La gang dei bassotti

This movie doesn't fit neatly into any category. It has elements of comedy, including slapstick, puns, sexual innuendo, and "witty" lines, but also contains foul language, brutal murders, robberies and assaults. Added to this lack of focus is terrible pacing. Some of this is the fault of the editor as he holds to long on a close-up of a character who has just said a "funny" line, but those extended pauses for laughs are present even when the scene does not cut away. I suppose the humor of the movie was supposed to derive from the surprise of seeing little people who are as nasty and cruel as everyone else. Even in 1972, this would not have surprised many people. This would probably have been a lot funnier if made a few years after the Wizard of Oz. The plot is nothing more than a series of "capers" that demonstrate the many clever ways you can smuggle a bunch of midgets into an establishment you are planning to rob. There's no indication of how or why this group of con artists suddenly become brutal armed robbers. There is nothing of the con artist subtlety in their later capers. What dramatic tension there is comes from trying to decide if Cleo (Angel Tompkins) really cares for Slick, or is just stringing him along. Since neither of these characters is sympathetic, it's hard to care to much about this.

This film essentially begins with an attractive woman named "Cleo" (Angel Tompkins) robbing a mob boss and quickly fleeing the scene in her car. Needless to say, this infuriates the mob boss who orders a couple of his men to track her down and kill her. To that effect, they eventually stumble upon her while she is working at a roadside diner but after a sudden altercation she manages to escape again. Not long afterward, she takes up with a small group of thieves in a traveling carnival and under her leadership they begin a lucrative crime spree that spans multiple states. What they don't realize, however, is that each heist brings them closer to getting captured by either the law or the mobsters still pursuing her. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a rather tepid comedy which had just one saving grace--the presence of Angel Tompkins who was absolutely stunning. That said, those viewers familiar with her career might find this film somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

There are some hilarious moments in this comedy caper about a group of circus midgets who rob banks and casinos. Billy Curtis delivers some great lines. Angel Tompkins puts in a good performance as a kind of moll for the midgets. I first saw this film while on board a US Navy ship. It was the ships evening movie and throughout the showing hilarious roaring could be heard from all the compartments on board that had TV sets in them.

A gangster's former mistress (Angel Tompkins) hooks up with a troupe of circus midgets who, as a sideline, rob banks and casinos.

From producer Albert Band comes this very strange version of a gangster and/or heist film, with the criminals being midgets. That alone seems to be the selling point, and strangely enough it works. Angel Tompkins was hired on by Larry Gordon, and first-time director Chris Christenberry was a fan of hers and encouraged it. Band, oddly, seems to have been primarily the money, though he did help Gordon with casting.

I liked the attempt to give a nod to other, better films, especially the nice reference to "Dillinger" on the marquee. (I believe they were made by the same production company, but that might not be true.) And, lastly, I love how it dances around the R rating. Although there is the constant reference to sex and nudity -- and even gang rape at one point -- they never actually show anything and the language is relatively clean. So, it earns a PG despite clearly being an R-level film.

Tompkins recalls Christenberry having an alcohol problem on set, at one point almost falling off the crane. She also recalls having to teach the little people how to wash their hair, an act that earned her the unofficial title "Miss Little People". For the next thirty years, little people would approach her and thank her for making them feel normal.

Angel Tompkins(grrrrr.....)stars in this dodgy modern retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", portraying a shifty waitress who falls into a life of crime with a band of midget grifters. Together, they turn their initial petty thefts into big-time capers which ultimately lead to very serious consequences.

Not at all the light comedy it was marketed as, though there are giggles in spots, the mien of LITTLE CIGARS borders more on seedy noir in a rather nontraditional and semi-exploitive way. Miles short of masterful, but a unique and quirky as hell B flick with considerable cult appeal.

5/10