Family Honor

Tony Page stars here as Joe Fortunato, a tough-guy detective regularly hounded by his mom (Vera Visconti) and uncle. It seems that the mob had ordered the death of Joes' dad seven years ago, and the mom & uncle are still absolutely determined that Joe get revenge. Joe's not so sure, although circumstances will dictate that, before too much time has passed, Joe will be looking for some payback with the help of a sawed-off shotgun.

Sly Stallone had actually auditioned for the role of Joe, but the filmmakers, seeking gritty realism, opted for Sly's friend Page, who had real-life mob connections. A great actor Page is not, but he does have an amusing, rough-around-the-edges screen presence. The rest of the cast does decent work, with James Reyes a total hoot as an arrogant mafioso. (He's the one believed by mom & uncle to have given the order to rub out the dad.) Another familiar face in this is Toni Kalem, playing Reyes' daughter; her other credits include playing Chuck Norris' love interest in "Silent Rage" nine years later. Adding interest for some viewers is the fact that rock stars Leslie West and Corky Laing (of the band Mountain of "Mississippi Queen" fame) have roles here as mob underlings. But it's Visconti who will capture most peoples' attention. This woman defines the word "intensity".

The story itself (the film is written by Nicola Fisher, based on Louis Pastores' story, and directed by Clark Worswick) is sufficiently entertaining, although it's largely familiar stuff for any fan of low budget crime fiction. Still, it does have a certain raw appeal, with the occasional burst of splashy violence. And the recent Blu-ray release will be cause for celebration since this was unavailable on home video for the longest time, and now viewers will be able to delight in checking out some memorable dialogue whenever they feel like it.

Seven out of 10.

Hard hitting, gritty but low budget mob drama of disgraced mobster trying to go straight but not allowed to by his "family" unit. Most notable is the appearance of rock royalty, Leslie West and his drummer, Corky Laing as main antagonists/hit men. This movie was shot in the early seventies so everyone has their hard-rock haircuts, but this was an accurate depiction of the hoods of the day wanting to look "hip". This should be marked as Leslie West's first film appearance, years ahead of "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks. It has been years since I had viewed this film, but what sticks out is the "High Noon" showdown looming in the climatic scene, the protagonist saws off the barrel of a shotgun in preparation. I had never seen such documentary style realism in a commercial film before, but this was before I had watched "Mean Streets" or other early Scorcese or Coppola projects. I'd love to see this movie again.

One of those hard to find revenge grindhouse flicks from early seventies. It is stated that Stallone was asked to take the main lead but the producers wanted someone else and came around his friend Page.

The flick itself is slow and sometimes even on the edge of being boring. Nevertheless, once the revenge takes place at the end of this flick the blood do comes in.

It's out there nowadays on Blu Ray but it's only one for the grindhouse geeks or those who did like revenge flicks from that era. Still, direction and camera are above mediocre.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 1,5/5 Comedy 0/5.