Jack Palance is
coolest of them all.
When it comes to the poliziotteschi
genre, Fernando Di Leo is king. Other directors weaved their way through
Italian crime sagas, but none had quite the grasp for making them work as well
as Di Leo often did, with Rulers of the
City being a sterling example.
Harry Baer stars as the lowly thug of an equally lowly
crime boss, who meets another thug in the employ of a promising new mob boss on
the rise, Mr. Scarface. The two concoct a plan to rip off Scarface, one that
soon has virtually the whole of Italy’s criminal elite on their tails, but we
soon discover that money may not be the sole motivator for one of the two…
The star here is Di Leo’s direction, which - give or take
a shaggy hippy or two - remains thoroughly modern to this very day. Di Leo
clearly had a huge influence on every who made crime films thereafter,
everybody from Scorsese to Woo to Tarantino, and his surefooted direction is
above even the largely-competent work of his contemporaries. The action comes plentifully
and quick, as the film is often interrupted by various fistfights, chases,
shootings, and one memorable moment where one of our heroes uses the front wheel
of a motorcycle to punch a goon right in the face.
The cast is also up to the task, although I was far more
taken by Baer’s charming scoundrel than Al Cliver as his stoic partner-in-crime,
Ric. Also a tad disappointing was Jack Palance as the Mr. Scarface of the
alternate title, although that disappointment comes more from his little
screen-time more than anything else. Like many actors of his class, Palance was
apparently completely okay with taking a vacation to Italy to make whatever
those crazy Italians had cooking up for him. As a result, Palance gets sadly
far too few scenes, although when he is on screen, he’s as electric as always
(I don’t think Palance could be boring if he tried). Still, those who sign up primarily
for the pairing of Di Leo and Palance are sure to have the wind taken out of
their sails just a bit.
But fortunately, they also get one of Di Leo’s very best
in the process.
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