O Chefão Siciliano

Umberto Lenzi made some of the best Italian crime thrillers of the seventies. Unfortunately, however, this late entry doesn't rank up alongside his best efforts; but even so, From Corleone to Brooklyn is a breezy and entertaining little thriller that is sure to be appreciated by fans of this genre. The film that had the biggest influence on the Eurocrime genre is most definitely Don Siegal's masterpiece Dirty Harry; but the genre went on to take in elements from many different films; and it would seem that the main influence for this film is the 1977 Clint Eastwood thriller 'The Gauntlet'. As usual, the plot focuses on organised crime in Italy. Maurizio Merli takes up a familiar role as Commissioner Berni (no relation to the better known Commissioner Betti, I think); a cop who puts his life on the line to transport a witness from Corleone to New York City in order to testify against a mob boss on trial for murder. Along the way, Berni and his prisoner face a series of traps set up by the Mafia.

Maurizio Merli may be more than a little bit one-note; but he plays that one note so well that it's difficult to complain. He really does sleepwalk through the film; but it doesn't matter too much because this is still a very entertaining performance from the Eurocrime veteran. Merli is joined by the distinctive Biagio Pelligra and the pair has good chemistry together as they make the perilous journey from Italy to the USA. At just under ninety minutes; the film does feel rather short, however, and I have to say that it's the pacing that really lets it down. The build up to the central plot takes rather a long time and becomes a little tedious. Once we get into the main plot, things start to become a bit more exciting; but most of the film focuses on Italy, and by the time we get to the USA; there's not a great deal of time left. Still, the film is populated with gun fights and car chases and it never gets boring long enough to become really dull. The ending is rather good and there's a nice little sting in the tail. Overall, I wouldn't quite class this film as a 'must see', but it's certainly worth a look and Eurocrime fans will want to track it down.

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.

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!

Having Maurizio Merli on your tail must be like having a pack of hounds chasing after you (or Pepe Le Pieu, if you want a less scary comparison). The perp in question here isn't even on the same continent - he's high tailed it to New York, and Merli still wants to track him down.

That said, you can just jump on the next plane to the Big Apple without some sort of evidence. The gangster who fled is a mob boss wanted for ordering the murder of two other mob bosses in Palermo, and the cops in NYC have been tipped off that he's there, which makes him go on the run. Meanwhile, back in Italy, Merli and partner Venantino Venantini are trying to clean up the mess while various witnesses are bumped off by the Mafia. During a hit, Merli (well Venantino really) capture a button man alive, but the guy won't talk...until he finds out the mob boss has killed his sister.

The main bulk of the film details Merli trying to get this witness to New York without him being killed by the masses of mobsters armed to the teeth, which makes for steamlined, tension filled plot as anyone they encounter could be a hitman, and mostly are! Merli punches, shoots, ducks, runs, scampers and growls through the entire film, even taking on a gang on New York street punks. I don't have a single complaint to make about this film!

There's never a dull moment in this one, right up to the last second.

We're also beginning to see a gradual shift of setting here as half of this is filmed in New York, soon to be a trend as we'll get to see The Bronx Warriors, 2019: After The Fall Of New York, Escape from The Bronx, the New York Ripper, Zombie Holocaust, Inferno, Manhattan Baby all taking place in New York city. Maybe the Italians just liked it there. Who knows?

An Italian mobster movie that, although a fine film, could have been an absolute classic. Cop Maurizio Merli (aka the Marlboro Man) pursues Mafia 'Don' Michele Barresi across two continents after the kingpin guns down a rival. He travels from Milan to New York City with a witness in his custody, the only man who has the power to identify Barresi as the shooter. On the way from Milan though it's a rough journey as shooters try to take them out at every turn. The only downfall here is the pacing, spending way too much time in Italy, when by far the movie's most effective scenes are the ones in New York, where the city is captured so brilliantly in all it's vintage glory. So much time is spent running through Italy, and on the usual romantic interlude between cop Merli and his ex-wife. This portion of the film is perfectly fine but causes things to sag a bit in the middle, as the last half hour, the New York portion, is electrifying by comparison. Plus the writer of "From Corleone to Brooklyn" would have us believe that in order to get from Milan to New York, you first need to take a train and then a bus from Milan to Rome, which isn't accurate. While this is an above average crime thriller, I believe if the two had taken a direct flight from Milan to New york and spent the bulk of their time in the city, this could have an absolute classic. Still a fun ride and worth tracking down. Legendary pulp director Umberto Lenzi made a bunch of these crime dramas, and this is one of his finest, featuring all the bloody shootouts and high energy chase scenes that fans would expect, including an impressive car chase through the extremely narrow cobble stone side streets of Milan, littered with pedestrians. Lots of great mob lingo and double crosses and of course, done with the style of the best films of the era. From what I have read people tend to look for the Italian language version of the movie, which makes sense. However large portions of this one seem to filmed in English, with live sound, so the English language version should not be dismissed. In any language this is a great ride.