A mob hit-man(played by famous French actor Alain Delon) wants to retire and finds out there's no way out of the mafia then ends up on the wrong side of his former colleagues. After his wife and kid are bumped off it becomes more of a personal revenge film. It never really gets too graphically violent outside of the expected gunshot wounds but there is a guy who gets crushed to death in a car and women are generally treated very shabbily in many scenes. There are also a bunch of very well-done car chases/crashes.
This is a pretty good example of a top-notch euro-crime film. It hits all the classic notes; assassinations, double-crossings, etc. and is worth a look if you dig these type of movies that were clearly trying to cash in on THE GODFATHER but doing it in a cool trashy way. AKA NO WAY OUT
Aside from a few titles by Damiani (who I love!) and DiLeo, this is really at the top of the pile when it comes to Eurocrime. As much as I love the crime films of Lenzi, Castellari, etc Big Guns is simply a different class altogether.Okay there are perhaps a few other titles up there: The Burglars and Fear Over the City maybe and possibly (surprisingly) Andrea Bianchi's Guns of the Bigshots. I've seen 100s of the Eurocrime and a few years back I asked a few other enthusiasts to help me compile a best of the best list. Unsurprisingly Big Guns was in the top 5!
ReplyDeleteComparing it to all the others, this would probably be the best made film from this genre that I've seen so far. Personally I think I prefer some of the Di Leo stuff but it would be pretty close if I had to make a list.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen nearly as many Eurocrime films as you have. Thanks for the recommendations.