A botched bank robbery has just taken place. One of the gang is wounded and lying in the back of a van being driven to a rendezvous point. The film then flashes back to events prior to the robbery, where we see Mr Pink and Mr Brown
wait
I'm just foolin. Gangster's Law isn't that similar to Reservoir Dogs. It's much better than that.
Our band of dodgy robbers include an Italian guy with sunglasses, his mate the Italian guy, and a big Italian fella with a moustache, and an ugly Italian guy who's really bad at dancing, and two Italian guys who frequently attend 'freak out' parties, one of whom has a really startling pair of eyebrows! But they wouldn't be anything without their financier, non-Italian, hat wearing Klaus Kinski. He doesn't do much when the robbery happens, but he sure gets proactive when the cash is procured.
Kinski doesn't do much for the first half of the film (besides driving), so instead we get to know our robbers. Turns out they ain't a bad lot really, just a bunch of something or others with a heart of gold and that. You do get a bit attached to them and the whole set up and execution of the robbery is well done, thanks to a very groovy soundtrack and a tense atmosphere, so when Kinski goes nuts and comes after them with a pistol, it's either temporal lobe epilepsy or you actually care about the characters.
Highlights include: the bit at the end there at the docks, the demented speech by one of the robber's girlfriends that involves a lot of muttering about freaking out and changing the world, Kinski stalking a robber with a machine gun, and Kinski, with his patented 'one eye going to the shops and the other eye coming back with the change' look, trying to passionately kiss an actress who must be waking up in a cold sweat to this day. Cool it down Klaus! You look like you're trying to swallow her head! In fact, you are Klaus Kinski after all, so that might be what you're trying to do.
Lowlights include: the terrible full frame copy provided by 23rd Century, which at one point drops out completely and gives the viewer a 'no signal' message as well as cutting out what must have been loads of cool action from the edges of the screen. Why can't fly-by-night pound line, dodgy grey area pirate copy vendors get their act together and release a widescreen version of this? And don't give me that '23rd Century went bust about six years ago' jive.
