Rulers of the City

Charming movie. Fun and entertaining poliziottesco that doesn't take itself too serious. The Italian DVD is wide screen and includes the superior Italian dub (with English subtitles); don't see the American crappy DVD's that are out there. It also has nice extra's and even those are subtitled. Hail to Raro Video. The soundtrack is strange and original. And it works quite well. I wonder if it is out there on CD. The big name is of course Jack Palance, but my favorite character in the movie is Napoli, played by Vittorio Caprioli. Perhaps not one of Fernando Di Leo's best, but very entertaining indeed. Underrated by the IMDb-users, probably because of the horrible American DVD's.

Energised to some degree by some inspired acting, this violent little crime caper has a young, carefree protection collector (Baer) swindling a big-time hood (Palance) out of 10 million Lira only to discover that his "good deed" has deadly consequences for all concerned. His alliance with a former gang member of the hood (Cliver) may be the only chance he has to clear his debts, and survive, but there's another motivation for Cliver's expert assistance.

Palance is wasted talking out the corner of his mouth while he incessantly chews on a durry filter, while poor old Edmund Purdom really has things tough in this film. His character is publicly emasculated and betrayed by his own favoured son. The role isn't especially prominent, nor key to the plot, so Purdom's appearance in it is both unusual (for such a distinguished actor) and ultimately frivolous. Baer is likable as the charismatic "enforcer", who attracts as much attention from the ladies as he does from those attempting to kill him. Rotund funny-man Caprioli as the wily old Purdom gang member over-indulges in the humour, becoming a parody. Overall, it's very hit and miss.

There's not much to recommend; lots of fisticuffs, gun-fights, car-chases and the like, but the tongue-in-cheek element is never consistently applied, and consequently, the tone is confusing, the film itself a dull experience.

What went wrong here? Fernando Di Leo drops the ball in a meandering crime film that takes almost fifty minutes to get anywhere and doesn't feature any particularly interesting characters. All Jack Palance does is scowl with a cigarette in his mouth, something you've seen him do in a dozen other films.

It starts out with a kid witnessing his father being killed by Jack Palance, then we fast forward to the present (seventies Rome), where Tony works for local mob guy Luigi (played by a very pale Edmund Purdom). Tony wants to work the big leagues and ends up teaming up with Al Cliver, a guy who until recently worked for Palance. I guess the mystery is figuring out which one of them was the kid at the start of the film.

The first two thirds of the film concentrate on these two scamming Palance while also fighting with Purdom's second in command, and the main problem is neither of the leads are that interesting. The only character with any depth is the old Neopolitan pickpocket who gets caught up in the all the madness. For some reason though his character has an over the top Italian accent whilst everyone else is dubbed American.

Most of the action takes place in the last half hour of the film, where finally everyone gets their guns out. This is where Al Cliver shines as he's not the best at being emotional, but at least he looks cool gunning people down. The whole film seems a bit tired and it's as if Di Leo didn't know where to take the story, and as there's about a million Eurocrime films from 1976, this one doesn't quite cut it.

Rulers of the City does have a lot going for it. It does fall short of being great, and Fernando Di Leo and Jack Palance have done better in their respective careers, but this is not even close to being career-worsts for either and is a very respectable film overall.

The locations are splendid, and the gritty roughness of the photography and clever (without being too much or too dizzying) camera angles capture it more than ideally. There is also a dynamite score, exhilarating action scenes (the final shootout being the prime example) and mostly above-decent direction, if in need of more tension in places. The script is tight and more light-hearted than Di Leo's Milieu trilogy, but it was light-heartedness and witty humour that didn't feel too misplaced, and the story is at least engrossing and swiftly paced on the most part.

Casting-wise, Rulers of the City is very much a mixed bag, with the best performances being from a sinister Jack Palance (though he was deserving of more screen time) and a lively and lots-of-fun, without being too clownish, Vittorio Napoli as the film's most colourful character. Harry Baer has some charming moments too and Giselda Hahn brings a little heart. Al Clivar however does show his limitations as an actor in a somewhat one-note performance and Edmund Perdum is rather stiff in an underwritten role.

Aside from a slow-motion dream-like opening sequence, that was quite striking if perhaps not necessary, Rulers of the City does take too long to get going and the story only really comes to life once Palance appears. The film was in need of more tension and suspense, and stronger writing for the villains (who were underutilised and never really developed, and this is including Palance's character) would have helped. The final shoot-out is great, but ends a little anti-climactically. And I do have to agree about the homo-erotic undertones and homosexuality hints being clumsily written and out of place, which did feel the film a bizarre feel at times.

Overall, respectable but could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

"Rulers of the City" is enjoyable for fans of the Italian crime flick, with a fast moving story and a sense of humour to let you know that it's never taking itself too seriously. The actors are all good and the film is effectively violent without ever getting very bloody. True enough that it may not be all that believable, but it *is* entertaining, if not memorable in the end. Director Fernando Di Leo was prolific in this genre and the viewer may want to check out his other works; they're available in DVD and Blu-ray box sets from Raro Video.

The amiable Harry Baer stars as Tony, a young debt collector who's tired of his go-nowhere job. So he hatches a scheme with aging mobster Napoli (Vittorio Caprioli) and his new friend Rick (Al Cliver of "Zombi 2") to con big time hood Manzari (Jack Palance) out of several million. Naturally, things don't work out the way that they want and they end up having to make a stand against Manzari and his goons.

It's enjoyable to see this international, familiar cast at work. Palance is convincing as the bad guy, the engaging Caprioli supplies a good deal of the comedy relief, Edmund Purdom (the dean in "Pieces") has a welcome presence as mafioso Luigi Cherico, the lovely Gisela Hahn provides the eye candy (and also sings some tunes), and Enzo Pulcrano is amusing as volatile jerk Peppi, who's out to get Tony. Co-scriptwriter Peter Berling also plays the role of Valentino in the film.

All in all, this is pleasant to watch, with a reasonably rousing action climax and an eclectic score by Luis Bacalov.

Seven out of 10.