Les intouchables

As another film in a long-line for Cassavetes, much like Orson Welles did for many years, done more-so to pay the bills for the next feature film as director than for any kind of real 'passion' for the project, Machine-Gun McCain acts, walks and talks like a gangster genre picture. And from Italy no less.

It has a similar kind of beat to it like Point Blank where you have a real tough guy gangster (Cassavetes) who is out of jail and has some payback to deliver to a super-criminal organization and based more on principle than anything else. He decides to pull a rather crazy casino-heist job, but not with the same kind of crew or expertise that Ocean's Eleven might've had. No, instead, when not laying his hot Euro-girl (Britt Eklund), he's preparing by himself to bomb the s**t out of the casino and make off with the cake in a rather twisted premise.

Giuliano Montaldo's film is spare on character exploration - this is not the kind of film that Cassavetes would make himself, not in a thousand years - but is good on making things 'cool' in the heist-movie sense. The little we know about Hank McCain is just enough to keep the story going.

There is some supporting character stuff with Peter Falk's gangster who is in some heat over some bad business going on behind the scenes (lots of tense shouting going on in some of these scenes, it looks fun to play but who knows on the freewheeling Italian productions), and absolutely nothing really to Eklund's character. I wondered throughout the film why she would go on with all of this what Hank was doing. Who is she and what is he to her? I guess who cares ultimately except as someone to carry the explosives and drive the car in a clinch.

More interesting in the film, though sadly underused, is a character Gena Rowlands plays (both Falk and Rowlands being Cassvetes regular players) who was an old flame of Hank McCain's way back when, and Rowlands gives this character a lot of unexpected depth in just five minutes of screen-time.

She shows up since Hank needs some help in the last act of the story, and their chemistry on screen (notwithstanding being real life husband and wife) is electrifying, and she has a dangerous quality that speaks of being a femme fatale but a really good egg to the right people. A scene right after this when she's being questioned by some hoodlums on the trail of McCain is perhaps the best scene of the movie; how much of this was some decent direction or just Rowlands way about the scene I don't know.

Cassavetes, too, thankfully, helps anchor the film when it could get into a lull. He has some kind of concentration about him, whether he's scoping a joint out or gambling at a casino table or if he's talking with a few lunkhead lowlife criminals who are plotting a caper that they want to include him on, that makes Machine Gun McCain so enjoyable.

The story itself is just okay, it moves along at a decent enough pace, but it's mostly just an excuse for the action to take shape - which, admittedly, once you see what McCain has in store in this heist, it's really one of the more incredible and daring scenes in heist movies from the time. But with the star there, it's an odd but compelling presence that makes the film itself much tougher. There's one scene especially where McCain pulls out his machine fun (hence the name), and it's a scene of dark, intense power, mostly from him saying little at all.

An ex-con with explosives experience gets back into the swing of things when he lines up a job to rob a Mafia run casino in Las Vegas. With John Cassavetes in the lead one would think this film would be more available than merely catching it by luck on TCM on their midnight Underground Cinema showcase. Though the production is more or less lower budget and the spoken words don't exactly line up with the movement of the lips, it's nonetheless vintage 60's crime with Cassavetes as great as ever, and Peter Falk playing the casino manager and lower level Mafiosi. There are some neat scenes of the San Francisco night life, and the action shifts to the Las Vegas strip with Cassavetes and his new bride Arlene (Britt Eklund) and the ruthless revenge of the Mafia as the movie becomes a pretty dark chase film through LA with Gena Rowlands getting a tough little part as the vise tightens.

This is a stylish, complex and exciting gangster melodrama (which Leonard Maltin in "Movies & Video Guide" calls "junk" and awards a mere **!) bolstered by an infectious Ennio Morricone score (especially the title ballad). Amazingly, it was shown on Italian TV at the time of the Cannes Film Festival as part of a series of past nominees; unfortunately, however, the print was of the choppy 94-minute U.S. version (bearing the Columbia logo upfront) and panned-and-scanned to boot (making the Techniscope compositions pretty claustrophobic)!! I've been unable to determine the film's original length, but I've seen running-times as long as 119 minutes!

The film is well-served by a great cast: an intense and fearless John Cassavetes as the title character, a delectable Britt Ekland as a girl he meets and marries on being sprung from jail (who becomes an accomplice in his criminal schemes without batting an eyelid, at least in this version!), Peter Falk as a bad-tempered small-time hood whose ambitions see him clash with his ruthless superiors, Florinda Bolkan as his even more avaricious wife, Gabriele Ferzetti as the crossed Don who goes to teach Falk a lesson (and who seems to be having an affair with Bolkan!), Luigi Pistilli (rather under-used as Falk's right-hand man), Salvo Randone (as the No. 1 Mafia Boss who keeps track of the situation from his New York office), Tony Kendall (as the hit-man dispatched to eliminate both Falk and Cassavetes) and "Special Guest Star" Gena Rowlands (as McCain's tough old flame - together they were a legendary criminal double-act, and the real-life couple demonstrate undeniable chemistry in their one scene together! - who, still having feelings for him, aids in his escape from the Mob and suffers the consequences for her actions). It's an interesting mix of 'styles': the Italians give it authenticity, the women a touch of class and the two male stars (who, regrettably, don't share any screen-time but were eventually re-teamed in a gangland milieu in MIKEY AND NICKY [1976] - which I recently watched - and where they were practically inseparable!) an aura of intelligence. Some sources credit The Doors' frontman Jim Morrison in the role of a lackey, but it certainly didn't seem like him to me!

The best sequence is the ingenious heist from a Las Vegas casino (indeed, the glitzy and often sleazy locations are a definite asset) and, in the cynical fashion of cinema in the late 60s, the film ends - rather abruptly - with a downbeat 'curtain'. Montaldo didn't make that many films but from the three I've watched - the others being the enjoyable light-hearted caper GRAND SLAM (1967) and the excellent IL GIOCATTOLO (1979), a Death Wish-type drama with a remarkable leading performance from Nino Manfredi - he certainly knew his business.

Let me start out by saying I think the main star in this flick, John Cassavettes is one of the most underrated actors of his time. I was expecting this movie to blow me out of the water. I'm a huge fan of euro action and gangster flicks. Maybe I've seen too many...or maybe "Machine Gun McCain" just wasn't trashy enough for me.

The plot is simple and straightforward. John is great as the quintessential old school tough guy. His son represents everything he isn't. I liked that part of the story- the relationship between Hank and his son.

This movie lacked the overall trashiness that I like to see in these Italian crime flicks. I prefer stuff like "Street Law" or Fulci's "Contraband," and recently I saw Deodato's "Live Like A Cop Die Like A Man" which is way more along the lines of the stuff I like (more violence, more shock, more trash)...I rented this movie and I doubt I'll purchase it for my collection.

However, I'd recommend it for fans of John Cassavettes. As I said, he really makes the movie. Look for a young Florinda Bolkan as Josie.

6 out of 10, kids.

I just recently got Drive-in Classics channel and it was the best decision of my life. Why? Because I get to see rare movies from the genres and eras long forgotten by most. This was one of those movies. Peter Falk stands out most in this movie just like he does in any of his movies. He's a mobster, a ruthless one at that and takes the cake for number one on my list of bad asses. If you ever get a chance to pick this up in a store or see it on TV then watch it and enjoy it. You'll never regret that decision.

For style, Ennio Morricone's great score and Peter Falk. I give this movie 10/10.