Crazy Joe is Crazy Joe Gallo, one of the legendary
mafia gangsters from the late 1950’s to the early 1970s. This is for all
intents an Italian gangster film of the 70’s even though set in America and
with mainly American actors. Behind the camera though it is very much Italian
with producer Dino De Laurentis, director Carlo Lizzani, cinemaphotographer
Aldo Tonti and the music from Giancarlo Chiaramello. With a few flourishes
it is fairly faithful to the real story and if anything underplays the violence.
The film was produced only two years after Gallo was rubbed out by another
Mafia group. I think he would have liked it. He had to know it was coming.
You don’t fuck with the Mafia and break the rules and expect to get away
with it. But he wasn’t nicknamed Crazy for nothing. He had been diagnosed
a schizophrenic years earlier and Peter Boyle plays him as such going back
and forth between psycho eyes and a charming smile. This has a terrific cast
– besides Boyle there is Rip Torn as his brother (Richie in the movie but
Larry in real life), Charles Cioffe as a gangster named Coletti in the film
but Joe Colombo in real life, Paula Prentiss as his wife, Henry Winkler as
one of Gallo’s men, Fred Williamson as a fellow gangster and Eli Wallach
as the top Mafia leader. Wallach is especially terrific and Williamson makes
the most of his smaller role.
It begins with a nice touch. Gallo is in a movie theater watching Kiss of
Death and giving Widmark’s dialogue along with the actor. Clearly, he sees
himself as killer Tommy Udo. One of his gang comes to get him and they all
pile into a car and ride off singing the opera aria Figaro, Figaro. They
are off to kill one of the top mobsters in history – though not named in
the film – Albert Anastasi, the head of Murder Inc. In real life they shot
him in a barber shop but here it is in a restaurant. Both popular places
for a hit. Joe, his brother, Winkler and the rest of his small group are
part of a larger family – just foot soldiers – and when they get a small
fee for the killing, they decide it is time to take over and invade the home
of the head.
Much of the rest of the film is Gallo trying to gain respect and a piece
of the pie against the Mafia. He gets sent to prison for 7 years but makes
friends with a black prisoner (Williamson) and when he gets out his gang
and Williamson’s gang decide to integrate and take on the other gangs. Boyle
gives a magnetic performance – never really over the top but edging towards
it and the dealings and betrayals of the gangs is interesting. In Wikipedia
they list what happened to Gallo’s gang after he was killed and the big gang
war that followed that went on for a few years – nearly all killed or jailed
– not a profession you really want to go into. They just don't make gangsters
like this anymore.
