Tagarchief: FilmDungeon

Lucky Luciano (1973)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘The detailed account of the world’s most powerful gangster who built an empire on a sea of blood.’

Directed by:
Francesco Rosi

Written by:
Jerome Chodorov
Tonino Guerra
Lino Iannuzzi
Francesco Rosi

Cast:
Gian Maria Volonté (Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano), Vincent Gardenia (Colonel Charles Poletti), Rod Steiger (Gene Giannini), Charles Cioffi (Vito Genovese), Larry Gates (Judge Herlands), Magda Konopka (Contessa), Dino Curcio (Don Ciccio), Karin Petersen (Igea Lissoni), Edmond O’Brien (Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger), Charles Siragusa (Himself)

Biography of Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, perhaps the biggest mob leader in history. The film focuses on his Sicilian years. After serving a nine-year prison sentence, Luciano is pardoned in 1946 for services rendered to the United States, on the condition that he relocate to Sicily, where he is to spend the rest of his days.

The second part of his career is inevitably less thrilling than his earlier years, when he seized control from the old Sicilian bosses. That first chapter of his life was depicted in the 1991 film Mobsters – not a great film by any means, but far more action-packed than this one.

Its opening features a bloody shooting montage in which Luciano has his rivals assassinated during the Night of the Sicilian Vespers. The remainder of that film centers on the Anti-Narcotics Agency’s efforts to make Luciano’s life difficult, while he continues to run his criminal empire from Sicily.

Anyone expecting a typical Mafia plot will need to adjust their expectations. The film plays more like a documentary, with frequent and often confusing jumps in time.

On the positive side, the mobsters are not glamorized; they are shown for what they are. But the unfocused plot and sloppy storytelling offer little insight into what truly drove Luciano, making this not much of a biography at all. A shame, because with its decent cast and professional production design, something far better could have been achieved.

Rating:

Quote:
GENE GIANNINI: “I go to New York they’ll kill me.”

Trivia:
Charles Siragusa, the former chief of the U.S. Narcotics Bureau who tracked down the real Lucky Luciano, stars as himself.

Stone

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Sandy Harbutt
Written by: Sandy Harbutt, Michael Robinson
Cast: Ken Shorter, Sandy Harbutt, Deryck Barnes, Hugh Keays-Byrne

Year / Country: 1974, Australia
Running Time: 99 mins.

Somebody is knocking off members of the Gravediggers motorcycle gang and they must find out why! This Ozesome cult movie by Australian actor/director Sandy Harbutt is the ultimate biker movie and it will have you on the edge of your seat!

Beers, brawls, bikes and boobs. That is STONE! It provides an insightful look into the rough and heavy biker culture. All the members of the club are ex-Vietnam or Korea veterans and they chose to live a renegade lifestyle. Each member is different, but they share the same biker values. Something an outsider couldn’t understand. But when you see the crew riding around on their motorcycles, such as the legendary Kawasaki, you get a sense of what it may feel like to be part of a renegade gang like this.

In the opening of the film, one of the members of the club witnesses a political assassination, but he is tripping so hard on acid, he forgets to tell his mates. Then his fellow members of the Gravediggers motorcycle gang start getting killed one by one. Many classic scenes follow; the motorcycle cliff dive, the funeral scene, the image of Dr. Death stepping out of a coffin and many more. The rest of the story revolves around a cop called Stone who manages to win the bikers’ trust and helps them track down the killers.

In the time this was made, it was quite a radical portrayal of an outlaw society. Not only is there drugs and nudity on display, the bikers also make their own laws in the film, and refuse to adapt to the laws of society. I read something about a remake of this flick, but you just can’t do it. This feels way too authentic. Stone is the real deal.

Rating:

Biography: Sandy Harbutt (1941, Australia) is the one shot director of biker movie and cult classic Stone. Despite the box office success of that movie in Harbutt’s homeland Australia, he never got government funding again to direct another feature. Harbutt is also an actor. Apart from playing one of the leading roles in Stone , he was in various Ozzy television shows such as The Long Arm, Matlock Police and The Evil Touch.

Filmography: Jesus Christ Superstar (1972, TV-doc), Stone (1974)

Bulletproof Gangster (2011)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Based on the true story of Danny Greene the man the mob couldn’t kill’

Directed by:
Jonathan Hensleigh

Written by:
Jonathan Hensleigh
Jeremy Walters
Rick Porrello (book ‘To Kill the Irishman’)

Cast:
Ray Stevenson (Danny Greene), Vincent D’Onofrio (John Nardi), Val Kilmer (Joe Manditski), Christopher Walken (Shondor Birns), Linda Cardellini (Joan Madigan), Tony Darrow (Mikey Mendarolo), Robert Davi (Ray Ferritto), Fionnula Flanagan (Grace O’Keefe), Vinnie Jones (Keith Ritson), Steve Schirripa (Mike Frato)

Bulletproof Gangster (also known as Kill the Irishman, after the book it’s based on) is a biopic about former union man turned Irish mob boss Danny Greene, set during the Cleveland Mafia war of the 1970s, in which his enemies failed time and again to kill him. Hence the title although Kill the Irishman might be more fitting, since they mostly tried to kill him with bombs rather than bullets.

It’s a classic rags-to-riches story. Greene starts as a dockworker, albeit a well-read one. He didn’t finish school but was famously self-educated. With the backing of mobster John Nardi, he rises to become a popular union president.

Meanwhile, his old neighborhood friend Joe (Val Kilmer) joins the Cleveland PD, following his former friend’s career and narrating the story. After Greene’s arrest, he’s barred from union work for life, so he enters the garbage business with mobster Jack Licavoli’s blessing.

But when mob boss John Scalish – who ran the Cleveland mob since the 1940s – dies, a brutal gang war erupts between Greene and Nardi on one side and Licavoli on the other. That summer, bomb after bomb rocks Cleveland, killing many gangsters. How long can the seemingly blessed Irishman survive?

This gangland tale covers one of the few untold chapters of American Mafia history. Director Jonathan Hensleigh, screenwriter of Die Hard With a Vengeance, clearly has a penchant for explosives, and it shows in this appropriately explosive film. The cast features many familiar faces from gangster movies, including Paul Sorvino as Tony Salerno.

Of the cast members, especially Vincent D’Onofrio and Christopher Walken stand out as the historical mob figures John Nardi and Jewish gang boss Shondor Birns.

Bulletproof Gangster might not be a biopic as captivating as GoodFellas, Casino or Donnie Brasco, but offers what you might expect: an entertaining mob film with one retaliation after the other.

Rating:

Quote:
DANNY GREENE: “I’m an Irish catholic with the grace of God on my shoulder. I’m not going anywhere until he says so.”

Trivia:
The plot to kill the Irishman (Danny Greene) involved an unprecedented breach of FBI security when a clerk was bribed by the mob and actually stole a list of confidential informants from a top secret room. Cleveland agents acted quickly, plugging the leak and arresting their clerk.

Where the Buffalo Roam

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Art Linson
Written by: Hunter S. Thompson (stories), John Kaye (screenplay)
Cast: Bill Murray, Peter Boyle, Bruno Kirby, R.G. Armstrong

Year / Country: 1980, USA
Running Time: 95 mins.

‘I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but in my case it worked.’ Where the Buffalo Roam is the first movie adaptation of the work of legendary Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who is portrayed by Bill Murray in the movie.

The story of Where the Buffalo Roam deals with Thompson’s encounters with his equally legendary ‘mutant’ attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta, who is called Carl Lazlo here and is portrayed by Peter Boyle. The movie is based on Thompson’s obituary for his attorney who disappeared in Mexico in 1974, three years after their two trips to Las Vegas that were immortalized in Thompson’s masterpiece ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’.

Screenplay writer John Kaye also drew from other works of Thompson, including ‘Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72’’, ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ and ‘The Great Shark Hunt’. The final result depicts three journalistic adventures of Thompson in which Lazlo shows up. The first one involves San Francisco drug trials in which Lazlo represents wrongfully indicted youngsters. The second story shows Thompson missing the Super Bowl to accompany Lazlo on a failed activist mission. Finally, Thompson is seen on the presidential campaign where he has a one-on-one encounter with his self proclaimed nemesis Richard Nixon.

Most of the people involved, including Thompson himself, didn’t like the final result or even hated the movie. It is easy to see why. Much of Thompson’s razor sharp journalism resorts into a bunch of silliness. The second half is especially very uneven. Still, it is a lot of fun hearing a number of great Thompson quotes being uttered by Bill Murray, who’s excellent in the role of Gonzo journalist. Boyle is also enjoyable as his dope crazed attorney.

As a whole, the movie is indeed too silly to be perceived as a success or an effective movie translation of Thompson’s writing. However, separate parts range from funny to almost great. Especially the sequences in which Thompson has to meet deadlines, but is too preoccupied with weirdness and dope frenzies. Also includes an excellent soundtrack featuring: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Rating:

Biography: Art Linson (1942, Chicago) was born in Chicago, but grew up in Hollywood. He graduated from UCLA Law School in 1967 but never practiced. Linson has distinguished himself in Hollywood by developing scripts and stories that attract the highest caliber talent, resulting in some of the most admired and successful motion pictures of the last two decades, including Heat, Fight Club and The Untouchables. In 1995, Linson published his first book, ‘A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood’. His second book, ‘What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales From the Front Line’, was published in 2002.

Filmography: Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) / The Wild Life (1984)