L'ambitieux

Here it is, the movie that inspired Bryan DePalma's "Scarface," and when you see "L'ambizioso" you will recognize it immediately. The story is the same, changing only the locales. Aldo, played by cult actor Joe Dallesandro in possibly his biggest role, is a New York born, small time criminal, who comes to Naples to make a name for himself. He goes from a small time gig of hawking black market cigarettes, and methodically claws his way to the top of the criminal underworld, after being betrayed by a colleague. The story arc is the same as DePalma's iconic film, which came a decade later. Filled with action, bloody shootouts, and searing drama, this is one epic movie. Little-known director Pasquale Squitieri made a series of these gangster movies, and they are all brilliant. This guy really knew his stuff. He seemed to have an understanding for bad guys as he tells the story always from their point of view. and he makes us sympathize with them, and even have immense respect for them. Which is why these movies might not be appropriate for young, impressionable minds. For fans of crime cinema and Italian mafia films, "L'ambizioso" is required viewing, and is worth tracking down.

Obscure Italian crime picture that has acquired some notoriety as the possible inspiration for De Palma's 'Scarface' but more particularly for featuring the infamous and iconic Joe Dallesandro. He was in Italy for 'Flesh for Frankenstien' and 'Blood for Dracula' and this is not as good as either of those, nor, of course, his wild and influential 'underground' movies for Andy Warhol in the late 60s/early 70s. Here we have an ugly, though well shot, violent film as Joe tries to insinuate himself into the higher echelons of the crime syndicates of Naples and Rome. Its okay, if too long, but every now and again Joe is posed upon a bike, against a wall or laying down and these particularly well shot scenes are, I guess, what you might call the 'money shots'. Decent soundtrack from Franco Campanino.

A hungry young buck (Joe Dallesandro) who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working at a warehouse for a gangster, and because of his ruthlessness and dependability he begins to ascend the ladder of organized crime.

Writer-director Pasquale Squitieri is not one of the better-known Italian directors. But he did come up the right way, being mentored by Vittorio De Sica and then going through a very brief (two film) spaghetti western phase with Klaus Kinski. By the time of "The Climber" (1975), he had already honed his action / crime film skills with "Camorra" (1972) starring Jean Seberg.

The star of "The Climber" is, of course, Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, who is something like a more handsome Peter Fonda. In fact, Squitieri personally stopped by the set of "Flesh For Frankenstein" to make sure he could get Dallesandro. Opposite him is Stefania Casini, who is today probably best known for "Suspiria" (1977), but interestingly enough had just appeared in Paul Morrissey's "Blood for Dracula" (1974)... with Dallesandro! (The pair ended up dating for a while.)

There is a rumor going around that this film was a big influence on Brian DePalma's "Scarface". Reviews all around the internet suggest it to be true, but no source is cited beyond the fact that the plots have some vague similarities. Whether the inspiration story is true or not, I do not know, but if it is, that is more than enough reason for this film to be preserved and studied. (Another reason is the score from Franco Campanino, who had been a popular musician alongside his brother since 1957, especially the song "Naples Dock".)

The Arrow Blu-ray is a bit sparse compared to some of their other releases. But it does feature a broad 28-minute interview with Joe Dallesandro, where he discusses being mentored by Warhol and Morrissey. We also learn how he was scammed into shooting a movie in Africa, the rarely-seen "Safari Rally" (1978). And he discusses his drinking problems. The interview barely covers "The Climber", but fans of European cinema will enjoy Dallesandro's honest and interesting reflections on working "underground".

Kick-ass gritty tale of the bad guys versus the bad guys here as Joe Dallesandro gets a huge chip on his shoulder with the mob in Naples. He's just a New York hustler peddling tobacco and collecting protection money when out of the blue he gets a kicking and thrown out of the gang for making too much noise.

Joe heads for Rome, rather handily getting a lift from Stefania Casini (and hooking up with her in the process). Joe finds a contact in Rome and gets another job from a sinister gay man to rip off a business deal, steal a briefcase, then bring it back. He also offers to give Joe one up the crapper for extra incentive. Nothing turns out right as the briefcase contains a load of heroin belonging to that gang in Naples, and Joe's been double crossed by that gay fella!

It's shortly after the Mob kill Joe's best friend that Joe decides the gloves are off, and he begins getting revenge by stabbing the guy that double crossed him first (in rather a realistic manner). America might be the land of opportunity, but Italy's the land where those capable of the most violence triumph over all, and Joe's headed for Naples with his new gang of boxers, bare-chested bikers who seem to have fallen into a time warp from an eighties Italian post-apocalypse film, and a sullen sharpshooter.

The first thing you'll notice is that Joe Dallasendro isn't the best actor in the world. He can scowl real good though, and he's playing an arrogant tough nut to boot, so we can forgive for the lack of Gielguid-esque soliloquies. Director Squitieri makes everything seem much more grubby and dusty as usual, which lends a bit more realism to the proceedings, and it's the same with the violence. No fancy stuff here, although there's plenty of the red stuff.

When I think about it, most of the emotion comes from Stefania Casini as the tearful girlfriend who watches her man drift further and further away due to his obsession with revenge, so it's worth watching for that too.

Between this and Order To Kill I'm seeing a distinct change in the fashions, cars and music of this genre, from the brown-suited Dirty Harry rip-offs of two years ago we now have thin white t-shirts, afros, sports cars and hard rock on the soundtrack. Nice.

A tough and sadistically violent Italian crime thriller starring cult actor Joe Dallesandro. He plays a hoodlum who gets beaten to a pulp by gangsters and decides to rise through the ranks, SCARFACE-style, to get revenge. It's a pretty low budget tale that revels in bloody violence meted out to various ne'er-do-wells, but I didn't find it very entertaining along the way; just grim, cheap, and depressing.