Afyon oppio

A typical Italian crime film, heavily influenced by THE FRENCH CONNECTION to the extent that it looks and feels like a great big rip-off. It starts off with a bang with an excellent and sadistic murder sequence before slowing down to a crawl for the rest of the running time. American import Ben Gazarra heads off to Turkey and gets involved with a local smuggling ring, and the usual twists follow. Not bad, but not one of the best.

This is a movie about a relatively small-time New York mafia hood (Ben Gazarra) trying to establish a heroin smuggling route from Turkey to New York City via Sicily (thus the English title). It was doubtlessly inspired by "The French Connection" and while, it's certainly not as good, it's an interesting movie in that it's told from the point of view of the smuggler as he uses various elaborate ploys (dead bodies, frozen fish shipments)to get the drugs to New York City, all the while having to deal with the underworld powers that be in Turkey, Sicily, and the Big Apple as well as the international police who are tailing him the whole time. Of course, the charismatic Gazarra is not going to turn out to be quite as a despicable of a character as he first seems, but the game he is playing here turns out to be even more dangerous.

This is Gazarra's show all the way. Silvia Monti plays a love interest, but she is only there for the first third of the movie that takes place in Turkey. Gazarra's brass-balled character then stays at the villa of a powerful Sicilian godfather and repays his hospitality by banging his adult daughter (Malisa Longo, gorgeous and butt-naked as usual), who just barely manages to beat the godfather's young second wife in a lustful race to get to the American gangster's bed. The first two parts of the movie are rather slow, as another reviewer said (but they seem to have been genuinely filmed in Turkey and Sicily). It is when they get to New York City, however, that the action really starts.

Fernando Baldi is an interesting director who managed to direct everything from classic Spaghetti Westerns like "Texas Addio" (the film that really introduced the world to actor Franco Nero)to ridiculously sleazy sex-soaked garbage like "Terror Express". He's not one of the great Italian directors perhaps, but clearly he has SOME talent. I would recommend this, especially to Ben Gazarra fans.

This movie has small-time hood Ben Gazzara crossing the underbelly of Europe, from Turkey to Sicily, to promote a huge score of heroin for him to sell in New York. There's an able air of lurking menace throughout this well-produced movie by Ferdinando Baldi amidst the tangled and competitive world of drug smuggling.

Lots of beautiful location shooting in Turkey, Sicily and New York City -- although if the New York shots are any indication the editors cut for maximum impact rather than geographical reality.

Ben plays a small time hood who goes to Turkey then to Italy to smuggle opium and drugs to make it to the big time. But he realises the rough and long road as everyone tries to take a cut from his business. Great locations (like Turkey and other places) and funky pop tunes by Oliver Onions does add flavor to this poorly put together film. The main reason to see this is Ben Gazzara who is a very underrated actor and he is great as usual. But the main problem is that he is badly dubbed by someone else. Recommended.

Movie with mobsters. Mobsters who trafficked drugs. From opium grown and harvested in Turkey, chemically treated in Sicily, the best quality pure heroin in the entire history of drugs, 99% pure, is obtained. And then it is delivered "secretly" to the very city where until 2001 two twin towers stood tall, as a symbol of capitalism. Watch the film, you will see them again for a few moments, when Coppola (Ben Gazzara) dresses up as a diver and dives to retrieve the "goods". The film begins spectacularly with a previous shipment of drugs hidden inside a corpse. It continues with many impressive figures of mobsters who appear in Coppola's way, some women also appear, one of them even naked, and finally, the cards are laid face down, the moment of truth. Not before witnessing an "assassination" in the style of Harvey Oswald-Jack Ruby. There is also a car chase, quite successful, original, ingenious filming. Apart from Ben Gazzara who has the main role and is very good, especially when he gets beaten up and is shot (in 2 occasions, the last one for good), Luciano Catenacci stands out, the most convincing Italian actor in mobster roles, thanks to his face, see especially "Confessions of a Police Captain" Original title: "Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica" (1971). Jess Hahn in a unique role as a large producer of opium. Ferdinando Baldi did a good job, so I will be more generous than the others and give it 8 stars.