The Boss

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.

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 !

One of his best films from Fernando Di Leo, violent and thrilling, sometimes thought of as the, 'King of the B's', and those were certainly considered the best of the poliziesco films. Known as writer and director early on of one of the best scripted spaghetti western and later for directing these splendid thrillers. Although he made a couple of sexy ones, Asylum Erotica (1971) with Rosalba Neri and Klaus Kinski and really liked, To Be Twenty (1978) with Gloria Guida and Ray Lovelock. But he is really known for these splendid action-packed poliziesco. This is the third of his trilogy, first with Caliber 9 (1972) and The Italian Connection (1972) even if these are thought of as better than this one this is still great and especially has a wonderful turn by Henry Silva. This is the one with the amazing killing in the porno cinema at the beginning and although there is a number of great actors like Richard Conte and the poor girl, who had to be kidnapped, is Antonia Santilli, had been in theatre and as a model and appeared in Playmen, an Italian adult magazine. She does a real performance in this, nude most of the time (a copy of the magazine in the film?) and has a sad ending, although I have to say that such a lot of people die in this one.

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.

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.