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Review by Roger Carpenter

After cutting his teeth on a couple of spaghetti westerns (Django Defies Sartana; Death’s Dealer), director Pasquale Squitieri moved into the popular gangster genre with Gang War in Naples and Blood Brothers, this last film including the all-star cast of Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, and Fabio Testi. He then directed The Climber (1975) , a story about a young, cocky hood who climbs his way up the mafia ladder.

Cult actor Joe Dallesandro stars as the cocky hoodlum, Aldo. Dallesandro had just completed Warhol’s Dracula and Frankenstein films and had decided to stay in Europe. He was riding a crest of popularity and had no trouble finding work. Squitieri was happy to pick him up for this film, alongside co-star Stefania Casini (Warhol’s Dracula, Bertolucci’s 1900, as well as Suspiria).

The film opens with Aldo making off with a load of stolen cigarettes from the docks of Naples.

The Climber (1976) is now available Blu-ray From Arrow Video

After shooting cult favorites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun).

The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge…

Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime...

Daniel Bird: “What is your opinion of Walerian Borowczyk’s work?”Andrzej Żuławski: “Borowczyk? Oh, he lost himself, I think, it’s a pity because he was quite a talent.” One radical filmmaker laments another radical. With one sentence, Żuławski encapsulates the conventional arc of Borowczyk, or as he calls himself in Mr. and Mrs. Kabal's Theatre (1967), Boro’s career. He was a great animator working with Jan Lenica in Poland and, when moving to France, Chris Marker[1]. His shorts influenced Jan Švankmajer, Terry Gilliam, and the Quay Brothers, and were praised by critics like Amos Vogel and Raymond Durgnat. With his first two live-action feature-films, Goto, Island of Love (1968) and Blanche (1971), critics hailed Boro as part of the major league—an auteur. He’s the next Bresson! He’s the next Buñuel! Then he made Immoral Tales (1974), a blemish in his body of work at this point in his career.

We know you guys are always on the lookout for rare and unusual films so when we got the announcement that RaroVideo will be releasing Fernando Di Leo's Madness, starring Joe Dallesandro, in August, of course we had to share the news!

From the Press Release:

Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film boutique RaroVideo announces Fernando Di Leo's Madness (1980) DVD release on August 14, 2012.

The film stars Joe Dallesandro, better known as the “Little Joe” mentioned in Lou Reed’s hit 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side.” Dallesandro is considered by many to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, having starred in Flesh, Trash, and Heat among many others. A photograph taken by Andy Warhol of Dallesandro’s crotch bulge encased in a tight-fitting pair of jeans...

Which will include Coppola's Tetro which premiers at Cannes for a total of 392 films which includes 31 world premiers and 203 narrative features. Man, Siff always has good stuff, I wish I could go. Any writers in Seattle want to provide coverage for us?

Check out some of the premiers after the break.

World Premieres

Back to the Garden, Flower Power Comes Full Circle, directed by Kevin Tomlinson (USA, 2009)

Dancing Across Borders, directed by Anne H. Bass (USA/Cambodia, 2009)

Facing Ali, directed by Pete McCormack (Canada, 2009)

The Hills Run Red, directed by Dave Parker (USA, 2009)

Icons Among Us, directed by Michael Rivoira, Lars Larson, Peter J. Vogt (USA, 2009)

I’m No Dummy, directed by Bryan W. Simon (USA, 2009)

Pop Star On Ice, directed by David Barba (USA/Canada/Russia/Japan, 2009)

The Spy and the Sparrow, directed by Garrett Bennett (USA, 2009)

talhotblond, directed by Barbara Schroeder (USA, 2008)

The Whole Truth, directed by Colleen Patrick (USA,...

More Berlinale coverage

Munich -- The Berlin International Film Festival's Panorama art house sidebar is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and organizers have programmed an intricate lattice of cinematic events to mark the occasion.

One pair of films succeeds in weaving together the Panorama's threefold goal: premiering debut works by eclectic directors, finding successful films with serious political content and becoming the go-to international festival for gay and lesbian-themed cinema.

In 1985, Panorama (then known as "Info-Schau") presented the international premiere of Robert Epstein's Oscar-winning documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk," the same year it screened Gus van Sant's directorial debut "Mala Noche." This year, van Sant's Oscar-nominated biopic "Milk" will be shown side by side with Epstein's film, bringing both van Sant's Panorama career and the assassinated San Francisco mayor's cinematic story full circle.

A similar web of artists and themes creates what Panorama organizers are dubbing "the John Hurt tryptych.

Berlin -- Richard Loncraine's "My One and Only," a '50s-era comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Kevin Bacon, was squeezed into the competition lineup for this year's Berlin International Film Festival, barely a week before the event kicks off.

Zellweger plays a glamorous single mom on the hunt for a rich man to foot the bill for her and her sons' lifestyle. Produced by Merv Griffith Entertainment and Ray Gun Prods., "My One and Only" will have its world premiere in Berlin. Essential Entertainment is handling international sales.

Berlin also added Lone Scherfig's Sundance favorite "An Education" with Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson and Davis Guggenheim's music documentary "It Might Get Loud" for its Berlinale Special Galas, ensuring the films will get the red carpet treatment without any of the pressure of competition.

All three films should give an added boost of star power to...

Cologne, Germany -- Joe Dallesandro, the actor immortalized by Andy Warhol in films such as "Flesh," "Trash" and "Heat" and by Lou Reed in his classic song "Walk on the Wild Side," will be honored with a special Teddy Award at next month's Berlin International Film Festival.

A Berlin institution, the Teddy Awards honor achievement in gay and lesbian cinema. Last year, Tilda Swinton received a special Teddy for her work with late British director Derek Jarman.

Dallesandro will receive his golden Teddy at a Feb. 13 ceremony.

Two films featuring the actor also will screen at this year's Berlinale: "Little Joe," Nicole Haeusser's new documentary on Dallesandro, and Catherine Breillat's "Tapage Nocture," which won Berlin's Panorama Audience Award in 1979.