The Boss

Henry Silva again appears in this, the final part of the Mileau Trilogy (along with The Italian Connection and Caliber 9). Three great films by Fernando Di Leo.

While this is the weakest of the three, it is the one closest to my heart as my family comes from Palermo and Camporeale in Sicily. It's a mafia war, and has a heavy influence from The Godfather.

In fact, the top Godfather in this film is Richard Conte, Don Barzini from The Godfather, Antonia Santilli plays Don D'Aniello's daughter, who is kidnapped in the battle. She is a wild child that bonds instantly with the kidnappers.

The one thing I cannot figure from the translation is how Italian police talk about "wankers." Did a Brit do the translation?

The Boss is the third and final part of Fernando Di Leo's loose trilogy based on organised crime, and it's also the weakest. Milano Calibro 9 and The Italian Connection are without doubt two of the finest examples of this genre, but while this one isn't particularly bad; it's not great either, and despite a number of standout moments; The Boss grinds to a halt on more than one occasion, and I was nowhere near as gripped during this film as I was during the other two parts of this trilogy. The film is more focused on the 'organised crime' angle than the other two films; and The Godfather seems like an obvious influence. The film focuses on a war between two rival mafia families. Things start to get out of control after an attack on the local porn theatre, which leaves a load of gang members dead. Naturally, the wronged gang decides to take revenge for these killings and goes about kidnapping the rival don's daughter Rina Daniello. At the centre of the tale is the Nick Lanzetta, the assassin behind the killings in the theatre.

The film gets off to an explosive start with a sequence that sees the central character blow a load of people away with a grenade launcher. This is somewhat misleading; as a film with an opening like this really promises excitement all the way through, but unfortunately things slow down after that, which really annoyed me. The film does feature some other interesting scenes (including a nice death scene that sees someone get a flick knife in the mouth), but The Boss never manages to top its opening scene. A lot of the film is made of talking, and that's not what I tune into this sort of film for; I prefer my Polizi full blooded and full of car chases and gun fights. Like the superior 'Italian Connection', this film stars Henry Silva. The cult actor made a number of these films, and he suits the hit-man role well. Seasoned Italian cult film actor Richard Conte stars alongside Silva and also does well also. I have to say that I was losing interest by the end, but thankfully the film does have just about enough about it to ensure that it's worth seeing for fans of this usually wonderful genre.

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.

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 third and final film in Fernando Di Leo's excellent Millieu trilogy, "Il Boss" of 1973 is an absolute masterpiece that easily ranks among the most brilliant Mafia films ever brought to screen. Director Di Leo had created one of Crime Cinema's all-time highlights already with "Milano Calibro 9" in 1972, and while the succeeding "La Mala Ordina" (aka.) "Manhunt" from the same year was still excellent, but slightly inferior, "Il Boss" equals the brilliance of the first film. Unlike its two predecessors, which played in Milan, "Il Boss" takes place in Palermo, Sicily. The film which begins with a memorably brutal opening sequence already, delivers raw action and excessive violence as well as a very realistic insight into corruption and organized crime. The film is tough-minded and uncompromising from the very beginning, and the characters, all of which are brutal, immoral and violent differ not in their moral values, but just in their toughness. The stone- faced Henry Silva in the lead alone makes this film an absolute must-see for every lover of crime cinema. Silva makes the toughest and most charismatic Mafia hit-man ever to have appeared on screen in his leading role of Nick Lanzetta, and the doubtlessly greatest role ever played by Silva, generally one of the greatest actors in Italian crime cinema.

This film, which revolves around power struggles and a kidnapping within Sicily's organized crime, delivers tons of raw action and sadistic violence as well as fine portion of criticism of social circumstances and corruption. Apart from that, it also has a unique atmosphere and gives a stunning and immensely realistic portrayal of the power struggles within the mafia. "Il Boss" is a film of superb, ruthless characters, and equally superb performances. As mentioned above, Henry Silva is one of my favorite actors and he is absolutely brilliant in the leading role of Nick Lanzetta here. Lanzetta is arguably THE toughest Mafia-hit-man character in Cinema-history, and Silva is the perfect, no, the ONLY choice to play the role. Yes, this truly is a film that makes it hard not to talk in superlatives all the time. The other performances are entirely great too, be it Richard Conte as a Mafia Boss, Pier Paolo Capponi, or Spaghetti Western star Gianni Garko, who is excellent in the role of a sleazy corrupt police detective. The ravishing beauty Antonia Santilli is also superb in the female lead as a seductive mobster's daughter, for unknown reasons she sadly didn't appear in too many other films. The brilliant score by Luis Enríquez Bacalov contributes a lot to the film ingenious atmosphere and general mood. Brutal, Tough-Minded and absolutely brilliant "Il Boss" is a personal favorite of mine that easily ranks among the greatest Mafia-flicks ever made! I could go on praising this film for a long time, but I will just finish my review with a recommendation: Watch this film as soon as you can! This is Italian genre-cinema at its finest, and an absolute must see for every lover of Cult-cinema!