User Reviews

Remember "The Untouchables?" No, not Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. I'm talking Robert Stack and Bruce Gordon and Desilu (and Walter Winchell's tommy-gun narration). This series hit ABC television in 1959 and became one of the most popular prime-time dramas in the United States during its four-season run. It sparked protests by Italian-American groups who didn't appreciate the portrayal of ALL fictional gangsters as Italian-Americans. The TV series also sparked new interest in America's organized crime history and helped ignite a new cycle of Hollywood gangster films based on actual criminals:

"Baby-Face Nelson" (1957) -- Mickey Rooney; "Machine-Gun Kelly" (1958) -- Charles Bronson; "The Bonnie Parker Story" (1958) -- Dorothy Provine; "Al Capone" (1959) -- Rod Steiger; "The Purple Gang" (1959) -- Robert Blake; "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" (1960) -- Ray Danton; "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1960) -- John Ericson; "Ma Barker's Killer Brood" (1960) -- Lurene Tuttle; "Murder Incorporated" (1960) -- Peter Falk as Abe "Kid Twist" Reles; "Portrait of a Mobster" (1961) -- Vic Morrow as Dutch Schultz; "King of the Roaring 20's - The Story of Arnold Rothstein" (1961) -- David Janssen; "A House Is Not a Home" (1964) -- Shelley Winters as Polly Adler, Cesar Romero as Lucky Luciano; "Young Dillinger" (1965) -- Nick Adams.

Okay, perhaps the first few movies in this cycle were prompted by a rising national awareness of organized crime, following the Kefauver congressional hearings in the early 1950s. But this cycle and "The Untouchables" also were helped by the fact that many of these criminals were dead (some rather recently, e.g., George "Bugs" Moran -- Al Capone's intended target in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre -- in 1957, Adler and Luciano in 1962). That made it possible for the filmmakers to take "artistic liberties" with their portrayals of these actual personages.

"Mad Dog Coll" displays all of the earmarks of this late '50s/early '60s gangster cycle – low budget, up-and-coming performers who would go on to greater prominence, crisp black-and-white cinematography, lots of night shots to hide the modern urban settings, casual attention to period costuming, and a slant toward the young-adult audience. John (Davis) Chandler plays Coll as a tormented child turned reptilian narcissist, and he does a good job of generating some personal magnetism for Coll while remaining an essentially repellent character. The supporting cast (Ohrbach, Savalas, Hackman) is interesting mainly because of the work they would do later.

Anyone viewing this film, or any of the other movies in the late '50s/early '60s gangster cycle, who expects pinpoint historical accuracy needs to grow up. These were not docudramas, save in the broadest sense, any more than was "Bonnie and Clyde" (which itself, with some help from "The Godfather" I and II, sparked a new cycle of similarly factish gangster films in the late '60s and early '70s -- "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," "A Bullet for Pretty Boy," "Dillinger," "The Valachi Papers," "The Virginia Hill Story," "The Kansas City Massacre," "Lepke," and TV's "The Gangster Chronicles" among others). These filmmakers seldom let the facts get in the way of telling a good story about characters with whom the audience should "identify." That means either handsome, sympathetic criminals who are just regular folks (as in "Bonnie and Clyde" or Beatty's later "Bugsy"), or else secondary characters (such as Ohrbach plays in "Mad Dog Coll") who come to see the error of their ways and turn against the sociopathic antihero.

The MPAA's Production Code still had a strong effect in the late '50s and early '60s. "Mad Dog Coll" meets his end in a police ambush – not at the hands of a Dutch Schultz gunman, as actually happened in the London Chemist drug store on Feb. 9, 1932. The Production Code required that an on-screen killer, no matter what the reason for taking a life, had to be punished for committing murder, either by being apprehended by law enforcement or by dying himself. The gunman who killed Coll was never tried for that murder, and having Coll killed legally by the police drove home the "crime does not pay" message. (Originally, the 1959 "Al Capone" was to be narrated by a character played by Martin Balsam, a corrupt reporter who is murdered by the Capone mob. However, according to Murray Schumach in "The Face on the Cutting Room Floor: The Story of Movie and Television Censorship" (1964), the Production Code Administration insisted that the narration be rewritten and given to a tough cop, played by James Gregory, in order to drive home the point that Capone was a real bad guy.) (And was it the Production Code, or just box-office sensitivity, that led the makers of "The Purple Gang" to fictionalize all characters and eliminate any reference that most members of this Detroit mob were Jewish?)

Another factor affecting the gangster films of this era was the fact that some of the minor characters were NOT dead and didn't like being portrayed unflatteringly in such movies. Even some of the historic personages who were long deceased had relatives still looking after their reputations. Thus, for some legalistic reason, "The Bonnie Parker Story" included as characters the "Darrow" brothers, "Guy" and "Chuck" (Jack Hogan and Joe Turkel), rather than the actual Clyde and Buck Barrow, even though both real-lifers were long gone by 1958. "Bonnie and Clyde" concocted a composite character, "C.W. Moss," (Michael J. Pollard) to avoid being sued by a real-life member of the Barrow gang. Even in 1981, "The Gangster Chronicles" had to call Meyer Lansky "Michael Lasker," since Lansky was still alive (d.1983).

MAD DOG COLL isn't the best of the gangster cycle of the late '50s/early '60s, but it is representative. It's worth a look if gangster films are your meat -- if not, don't bother.

Yes, the real Vincent Coll was of direct Irish descent and had an accent. Yes, he got his start WITH Dutch Schultz before striking out on his own. Yes, he was taller and better-looking. Yes, he had an older brother Peter who never appeared in the movie. I hope his real father wasn't the abusive monster portrayed in the movie This isn't the first movie biography that played fast and loose with the facts. But for a movie at the tail end of the film noir period, it's not bad. Telly Salavas, Jerry Orbach (who I really like), and Vincent Gardina do their best in their roles. As for John Chandler...well, he got the "Mad Dog" part right. Actors can only do so much with the script and the direction they're given. The film might be better in a group setting under "MST3K" rules. Puppets optional.

Sir Francis Galton was a polymath and genius who noticed that genius seemed to run in families. He himself was the offspring of wealthy celebrities, the cousin of Charles Darwin, nephew of Erasmus Darwin and I don't know what all. He must have been right when he published a book in 1869 arguing that genius was hereditary.

Just look at the cast and crew of this movie as an example. Directed by Burt Balaban, the son of Barney Balaban who was chief of Paramount Pictures for thirty years, and brother of actor Bob Balaban. Barney was also the father of Nina Franciosa and ex father-in-law of Anthony Franciosa, as well as the father of Judy Balaban. Brooke Hayward, who plays Elizabeth, is related in one way or another to Pamela Harriman, Winston Churchill, Margaret Sullavan, Dennis Hopper, and Leland Hayward. Telly Sevalas, who plays the cop, is a direct descendant of Aristotle Onnasis, Socrates, and Zeus. A distant grandparent of John Davis Chandler, who plays Mad Dog Coll, was known to have posed for one of the gargoyles on Notre Dame Cathedral. Vincent Gardenia is the illegitimate son of Miklos Rozsa and Beatrice Lilly. NOW tell me genius -- or something -- doesn't run in families! I don't mind making fun of the movie because it really stinks. It's not just the low budget either. It's the almost total lack of imagination, care, and talent in its construction.

Stu Phillips wrote the abominable theme song (with bongos). "Mad Dog Coll thought that life was long; man, oh, man, was he ever wrong." The central figure can't act and has a face with all the beauty of the rear end of a Mack truck. The story takes place in the 1920s and the wardrobe and make ups are out of 1960. It must have taken five minutes to throw the script together. The direction is so pedestrian that it jaywalks. The narration is dumb.

Why go on? It's dispiriting to even think about it. All it lacks is an offensive social message to be a perfect egg.

2 years after THE UNTOUCHABLES did an episode about "Mad Dog" Vincent Coll, came this gripping low-budget thriller. Sure, they got pretty much ALL the details wrong. Sure, 95% of the people in front of the cameras and in back of them had incredibly-SHORT careers. But on the other hand, aside from headliner John Davis Chandler, you also had terrific spotlights for Telly Savalas (the tough cop who gave Coll too MANY chances), Vincent Gardenia (who makes Dutch Schultz seem more civilized than he probably was), and a very young Jerry Orbach (who tortures over whether to stick with his lifelong "friend", OR, help the cops PUT HIM DOWN. There's even a wordless cameo by Gene Hackman in his screen debut, as a uniformed cop.

There's also the loud, powerful, in-your-face score from Stu Phillips, whose work I know from countless things, including McCLOUD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Its nice to know some people made it out of this piece of obscurity and had long, successful careers.

Hey, I gotta hand it to the people who made this film for the simple fact that THEY MADE THIS FILM. And, it's watchable! That in itself is quite an accomplishment, no matter how you look at it.

For comparison, try watching this and the 1959 UNTOUCHABLES episode with Clu Gulager as Coll and Lawrence Dobkin as Shultz. Or, check out the 1981 mini-series, THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES, that had David Wilson as Coll and Jonathan Banks as Schultz (my personal favorite). My Dad always said that show had the MOST-authentic casting he'd ever seen for all the real-life characters involved. I always remember in that version of events, Coll & Schultz were the only 2 gang leaders who refused to sign the Atlantic City 'peace treaty' between all the major gangs-- and Coll got rubbed out soon after.

A quick Google search reveals there's also several other film versions of Coll's story. Hey, why not watch 'em all and compare?

The actor with the droopy eyelids was very good as the psychotic Coll. Good seeing Telly Salavas, Jerry Orbach, Vincent Gardenia and Gene Hackman (very briefly). The broad who wounded Coll with his own machine gun and the got raped in the back of the car was good. The scene was quite raw for 1961. The dancing girls in the stage show were well cast. They did a good job even though one ran into the back on another girl as they were exiting the stage. All of them had great legs. Extremely violent flic would never have made it past the Hayes Code censors back in the day. Filmed in gorgeous black and white.