Henry Silva is literally the scariest looking bastard I have ever seen in an Italian film, and if you think the same, this film is going to disturb you. Here he plays a man who seemingly feels no emotion whatsoever, and that makes him a terrifying figure, even amongst the mob. Put it this way, when we first meet Henry, he's firing grenades into a porn cinema filled with mob bosses, and on his way out one of their goons tries to shoot him, so he just fires a grenade at him too. Without blinking. He does however tell an entreating projectionist "Jesus doesn't like porn!"
Henry works for mobster Don Daniello (continually referred to on the Italian audio as Don Gabrielle) and both of them work for Mega-don Richard Conte, and now they
've gotten rid of a rival mob boss, they seem to have spawned a monster in Don Ciccio, who takes over his exploded boss and aims to get even with Don Daniello. When we first meet Don Ciccio, he's having a bit of a conflab with crooked cop Gianno Garko (suitably slimy in this role) while the blown up bodies of the mobsters are wailed over by their families. Garko works for Daniello (or Richard Conte, I can't remember) and tells Ciccio to get out of town.
Garko's boss seems to be the only remotely good guy in the film and also seems to know what Garko is up too. Just like Fernando De Leo's Milano Calibro, this guy seems to provide the social commentary needed on all the going's on, like why Garko may be doing what he's doing in the first place (and it may not just be for money). Meanwhile, Don Ciccio kidnaps Daniello's daughter, which causes the Don to go into meltdown and raises concern for Conte, to whom the mob is everything and family are expendable...and he suggests that Silva might want to keep an eye on Daniello so that their family don't appear weak. As for his daughter, well, turns out she's a nymphomaniac drug addict so she's happy enough!
Due to him just staring malevolently at everything, you have no idea where Henry's thoughts are going, who he's going to cold-bloodily murder, or even who he's loyal too. His face betrays nothing which makes it worse when he suddenly explodes into violence. Hell, even when a woman is draping herself all over him he barely moves. Silva totally outshines Garko and Conte, and they are both great too. Both of them seemingly present a different side to the whole argument - Garko's 'better the devil you know' philosophy reflects Conte's 'stay true to mafia tradition' policy. Garko is a lot more animated and forthright in his views, but Conte plays the same resigned mob boss he played in six other films that year including Tony Arzenta, Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, and Anna, the pleasure, the torment. I guess the 'to be continued' at the end was some kind of statement, eh?
Garko's boss seems to be the only remotely good guy in the film and also seems to know what Garko is up too. Just like Fernando De Leo's Milano Calibro, this guy seems to provide the social commentary needed on all the going's on, like why Garko may be doing what he's doing in the first place (and it may not just be for money). Meanwhile, Don Ciccio kidnaps Daniello's daughter, which causes the Don to go into meltdown and raises concern for Conte, to whom the mob is everything and family are expendable...and he suggests that Silva might want to keep an eye on Daniello so that their family don't appear weak. As for his daughter, well, turns out she's a nymphomaniac drug addict so she's happy enough!
Due to him just staring malevolently at everything, you have no idea where Henry's thoughts are going, who he's going to cold-bloodily murder, or even who he's loyal too. His face betrays nothing which makes it worse when he suddenly explodes into violence. Hell, even when a woman is draping herself all over him he barely moves. Silva totally outshines Garko and Conte, and they are both great too. Both of them seemingly present a different side to the whole argument - Garko's 'better the devil you know' philosophy reflects Conte's 'stay true to mafia tradition' policy. Garko is a lot more animated and forthright in his views, but Conte plays the same resigned mob boss he played in six other films that year including Tony Arzenta, Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, and Anna, the pleasure, the torment. I guess the 'to be continued' at the end was some kind of statement, eh?