Crime Boss Film Review

Dubbed

This Italian crime film is directed by Alberto De Martino who had crossed all the genre boxes by this time - Peplum, Spaghetti Westerns, spy and crime - gives us a sporadically interesting film about the Mafia. The Godfather came out in this same year and this seems to echo it without quite the depth or budget. But it tries. Loyalty and betrayals are at its heart. The Godfather in this case is Don Vincenzo played by a surprisingly restrained Telly Savalas who never even raises his voice as he gives out orders to kill his enemies. I am pretty sure Savalas did his own dubbing which helps considerably. After being Blofeld in On His Majesty's Secret Service and Sgt Joe in Kelly's Heroes, Savalas had slipped down a notch into a few European films - Violent City, A Town Called Hell, Horror Express, The Killer is on the Phone and Lisa and the Devil. That was all to soon end when he became Kojak in 1973.

He isn't the main character though. That goes to Mancuso portrayed by Antonio Sabato as a charming rogue. Mancuso is the son of a Mafia Don who was accused of treachery and killed by his fellow members. He is given the opportunity to even things up a bit when he gets the task of killing the man who killed his father. But there is a catch. They plan to kill him afterwards. But he turns out to be smarter than he initially appears and is able to get away to Hamburg where his brother Nicky (Giuliano Persico) is a pimp with a stable of girls. But he has higher ambitions. He wants to become a respected member of the Mafia. Make his dead father proud.

He puts together a clever plan with his brother to come to the attention of Don Vincenzo who is the Crime Boss. He runs the Mafia from his nice estate - but the film doesn't really have the budget to give him the accoutrements of a big Crime Boss. He only ever seems to have a handful of men to command. And a niece (Paola Tedesco) who seems to have her own agenda. Once Mancuso is in the good graces of the Crime Boss, the two of them become like father and son as Mancuso carries out his orders. And beds the niece. There are a couple solid bloody gang rub out scenes and an ending that is intriguingly elusive. The dubbing is all done by Italians I think - or people putting on a thick Italian accent - other than Savalas - and at times hard to understand.