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In the 1970s, it was not unusual for American B-list actors to star in low-budget films produced in Italy. What was there not to like? The work was hardly tough to come by and you were paid handsomely. And then, of course, there’s Italy!
I am not one bit surprised that Jack Palance just showed up, got his check and left. Did Palance ever play any other character than a combative villain? For the most part of this film, he just stands around with a cigarette holder. There is no eye-catching scene that would enable you to forget that this is why he is in the movie. He even departs the scene early, and in a routine style, he is the first to get executed in the climax shooting scene.
Assuming that Palance, out of all these cast members, is the most intriguing aspect of this rather dull poliziottesco should tell you everything. In the genre, the director Fernando Di Leo has made better moves (check my comments on the Milieu trilogy: Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, and The Boss). He has a plain and ridiculously useless tale to tell about a young wannabe gangster who challenges Palance’s “Scarface,” which he rips off.
To the observer, the opening clearly shows Leone’s touch and is thankfully so. But it appeared to become very absurd afterwards, and I was left with the feeling that Di Leo was quite apathetic. In the case of Palance, I sense he was just going through the motions. On the DVD there is a “behind the scenes” clip in which other cast and crew members recall how he literally froze everything at four o’clock because he didn’t feel like working at night.
Mister Scarface is in fact a more appropriate title. Palance is rather far from the “boss of the city”, especially so, if he is not able to find Tony who is riding a red dune buggy somewhere in the city, or if he is unable to catch the old man calling him from a pay phone situated right outside his office.
Some aspects raise certain eyebrows like Mark imagining Tony to be a kung fu fighter, including entertaining sound effects to complement the visuals. Another bizarre aspect is the ‘queenish‘ Napoli supervising Tony and his mute friend Rick, both of whom gaily seem to be bound in some sort of relationship. He must have suspected something amiss but to what extent is ambiguous. Either he put his foot in his mouth again or he was trying to add yet another layer of humor to the never-ending task of keeping the audience entertained.
On the other hand in the end, there’s no spoon in the bowl. This is rather a delicate and basic piece which unfortunately has rather little to offer.
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