Customer Reviews

Mafia Connection

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An Italian mob revenge movie with a twist comprises the running time of this Euro gangster film released after the success of 'THE GODFATHER'. The underrated Antonio Sabato plays the main character released after an eight year stretch which he took the fall for and swears vengeance on his mob cronies for also killing his wife. Florinda Bolkan cameos as the widow of Sabato's friend. The film is deliriously photographed by Sandro Mancori who helmed many Spaghetti Westerns and the music is by Carlo Rustichelli who scored many Horror and Sword and Sandal films of that period. The direction by Camillo Bazzoni is gritty and flamboyant. Unfortunately, Mya Communication had inferior video elements to work with so some sequences are extremely dark and grainy. For Euro Film Fans and Mafia completists only.

After spending 8 years in the tank as a scapegoat for a crime he didn`t commit, Antonio Sabato re-emerges to find his construction company about to be auctioned off due to bad debts accrued while he was in prison, and the mob squeezing his firm out of higher-paying contracts. He tries to halt the auction, and again has to compromise his integrity in order to stay solvent. It`s more about mob controlled unions and payoffs than actual Mafia dealings, but the mob DID control such unions in the 70`s, and the Mafia was behind those mobs. All such compromises come w/ hefty pricetags, resulting in him becoming something he swore not to be, and desperately fighting against all odds to exact vengeance. I don`t like giving more away. It`s a decent film IF you like Mafia/mob/crime dramas w/ a 'Godfather' influence, otherwise you`re wasting your time here. The print quality is far from remastered (this is one area where Mya Communications ALWAYS lets us down - they never bother to improve ANYTHING about their releases), it`s dubbed in English or in Italian without subtitles (so be warned), and there are no extras (another grating aspect of a Mya release). Florinda Balkan ('Flavia The Heretic','Lizard In A Woman`s Skin','Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion'), a great actress, has little screen time, and her talents are wasted here entirely. Decent enough if you`re a fan of these films, but for me better left sleeping with the fishes...