Da Corleone a Brooklyn

Umberto Lenzi, in case you've never heard of him, is an Italian director of various kinds of exploitation flicks: horror, crime drama, and even spaghetti western. The first movie of his that I ever saw was "Orgasmo" - called "Paranoia" in the US - in which Carroll Baker (of "Baby Doll" fame) plays a woman who moves to Italy and gets to know a young couple who aren't what they seem. Now I've seen another one of Lenzi's movies: "Da Corleone a Brooklyn" ("From Corelone to Brooklyn" in English). Maurizio Merli, who was apparently famous as a Franco Nero lookalike, plays a cop helping a low-level mafioso testify against a big-time gangster. I actually found much of the movie to be really slow-moving, but the last half-hour or so made up for that. Even so, the European exploitation flicks that I prefer are the ultra-gory ones.

At this writing the masses are rating it 6.6/10, which is just too low. 80% of those that took the time to write a review are giving it 8/10. That's more like it.

I'm glad that it ended when it did. Da Brooklyn a Corleone would make a nice sequel, but not all in one movie!

There's not a lot you can say in a review of this particular movie without a spoiler cropping up, so I guess I could say in that regard that it's extremely plot-driven. The characters are drawn in a much more believable way than the current crop of mafia orientated movies that suffer from way too much badda-bingness.

I can't find a subtitles file for this anywhere, so I had to watch in English, which was OK for the Brooklyn scenes. If I ever get my hands on one, I would LOVE to create a version of this movie where the scenes in Sicily are done in Italian with English subtitles, and the scenes in Brooklyn are done in English. The script actually lends itself to that, with one of the locals in NY asking what a particular word is in Italian. That has to be in English, but the scenes in Sicily obviously weren't. Of course the elephant in the room is that real Sicilian wouldn't sound much like standard Italian, but, hey, close enough. That would be a truly awesome improvement to what is already a really solid flick. If someone PM's me with a subtitle file, I will share the result. I promise, it will be awesome. Well, it is already. My copy already has English/Italian sound tracks, so the project is very doable.

FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN is an exciting late 70s Italian crime film starring the dynamic and handsome Maurizio Merli as an Italian cop who is trying to find a killer who is mob-connected and who eventually has to bring a witness to the United States to testify against the suspect in order for the suspect to be extradited back to Italy. Written and directed by Umberto Lenzi, who directed any number of excellent police films in the 70s (and four great vehicles for Carroll Baker in the late 60s/early 70s), the film moves at a brisk pace and because Mafia killers are after Merli and his witness, the viewer never knows when they will next be attacked or by what method. The pulsating, police-funk score gives this the classic "sound" of a 70s euro-crime film, and the fatalistic ending is something one would rarely see in an American film. Van Johnson, as the New York police lieutenant who works with Merli, does a fine job of barking orders at underlings and projects a genuine concern for Merli's task and situation. I'm still not sure if Mr. Johnson did his own dubbing on this film, but had a cold and was not well-recorded, or whether someone was doing a Van Johnson imitation--after all, Johnson is an EASY to identify actor with distinctive phrasing and accent. A mimic could listen to the soundtrack of one of his films and do a decent impression. In any event, this would rank among the top third of 70s Italian crime films that I have seen. Also, much of the location shooting is in New York and is shot when there is snow on the ground, so the atmosphere is important in the film Recommended to fans of this genre of film, FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN is an example from the "golden age" of Euro-crime films.

Like the vast majority of the earth's population, yours truly is currently (May 2020) stuck in confinement at home due to a nasty new little virus called Corona. Also like most people, I'm often on the verge of going berserk, not being able to get out of the house and occasionally escape from (otherwise very lovable) wife and children. But, fortunately, I discovered a very effective method to release stress, and I would like to recommend it to as many people as possible! The secret to surviving this lockdown is reverting to the extreme violence and fast-paced action of the Italian Poliziotesschi from the 1970s, and then preferably those directed by Umberto Lenzi, since he was the undeniable master of this wonderfully twisted exploitation sub-genre.

By 1979, the release year of "From Corleone to Brooklyn", Lenzi had already made more than a dozen euro-crime thrillers, but still he always succeeded in making them refreshingly original, genuinely tense, extraordinary well-scripted and full of exhilarating stunt work. And even though Maurizio Merli never once played another role in his career, he still depicts the role of obsessive police captain with a tremendous amount of passion, energy and persuasion. In this awesome thrill-ride, police commissioner Giorgio Berni (Merli) must escort the apprehended hitman Scalia from Palermo to New York, in order to get him to testify against the fled mafia boss Michele Barresi. The film is called "From Corleone to Brooklyn", but it might as well have been named "Six Million Ways to Die on the Way to the Airport, and another Four Million Ways to Die from the Airport to the Courthouse". Barresi calls upon all his mafia connections to execute Scalia before reaching New York, and Cpt. Berni risks his life, and even that of his loved ones, numerous times to prevent these assassination attempts from happening.

There are several downright terrific sequences, like the virulent chase in the ultra-narrow streets of Palermo or the confrontation in the apartment block's basement, and the film also benefices from superior production values, a proper budget, a sublime soundtrack and a stellar supportive cast (including Van Johnson). Bring on the next confinement week!

From Corleone To Brookln is one of Umberto Lenzi's best crime films, which is saying lot because he directed many classics in the genre.

Maurizio Merli plays Berni, the usual P.O. cop, and here he has to escort a lowlife criminal (Biagio Pellegra) from Italy to New York so he can testify against a mafia head.

the mafia have set up a series of traps along the way, making things a bit difficult for the boys.

at times very suspenseful, action packed and helped along by one of composer Franco Micalizzi's best scores, From Corleone To Brooklyn gets my highest recommendation.

sadly, this would be the last "real" crime film Lenzi would make, but at least he went out with a bang!