Peter Berling also plays the role of Valentino in the film.

All in all, this is pleasant to watch, with a reasonably rousing action climax and an eclectic score by Luis Bacalov.

Seven out of 10.

I had first watched this on the big screen as part of the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival (where 6 features by Di Leo were shown); back then, I didn't like it - rating it ** and feeling that it was rather unbalanced by the vulgar comedy relief (though typical of Italian films during this era), especially when compared to the director's other relatively more sober stuff (which had proved my first encounter with his work)!

Watching it again as part of a mini-tribute to its star, Jack Palance (who passed away recently), I found myself a lot more receptive to it; Di Leo dabbled most often in the crime genre and, as can be deduced from the title, this one falls into that category: the plot, dealing with a gang war (one faction controlled by Palance and the other by Edmund Purdom), is no great shakes but, at its centre is a revenge plan involving Palance and young misfit Al Cliver (whose identity is unknown to the 'boss'); this element gives it an undeniable edge, and the exciting climax takes place at a massive abandoned slaughterhouse - where an old betrayal and murder had taken place.

As is typical of the director, the action is pretty constant and always dynamic - aided by a fine eclectic score by Luis Enrique Bacalov; there's a discreet amount of nudity and, as I said, a slight overdose of comedy: however, as I watched more films by Di Leo (totaling nine so far), I realized that this was basically an idiosyncrasy of his (evident even in a straight melodrama such as LA SEDUZIONE [1973]) but, in any case, I generally appreciated its style of humor now - especially when delivered by Di Leo regular Vittorio Caprioli (my favorite bit occurs towards the end, when he shoots the bad guys at close range with a bunch of guns he purchased for an eventual showdown but, constantly missing the mark, reasons to himself that the weapons must be defective and, therefore, he ought to return them and file a complaint to boot!).

Palance is suitably sinister and imposing - even if he probably spends more time being had, so to speak, than dishing it out! In the end, what's missing from the film vis-a'-vis Di Leo's other genre work is a strong hero (i.e. a credible opponent to Palance) in the vein of Gastone Moschin (from THE CONTRACT [1972]), Mario Adorf (from THE Italian CONNECTION [1972]) and Henry Silva (from WIPEOUT! [1973])...