Gente de Respeito

A strange little film set entirely in an isolated Italian township. A young female teacher turns up and is played by SCANNERS starlet Jennifer O'Neill. A creepy guy begins harassing her on the bus and is later found dead, and she's suspected. Meanwhile, the townsfolk seem to be hiding a conspiracy of silence. Very little actually happens in this mood piece, although I suppose it's of one with old westerns like HIGH NOON and SHANE with locals showing collective weakness. James Mason and Franco Nero are typically good value in support.

Nobody - and I do really mean nobody - could make suspenseful, ultimately strange, and politically relevant thrillers like the Italians during the 1970s! This "Flower in his Mouth", for instance, is a uniquely gripping, convoluted and truly original motion picture, brought to an even higher quality-level by great performances and another staggering soundtrack by the one and only Ennio Morricone.

I could easily fill three pages with just the plot description but will stick to a short summary. Elena Bardi arrives in a secluded town community in Sicily to become the new schoolteacher. The gap between the rich and the poor couldn't be bigger in this town, and even though she's embraced by the rich, Eleni immediately shows care and sympathy for the poor and struggling families that cannot even send their children to school. Also shortly after her arrival, Elena gets publicly harassed by a man who approached her on the bus already. One day later that same man is found murdered and placed on a chair in the middle of the town's square with a flower in his mouth. According to the old Sicilian code, this means he was killed for offending a beautiful flower and thus implies somebody in town guards over Elena. From then, she's feared by the eminent people, and she uses this power to help the poor.

"Flower in his Mouth" features great roles for Jennifer O'Neill and the always reliable Franco Nero, and a downright powerhouse performance by James Mason, as the seemingly kind town's patriarch. Many sequences are complex, and I even found the last 10-15 minutes almost incomprehensible, but the film is eerily compelling and hypnotizing to look at. The many moments during Elena Bardi is gazed at by hundreds of silently judging eyes of townsfolk are hauntingly tense; - especially because they are guided by the mesmerizing tunes of Morricone's score.

I saw this under the title The Masters on video in the UK. I've seen a lot of Italian movies from this time and if you allow for the limitations of dubbing and budget this film is actually pretty special. The idea of one man manipulating a whole population of a small town is brilliantly handled, and acted by James Mason. Franco Nero and Jennifer O Neal both give decent performances as pawns in a much larger conspiracy. It also has some great inexplicable moments, the frozen bodies on the motorbike, the revelation of what James Mason keeps in his backgarden, the superstitions of the townspeople. This all adds to the intrigue of this fascinating film. Somewhere between exploitation and art this film represents just what I personally look for in Italian movies from the 70's. Recommended, but not for everyone.

I don't usually write reviews as existing ones have already covered all major points, nevertheless i think this film deserves better.

It's advertised as mystery/Giallo so i was expecting something shallow and entertaining but the film kept lingering in my brain for some time.

I kept discovering layer upon layer of ideas and that's what very good movies do to me. I realised that i had completely misjudged it and at last it hit me.

This isn't a film about some movie hero solving a mystery and bringing the culprit to justice, this is about the making of a hero.

A real, flawed person like we all are, finds herself in the midst of mystery and murder with nobody daring to stand up to the villain behind it; so ultimately a decision has to be taken.

Bow down like the others did or fight against all odds risking your life, and that's the moment that a person has to take a stance.

Few choose to fight, so a hero is born.

Jennifer O'Neil becomes the latest victim to the strange customs of Sicily when she takes up a teaching job in one of its rural towns. She doesn't even make it off the bus before being harassed by some sleaze-ball and finds that the townsfolk don't even bother lifting a finger when the man continues to harass her in town.

Her landlord seems like a sweet, if gossipy, old man. James Mason claims that his family used to be powerful in the region, but now he's reduced to just watching the world go by, even though he seems to know an awful lot about what's going on in town. It also helps that one of her fellow teachers is hunky Franco Nero, with his moustache and staring.

However, that creep keeps annoying her and one day his corpse is found sitting on a chair in the middle of piazza with a flower in his mouth. The police of course suspect Jennifer, who is enraged by such accusations. Then again, the townsfolk have totally changed their attitude towards her, now bowing and doffing hats to her in the street. She also somehow becomes a champion of the poor folk of the town, and their political voice. What's going on? And who's killing the people who go up against her? And why the flower?

Not quite a murder mystery, not quite a Eurocrime film, this is more of a strange puzzle that Jennifer O'Neil has to solve as the audience watches on. It's not terribly action packed but Jennifer O'Neil is pretty good as a strong woman who won't put up with anyone's crap, including Franco Nero. She switches from confused woman to a ball of female rage (and back again!) at the drop of a hat. Nero on the other hand is rather subdued, but I'm guessing that's down to the character he's playing. Mason of course is great as James Mason, all hissing English charm.

Although I enjoyed it, I'm not sure others will. It's kind of lacking in action and gore, and isn't quite arty enough to be off the wall. Fans of Franco Nero's arse will be pleased to note that his arse turns up in this one. So stop asking about his arse!