Stiletto

Yet another film I have watched having no knowledge as . The first name on the credits was Joseph E Levine a man who produced such classics such as ZULU and A BRIDGE TOO FAR so I hopped on to this site wondering what the film might be about . Oh dear based on a novel by Harold Robbins , a writer best summed by Basil Fawlty " Trans-Atlantic pornographic muzak "

As can be expected this revolves around a protagonist who has it all - Ceasere Cardinalli who walks in to a casino where the couples have the biggest age difference seen outside of Santa's grotto or a 1970s BBC dressing room . Of course being based on a Robbin's novel Ceasere has a past which he'd rather not reveal

Thankfully much of the story revolves around a couple of cops wanting to trace a couple of former mobsters who will rat on their bosses . I say thankfully because this is the best part of the story . Every time the audience gets a scene with Ceasere and the supporting cast we have to endure what sounds like very bad sound dubbing where - characters-talk - like - this - like - they're - foreign - or something which is a serious distraction

I'll give Harold Robbins some credit and that is you know what to expect and I don't mean the Nobel Prize For Litreture . We see a rather nasty melodramatic cheesy pot boiler where men are men and women are brainless sex objects in a movie that will not be studied at university film class

I like this movie very much, but it is not without flaws, for sure. For instance, would a gangster meet the guys that are trying to kill him on a deserted island in the Caribbean, armed with nothing but a knife? Ha! And what possessed the costume guys to dress these guys in suits (one in a BLACK shirt, no less), when they are in the Bahamas? Can you say....stupid? Finally, in a scene in which a man gets shot in the belly, the shooter is obviously not pointing his gun at him. Cheesy, at best!

Still, the performers rise above the bad directing and out-of-place costumes, so it's worth watching, for that purpose, alone. Alex Cord and Joseph Wiseman are particularly good as coldhearted, sadistic gangsters, and there's even an early appearance by Roy Scheider.

Interesting that it's much better than the book (especially the ending), since that rarely happens.

Count Cesare Cardinalli receives a curious assignment by phone. He is to kill three witnesses in three very distant locations: New York, Las Vegas, and Miami. The murders drive the police crazy, and they track him down but seem disoriented. Soon, the same Mafia that commissioned the murders realizes that Cardinalli may be more dangerous than the people they ordered to be executed. Kitschy, pulpy, and not very original. But quite exciting and well-executed.

I agree that the topic, the basic plot, brings nothing new, a hired assassin for the mob, and also a playboy, as Michael Caine in MARSEILLE CONTRACT, who wants to gets out of the organization; the kind of scheme you have already seen a million times. But the late sixties atmosphere and those disenchanted characters, whose fates will lead them to a dead end, is a pure moment of delight for me. The ending is absolutely exquisite and could never be accepted by today audiences, such a shame. You will notice the bizarre camera angles every ten minutes, so typical of this period. Bernie Kowalski has never deceived me so far, for instance MACHO CALLAHAN, made one year later. Same mood, same melancholy, same gloomy tale. I will regret this period, from the late sixties and mid seventies, as long as I'll live. In this feature STILETTO, you may have from time to time some James Bond references, cool playboy and so on. But that doesn't interfere with the overall material.

Stiletto is watchable for three reasons. First it is visibly the product of an industry in transition. The main character is a mixture of James Bond and the Godfather's hit man Luca Brasi: A Sicilian who owes a Mafioso because he once saved his life. He gets regular assignments to kill potential opponents or trial witnesses. But he also lives the life of an international playboy. So we have these typical casino/penthouse/yacht scenes with lounge music and heavily made up, lavishly jeweled dames with mountains of hair topping their heads. On the other hand, the style of the coming Godfather-movies announces itself. One example is the very bizarre, sepia colored title sequence recording the incident in which the hero got indebted to the Mafioso. It has an entirely different style from the rest of the movie, as if it was done by an entirely different crew. There is also a board meeting of the gangster syndicate with an interesting 360 degree pan from the middle of the conference table. The movie soundtrack is also remarkable as it has elements of the sixties and darker, quirkier tones of movie conventions yet to come to full bloom.

Secondly, Stiletto boasts cameos of several people who later became stars or at least well known character actors: an amazingly chubby Roy Scheider as the mobster's lawyer (the physical frame goes well with the part), Charles Durning as a police officer, Raul Julia as a party guest and M. Emmett Walsh as the main character's racing buddy are the ones I recognized. I also thought I spotted Antonio Fargas, but he is not in the IMDb-credits.

Thirdly, the locations are well used. A large part of Stiletto was filmed in Puerto Rico, the final sequences take place in the Conquistador hotel complex, a masterwork of famed architect Morris Lapidus (also designed the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach). The places which represent Sicily are probably also locations in Puerto Rico, the rest of the movie was filmed on the Eastern Seabord and in New York. There is also an interesting meeting place of the O'Neal and Ekland characters, a kind of an open meeting or festival hall with a partly colored glass dome.

Stiletto in many parts resembles a TV production. It is not a really great movie, but for anyone interested in the mentioned three points well worth its time.