O Chefão

I agree with the only other individual who has commented on this movie, it's a real 'mafia-action' classic from the early seventies and is gritty, well plotted and acted and has a very high body-count !

Our hero (or rather anti-hero), is a hit-man for the mafia, who proves his worth by rubbing-out half of a rival gang, whilst they were enjoying a private screening of some Scandinavian porn, launching grenades from the projection room- into the auditorium.......

I don't want to give away too-much but this film has enough twists and turns -double and treble crosses to keep any fan of the genre glued to the screen.

Also has a great score by Luis E. Bacalov - the main theme comes in times of action and thunders by like an express train carrying an angry Keith Moon, backed with fuzz-guitar, then flips into frantic jazz piano (has to be heard to be appreciated).

Has to be seen too !

This movie shows it like it is. In this movie Ferdinando di Leo was brave enough to use real unofficial incidents that were happening at the time,he even used some real names, or changed some by changing only a letter from the name, After this movie came, Ferdinando became paraniod that someone was going to "take care of him" for the content of this movie but nothing happend. This movie is great because, Di Leo doesn't make out the characters to be charismatic role models, but the cold blood assassins they really are. I give this movie 2 thumbs up. Plus and the end of the movie it sais to be continued, but not because theirs going to be a sequel, but becuase he just did a piece of mafia history, and the mafia continues, no good endings or bad endings, just a piece of history.

I saw this for the first time recently aft reading a glowing review by Coventry n the other factor which pulled me into seeing this is Silva.

They say that this one is the final part of Fernando Di Leo's "Milieu Trilogy" also including Caliber 9 (1972) and The Italian Connection (1972).

I haven't seen the other two but this one ends with a note stating to be continued.

But a sequel was never made.

Silva is very convincing in the role of that of a ruthless hitman who doesn't hesitate to ill treat a hot nymphomaniac n is obsessed with photos of women with big juggs.

The opening scene of the theatre is very brutal n some of the shoot outs are pretty violent.

The only three things which bothers me, how the character of Silva slipped out of the shack?

What was the conversation towards the end just before when the movie ends with a note to be continued.

The movie has lots of unwanted chit chats.

The opening scene from The Boss shows what the 70's Italian crime film was all about. A mafia hit-man wipes out most of a rival family when he fires a grenade launcher at them from the projection booth while they sit back and watch Danish porn. In other words, the genre was about serious action, violence and a distinct lack of subtlety. This opening action duly sets into motion a violent mob war and we are off.

Fernando Di Leo shows here once again, that when it comes to poliziotteschi he was the undoubted master. The Boss is the third in an excellent loose trilogy about Italian organised crime. Milan Calibre 9 and The Italian Connection are the other two entries. This one is more specifically about the Mafia and its machinations. As such it's set in the Mafia homeland of Palermo, Sicily. I like how the poliziotteschi films are so city specific. This gives them all distinctive atmospheres; the city is almost a separate character. But in this flick there is no doubt Henry Silva is the star of the show. He plays the hit-man Nick Lanzetta and shows precisely why he is considered an Italian crime genre great. His stone-faced, monosyllabic approach is perfect for this ruthless character. Lanzetta is certainly one of the hardest screen gangsters ever. The movie basically depicts his rise through the ranks of the Mafia. He, like all the other characters is out for himself alone and he is pretty ruthless in getting to the top. There are no good characters in this film, no matter which side of the law they are on everyone is immoral to at least some degree. I think the Italians are so good at this kind of movie because they seemed to think nothing of populating entire movies with shady characters. It's not just the crime films that do this but a lot of the gialli take the same approach. It works especially well in these noir style flicks though, as they usually are making statements about corruption in the Italian authorities as well as looking at the crime gangs. The Boss does detail some of the inner workings of the Mafia too. But more than anything, this is a film that is so very enjoyable because it is loaded with lots of stylish violent action.

The first Fernando Di Leo film I've seen, and I heard it was one of his lesser films. But wow, if this is true than I can't wait to see the rest because I am impressed. Firstly it opens with a bloody, explosive scene borrowed from by Quentin Tarantino in "Inglorious Bastards," which makes Quentin's version a tad lamer. After that it doesn't lose its momentum, and were given an hour and a half of cool violence by an Italian hitman with a killer soundtrack playing in the background. The lady love in this film, a nympho, the daughter of the "Don" was also nice to look at. Overall an original film with decent characters and little dull moments. A good poliziotteschi.