{"id":5890,"date":"2024-10-14T23:31:31","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=5890"},"modified":"2024-10-14T23:31:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:31:31","slug":"crime-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/14\/crime-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Crime Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Crime Boss<\/strong> (1972)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinema Shares International Distribution\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Alberto De Martino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Lucio Manlio Battistrada and Luigi Mordini\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Francesco De Masi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Aristide Massaccesi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Telly Savalas, Antonio Sabato, Paola Tedesco, Giuliano Persico, Guido Lollobrigida, Nino Dal Fabbro, Sergio Rossi, Sergio Tramonti, Piero Morgia, Carlo Gaddi, Rosita Torosh.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0I give a lot of latitude to exploitation movies because they\u2019re a breed all their own. They don\u2019t follow the traditional rules of cinema assuming they follow any rules at all. Sometimes it\u2019s a cinematic free-for-all. But even with that label, Crime Boss<\/strong> is still a bad movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Italian-made crime drama stars Antonio Sabato (Grand Prix) as Antonio Mancuso, a low-level mob mechanic- i.e. hitman- looking for advancement in a do-or-die (mostly die) profession. After a successful hit, he and his brother Nicola (Persico) steal a bag of drugs which Antonio promptly returns to its rightful owner, Mafia boss Don Vincenzo (Savalas, Kojak). An action like this takes serious palle<\/em> (Italian for \u201ccojones<\/em>\u201d). Although logic tells him to kill Antonio, instinct tells him to keep him around. He adds, \u201cMy instincts are never wrong.\u201d Was there ever a more subtly prophetic statement? You see, Antonio is an ambitious sort with a thirst for power. He begins secretly plotting with other dons to \u201cunseat\u201d Vincenzo and take over his position as the big boss.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That, of course, is just a basic overview of Crime Boss<\/strong>. There\u2019s some other drama wedged in. Antonio\u2019s late father is frequently mentioned. He was also involved with the Mafia. He did some unspecified thing to be labeled a traitor. The same assumption is made of Antonio. The young man has something to prove with his determination to rise to the top. He also becomes romantically involved with Vincenzo\u2019s daughter Monica (Tedesco, Battle of the Amazons), a strong-willed type looking to get out from under her protective father\u2019s thumb. What better way to rebel than screw one of your dad\u2019s \u201cemployees\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Italian exploitation movies aren\u2019t exactly the height of the art of cinema, but they should still meet a few basic standards like competent editing, decent pacing and a coherent narrative. Crime Boss<\/strong> is choppily edited and I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s a result of being readied for American release. According to Wikipedia, the original Italian cut I Familiari Delle Vittime Non Saranno Avvertiti<\/em> (The Victims\u2019 Families Won\u2019t Be Told) runs 103 minutes. The American version, the one I saw, is only 93. I don\u2019t mind the bad dubbing; it\u2019s part of the appeal of Italian exploitation. I do mind when the story is rendered incomprehensible by poor filmmaking skills.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crime Boss<\/strong> is a mess made worse by being boring. I could not get into it for the life of me. It has a few okay action scenes, but that\u2019s just it, they\u2019re only okay. Making matters worse is the bad acting. Sabato is completely wooden as the protagonist. The makers could have put a cigar store wooden Indian in the lead and gotten the same results for all the life Sabato puts into his performance. Savalas is completely miscast as a Sicilian mob boss. He tries but it\u2019s all for naught. He played a more convincing mob boss in Cannonball Run II. Tedesco makes no impression whatsoever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Exploitation movies are usually made to capitalize on the success of more popular films. Crime Boss<\/strong> is no different. Obviously, director Alberto De Martino (Holocaust 2000) intended to profit from the success of The Godfather. Although there aren\u2019t any significant story similarities, the whole Mafia angle is supposed to make potential audiences think of Coppola\u2019s award-winning film. HOWEVER, De Martino does copy the closing scene of The Godfather near the end of his film with a shot of Antonio closing the door on Monica while he meets with associates. HA! He wishes Crime Boss<\/strong> was even a fraction as good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As much as I enjoy trashy exploitation movies from all countries, I cannot recommend Crime Boss<\/strong>. It\u2019s more badly made than most movies of its kind. Even the violence is boring. I wouldn\u2019t mind checking out the uncut version someday assuming it even exists. This cut of Crime Boss<\/strong> is a failed hit.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crime Boss (1972)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinema Shares International Distribution\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Alberto De Martino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Lucio Manlio Battistrada and Luigi Mordini\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Francesco De Masi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Aristide Massaccesi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Telly Savalas, Antonio Sabato, Paola Tedesco, Giuliano Persico, Guido Lollobrigida, Nino Dal Fabbro, Sergio Rossi, Sergio Tramonti, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Crime-Boss-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6104,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890\/revisions\/6104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}