As Alfonso Brescia movies go, this one isn't half bad. The worst thing about it is the pacing. The film goes through exactly 11 minutes of globe-hopping to Iran (accomplished largely via stock footage), New York, Italy, and Turkey before finally getting to the opening credits. After that roughly 40 minutes go by before the film gives us any action... but once it gets going it isn't half bad, if a tad chaotic. What's funny is that Gianni Garko is set up early-on as the protagonist of the story, but he's basically forgotten about as the film goes on in favor of Mario Merola's character "Don Francesco", a mafia bigwig who makes a deal with the cops. Lots of screen time in the last act is devoted to filler footage of a huge Italian wedding.
Also quite atrocious is the dubbing, which is particularly heinous in the case of Don Francesco's annoying son played by Lucio Montanaro. You'll notice a lot of familiar voices like Greg Snegoff, Ed Mannix, Larry Dolgin, etc. but they had a rush-job on this decidedly minor cheaply-made crime movie. Similarly the shootouts and car chase are quite poorly filmed with too little coverage and/or few transition-shots to make them make much sense.
Casting-wise the movie isn't half bad with good early roles for Lorraine De Selle, Sabrina Siani, etc. Antonio Sabato makes an okay idiotic villain and Jeff Blynn is on hand to try to capitalize off the fact that he looks like Maurizio Merli's lost twin brother. Amusingly Franco Diogene reprises his role from MIDNIGHT EXPRESS as a sleazy Turkish lawyer who gets blown up right as the beginning credits chime in. Considering the Turkish uproar over the prior film, I'm surprised Turkey allowed him into the country! Perhaps nobody made the connection? The two best points are the gritty photography and scene-setting music. A lot of the cinematography is real up-close in-your-face gritty establishing shots which do a good job promoting the seedy Neopolitan atmosphere. The music similarly is really infectiously Neapolitan with a mean-spirited sleazy undertone to it. Good stuff in an otherwise daft film which I'm sure was cynically churned out with a minimal amount of effort to make maybe a tiny profit.
Also quite atrocious is the dubbing, which is particularly heinous in the case of Don Francesco's annoying son played by Lucio Montanaro. You'll notice a lot of familiar voices like Greg Snegoff, Ed Mannix, Larry Dolgin, etc. but they had a rush-job on this decidedly minor cheaply-made crime movie. Similarly the shootouts and car chase are quite poorly filmed with too little coverage and/or few transition-shots to make them make much sense.
Casting-wise the movie isn't half bad with good early roles for Lorraine De Selle, Sabrina Siani, etc. Antonio Sabato makes an okay idiotic villain and Jeff Blynn is on hand to try to capitalize off the fact that he looks like Maurizio Merli's lost twin brother. Amusingly Franco Diogene reprises his role from MIDNIGHT EXPRESS as a sleazy Turkish lawyer who gets blown up right as the beginning credits chime in. Considering the Turkish uproar over the prior film, I'm surprised Turkey allowed him into the country! Perhaps nobody made the connection? The two best points are the gritty photography and scene-setting music. A lot of the cinematography is real up-close in-your-face gritty establishing shots which do a good job promoting the seedy Neopolitan atmosphere. The music similarly is really infectiously Neapolitan with a mean-spirited sleazy undertone to it. Good stuff in an otherwise daft film which I'm sure was cynically churned out with a minimal amount of effort to make maybe a tiny profit.