CHARLEY VARRICK (1973)

                         

  "They're gonna strip you naked and go to work on you with a pair of plyers and a blowtorch"

 One of the best movies I've seen in a while. Obvious influence on Quentin Tarantino(especially with that line up above that he stole) this one is filled with an all-star cast including stars Walter Matthau and Joe Don Baker. A bank robbery goes wrong and the mafia gets involved. Shoot-outs, double-crosses, ass-kicking and explosions occur. A notable car vs. plane chase is a highlight. Director Don Siegel(responsible for lots of classics including the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHRES and DIRTY HARRY) has got to be one of the greatest directors to ever have to work within the Hollywood system. 

INCIDENT ON A DARK STREET (1973)

  Pretty dull title which properly conveys what you're going to get from this made for TV crime drama. This plays something like an episode of KOJACK or BARETTA and I'm sure you could find many episodes of those shows that were better than this. It is cool to see a little post-STAR TREK mustachioed William Shatner show up as a hood though.

 This was actually a pilot-movie for a proposed series titled THE PROSECUTORS which was never made. I think I'll stick with watching old episodes of CHARLIE'S ANGELS!

Cheap-o DVD companies will try and fool us into think Shatner is the main character in this!:

ACROSS 110th STREET (1972)

 Great soundtrack(including the classic title tune that was reused in JACKIE BROWN amongst other places), great dialogue and a cool plot about some gangsters getting ripped off and murdered and all hell breaking loose in Harlem as a result. It's like if you took a classy mobster flick and added a helping of blaxploitation and mixed it all up into a standout 70s epic. All the actors here, including Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Franciosa are perfect in their respective roles. My personal favorite Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas dons some sweet vines before the shit starts to get really heavy. We get an offscreen castration, lots of gun-fu and a bunch of 70s-style racism. A great example of why the 70s were the high-point of cinema and even a seemingly simple crime-drama can be a thought-provoking(besides the obvious racial questions raised there are ponderings on age and suicide brought up) piece of art.




This version of the theme song, that's on the soundtrack, is actually different, and better, than the one that's actually played in the opening of the film:

Italian style!:

and Japanese style!:

DEATH COLLECTOR (1976)

 Never heard of this New Jersey-based mobster flick until I found it at the local video store on glorious VHS for 33 cents. Gotta say it was definitely worth the purchase. Reading up on this it turns out this is the film that Martin Scorsese discovered Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent in and this seems like it overall would be an influential movie on later mafia stuff like GOODFELLAS and the SOPRANOS series. The main character here(Lou Criscuola) even has that young seething Robert DeNiro-vibe going on. There's also a strong Eurocrime-feeling you get while viewing this. Sadly this is not more well-known since it is such a strong entry into the mafiosa/hitman genre but it looks like it's out there really cheap so pick it up if you like watching wiseguys getting bumped off. AKA FAMILY ENFORCER, THE COLLECTOR and THE ENFORCER



The cheap-o DVDs all try and cash in on Joe Pesci being in this even though he's not the star:

THE GODFATHER'S DAUGHTER: MAFIA BLUES (1991)

 What you get here is a Hong Kong version of a mobster flick complete with kung fu scenes, crazy car chases, Jackie Chan-like acrobatics and lots of John Woo-esque gun-play. Yukari Oshima is our titular character and she's pretty awesome here with one particularly acrobatic fight scene involving some gym equipment. My favorite sequence here though involves a guy who's fighting with a samurai sword, gets it stuck in some wood then gets swung around and decapitated by his own sword. That's some well-choreographed mayhem! Not the best or worst Hong Kong action flick of the 90's but it's an OK time-killer.

IL BOSS (1973)

 The final chapter in director Fernando Di Leo's mafia trilogy which includes MILANO CALIBER 9 and MANHUNT and just like those films this one is pretty awesome. It stars Henry Silva in what has to be his greatest role ever. From what I've seen of his movies Silva is always cast as the crazy villain playing second fiddle to some action hero or whatnot. In this he's our main character but he's also a completely psychopathic hit-man making his way up through the ranks of the mob. So while we don't really cheer him on we can at least understand his motivations for surviving in the violent world that he exists in. Before the credits even role we get Silva using a rocket-launcher to take out a whole crew of guys in a theater watching some dirty movies. From there the film is loaded with double-crosses, hits, a nymphomaniac gal and lots of explosive action. Gianni "Sartana" Garko is also very good here as a corrupt cop. They also set this up for a sequel which, unfortunately, I don't think ever happened.
 From what I've read Di Leo used newspaper accounts of actual organized crime scenes for some of the murder scenes in this which seems like a pretty ballsy thing to do.
AKA THE BOSS, WIPEOUT! and MURDER INFERNO(coolest disco-sounding title ever!).

This trailer mixes all 3 movies together:

BIG GUNS: TONY ARZENTA (1973)

  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

MR. NO LEGS (1979)

 Directed by THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON himself(Ricou Browning)this is the story of a handi-capable fellow who kicks ass even though, as you may have guessed from the tile, he has no legs. The closest thing I can compare this to is those CRIPPLED MASTERS kung-fu flicks from Asia except in those you feel bad for the disabled characters and cheer on their ass-kicking victories but in this one our wheelchair-bound star is a take-no-shit bad-ass mobster who doesn't mind stabbing women in the belly-button if they cross him. Also in this, since it's an American movie filmed in Florida, the martial arts aren't quite as impressive except of course for Mr. No Legs who is awesome! That's why it's kind of a shame that he isn't really the main character in the movie and we spend way too much time with the actual heroes who are a couple of cops, one of which is played by John Agar. Now while Agar is great fighting monsters in tons of 50's & 60's B-movies he's nowhere near as interesting as a homicidal ninja-star throwing half-a madman and the movie isn't called Mr. John Agar so I have some mixed feelings about this one. There are some great elements though that make it worthwhile including a cat-fight, a midget who shows up for no reason at all to cheer on some bar-fights and some bloody bits with lots of gun-fu and a guy who gets gored by a sword. Too bad there's also lots of draggy talky spots and an interminably long car chase to end it all. Check it out anyway though just for something unique. AKA THE AMAZING MR. NO LEGS

MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE (1978)

 I re-watched this again recently and it was even better on the second viewing.  You get crazy bright beautiful 70's blood as a result of many mob executions, you get mobsters being blown up, you get absurd racism with one pimp referred to as Super-spook throughout the whole movie , a crucifixion, acting that's about as good as someone obviously reading their lines can be and the best thing is the totally nutso speeches given by writer, director and star Mr. Duke Mitchell.  He goes on about how much he loves Italian mothers and other such topics as if the whole movie was just an excuse for him to give these heartfelt speeches.  It is a thing of beauty to behold.  You keep waiting for everyone around him to get teary-eyed as he talks about how downtrodden the Sicilians have been through history.  I certainly wouldn't disagree with anything Duke says.  If the idea of a cheap-jack GODFATHER movie with scenes of unintentional hilarity appeal to you then this is your movie.  My copy of this is titled THE EXECUTIONER but M.M.S. is such a catchier name.

You also get one of the greatest opening scenes in anything which you see most of here:
 

GONE WITH THE POPE (1976/2010)

This movie has it all bloody mafia action, ridiculous 70's attire, comedy, naked obese women, awesome soundtrack and absurd clunky acting.  Yeah I really loved this follow up by Duke Mitchell to his entertaining first feature MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE.  I think this one even tops that by being more enjoyable and keeping an even pace throughout the whole film unlike MMS which starts off with a bang and then slows down for a long stretch.  Grindhouse releasing did a good job in putting this thing together and cleaning up the print from years of sitting around somewhere.  Don't let the 2010 release date fool you this is one of the lost greats of the 1970's loaded with style.