★ 6 / 10
It is extremely hard to fully understand a
R T
It is extremely hard to fully understand a movie in Italian without subtitles if youâre someone who doesnât master the language (and, needless to say, I…
It is extremely hard to fully understand a movie in Italian without subtitles if youâre someone who doesnât master the language (and, needless to say, I regrettably fit into the aforementioned category). Therefore, I can only judge this movie on the basis of what I see and what Iâve read about it. The story is plain and simple, but this goes for so many movies of the genre. It is unmistakably a B-movie, but as such, it is not too bad. The flow of the story seems OK and the action scenes are adequate and convincing. For an Italian movie, it has a remarkable American feel to it, which is not surprising with an overall setting in San Francisco and a great number of non-Italian actors. The American influence will also account for the early date: American mafia/gangster movies tend to peak in the early seventies rather than the later. Most Italian poliziotteschi date from the second half of the same decade. âIl consiglioriâ is from 1973. I suppose this makes it different from most American and most Italian crime movies. It is a real pity I couldnât get most of the dialogue, for then I might have understood why Thomas Accardo (Tomas Milian) and Don Antonio Macaluso (Martin Balsam) take refuge in Sicily (which does provide us with some more nice pictures, though) or why the guy arrested at the bowling centre is killed in prison by the (bent?) copper. Intuitively, I find this a palatable B-movie with a simple story but with enough action to get satisfied, though I wouldnât want to be pinned down to my judgement just yet. Maybe, Iâll rate it again one day, when I speak perfect Italian [demonic laughter].
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★ 6 / 10
good acting and good locations
entomol71
Antonio Macaluso (Balsam) is the boss of a well-known family affiliated to the "mafia" in S. Francisco, who looks over all illicit trade. Macaluso called Don…
Antonio Macaluso (Balsam) is the boss of a well-known family affiliated to the "mafia" in S. Francisco, who looks over all illicit trade. Macaluso called Don Antonio by his "piccioti", looks for the early release of Tomas Accardo (Milian) a famous lawyer and a gold son of him. As agreed, the day of his release Macaluso waits for the young boy just outside the prison, but he is greatly astonished at hearing he does not want to be affiliated to the mafia anymore. Macaluso minds him that his resolution cannot be accepted since he is still upset because of the imprisonment. As Tomas hides himself for a long time Vincenzo Garofalo (Rabal), the second man of the family, fights his family. Garofalo should pretend to be at the head of "cosa nostra" and moreover complains about the way Don Antonio used regard to Tomas and his departure. Garofalo has got fellow enough to set himself against Don Antonio for this reason a great bloody fight takes up with more than one dead person. Tomas listened the piece of news on the radio, gets himself in touch with Don Antonio and just later (he) comes back home. Garofalo however is still alive since he gains the friendship of the police in San Francisco. Thus Macaluso, Tomas and few others to avoid some more bloodshed, decide to move to Polizzi, a village near Palermo, where Garofalo got in for a holy day and where he was shot by Tomas himself.
This interesting film, which belongs to the mafia kind is supervised by Alberto DeMartino, an Italian director who oddly signs the headings avoiding the trend of passing Italian films as American ones, with the use of false names for the actors as well as for the directors. The film which is really filmed in S. Francisco (in the famous Lombard street are some chasing scenes) boasts of international cast, in fact almost the actors are American except Milian and Rabal. Unfortunately the film is a bit weak in the rhythm but the acting and the locations fill up this lack. The dialogues are in English and just the dubbing is Italian but with a Sicilian accent. Probably the version in direct sound does not exist for the home video and this is really a pity, since all the actors, Milian included, speak a good English. All contemporary films of the same subject, directed by DeMartino, are certainly lower in quality than this one (for example "i familiari delle vittime non saranno avvertiti")
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33%
AUDIENCE
6.2/10
481
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I remember this film ages 70 in theatre. Martin Balsan is fenomenal. Please, if possible,put Portugues Br SUBTITLE.