Le boss

Henry Silva again appears in this, the final part of the Mileau Trilogy (along with The Italian Connection and Caliber 9). Three great films by Fernando Di Leo.

While this is the weakest of the three, it is the one closest to my heart as my family comes from Palermo and Camporeale in Sicily. It's a mafia war, and has a heavy influence from The Godfather.

In fact, the top Godfather in this film is Richard Conte, Don Barzini from The Godfather, Antonia Santilli plays Don D'Aniello's daughter, who is kidnapped in the battle. She is a wild child that bonds instantly with the kidnappers.

The one thing I cannot figure from the translation is how Italian police talk about "wankers." Did a Brit do the translation?

The indelibly iconic, 'Il Boss' remains a sinuous, stiletto-sharp, heroically hard-boiled Mafiosi-noir from famed poliziotteschi stylist, Fernando Di Leo. Starring the notably stern, Stoic to the point of terminal rigidity, Henry Silva, delivering yet another coolly charismatic performance as the vicious,ice-veined terror-thug, Nick Lanzetta, with fading Hollywood matinee idol, Richard Conte lending his swarthy, old world gravitas to the meaty role of octogenarian Sicilian king pin, Don Carrasco. All this uniquely explosive, stylishly rendered retribution is excitingly catalysed by another funky, uber infectious score by long-time, Di Leo collaborator, maestro Luis Enriquez Bacalov. 'Il Boss' thunderously remains an absolutely essential, mongoose mean Spaghetti shoot 'em up, and thankfully, Di Leo flinches not a jot from the requisite Mafiosi movie mantra of seriously squib-happy ultra violence! If you have yet to be dazzled by any of maestro, Fernando Di Leo's strikingly stylish, meticulously crafted gangster epics, one should manifestly start here, as the Neolithically nasty, Nick Lanzetta is one of the most mesmerically Machiavellian, blithely blood thirsty hit man to have ever blazed a ballistically bellicose swathe across the Silva screen!

The opening scene from The Boss shows what the 70's Italian crime film was all about. A mafia hit-man wipes out most of a rival family when he fires a grenade launcher at them from the projection booth while they sit back and watch Danish porn. In other words, the genre was about serious action, violence and a distinct lack of subtlety. This opening action duly sets into motion a violent mob war and we are off.

Fernando Di Leo shows here once again, that when it comes to poliziotteschi he was the undoubted master. The Boss is the third in an excellent loose trilogy about Italian organised crime. Milan Calibre 9 and The Italian Connection are the other two entries. This one is more specifically about the Mafia and its machinations. As such it's set in the Mafia homeland of Palermo, Sicily. I like how the poliziotteschi films are so city specific. This gives them all distinctive atmospheres; the city is almost a separate character. But in this flick there is no doubt Henry Silva is the star of the show. He plays the hit-man Nick Lanzetta and shows precisely why he is considered an Italian crime genre great. His stone-faced, monosyllabic approach is perfect for this ruthless character. Lanzetta is certainly one of the hardest screen gangsters ever. The movie basically depicts his rise through the ranks of the Mafia. He, like all the other characters is out for himself alone and he is pretty ruthless in getting to the top. There are no good characters in this film, no matter which side of the law they are on everyone is immoral to at least some degree. I think the Italians are so good at this kind of movie because they seemed to think nothing of populating entire movies with shady characters. It's not just the crime films that do this but a lot of the gialli take the same approach. It works especially well in these noir style flicks though, as they usually are making statements about corruption in the Italian authorities as well as looking at the crime gangs. The Boss does detail some of the inner workings of the Mafia too. But more than anything, this is a film that is so very enjoyable because it is loaded with lots of stylish violent action.

The Boss is the third and final part of Fernando Di Leo's loose trilogy based on organised crime, and it's also the weakest. Milano Calibro 9 and The Italian Connection are without doubt two of the finest examples of this genre, but while this one isn't particularly bad; it's not great either, and despite a number of standout moments; The Boss grinds to a halt on more than one occasion, and I was nowhere near as gripped during this film as I was during the other two parts of this trilogy. The film is more focused on the 'organised crime' angle than the other two films; and The Godfather seems like an obvious influence. The film focuses on a war between two rival mafia families. Things start to get out of control after an attack on the local porn theatre, which leaves a load of gang members dead. Naturally, the wronged gang decides to take revenge for these killings and goes about kidnapping the rival don's daughter Rina Daniello. At the centre of the tale is the Nick Lanzetta, the assassin behind the killings in the theatre.

The film gets off to an explosive start with a sequence that sees the central character blow a load of people away with a grenade launcher. This is somewhat misleading; as a film with an opening like this really promises excitement all the way through, but unfortunately things slow down after that, which really annoyed me. The film does feature some other interesting scenes (including a nice death scene that sees someone get a flick knife in the mouth), but The Boss never manages to top its opening scene. A lot of the film is made of talking, and that's not what I tune into this sort of film for; I prefer my Polizi full blooded and full of car chases and gun fights. Like the superior 'Italian Connection', this film stars Henry Silva. The cult actor made a number of these films, and he suits the hit-man role well. Seasoned Italian cult film actor Richard Conte stars alongside Silva and also does well also. I have to say that I was losing interest by the end, but thankfully the film does have just about enough about it to ensure that it's worth seeing for fans of this usually wonderful genre.

The first Fernando Di Leo film I've seen, and I heard it was one of his lesser films. But wow, if this is true than I can't wait to see the rest because I am impressed. Firstly it opens with a bloody, explosive scene borrowed from by Quentin Tarantino in "Inglorious Bastards," which makes Quentin's version a tad lamer. After that it doesn't lose its momentum, and were given an hour and a half of cool violence by an Italian hitman with a killer soundtrack playing in the background. The lady love in this film, a nympho, the daughter of the "Don" was also nice to look at. Overall an original film with decent characters and little dull moments. A good poliziotteschi.