Following their excellent limited edition DVD of
Umberto Lenzi’s The CYNIC, THE RAT AND
THE FIST (1976) earlier in the year, German label Film Art have finally
released his subsequent crime film BROTHERS
TILL WE DIE (1977). This was the
second film after ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH
(1976) to feature Tomas Milian as Vincenzo “hunchback” Marazzi
or “Humpo”, his tasteless, but wholly appropriate nickname. If that weren’t enough, Milian also plays his
twin brother Sergio who also goes under the more colourful moniker of “Pigsty”.
Returning to Rome after a lengthy absence, Vince
locates his brother Sergio and through his help, strikes up a relationship with
Maria (Isa Danieli), a local prostitute that becomes his main squeeze. It doesn’t take too long before he is
organizing a meeting with a local stick-up crew led by Perroni (perennial bad
guy Luciano Catenacci) that plan to rob an armoured truck outside the Bank of
Rome. In a clever move, they use tear
gas as a distraction during the heist but, due to his very obvious deformity,
Perroni and his men decide to double-cross and shoot Vince during the heist, because
it would be too easy for the police to identify him. Of course, Vince escapes into the sewers
during the mayhem and, in a standout scene, crawls to his safety through the
mud and shit bent on revenge.
For anyone into Italo-crime films, there is plenty
to enjoy here despite the lack of an American or prominent Italian “good guy”
star in the form of a Maurizio Merli or Luc Merenda. In order to carry the film, Milian truly
out-does himself playing both twins, which have typically outlandish hairstyles
(both ridiculous looking wigs) and a little too much eyeliner. Along with Giulio Sacchi from ALMOST HUMAN (1974), the hunchback (or il gobbo on Italian prints) is one of
Milian’s most memorable characters whose tenacity and ruthless demeanor make
for great entertainment. Plus, he also
gets to spew out a number of hilarious one-liners long before they became
trendy in action films such as this. A
couple of great examples include, “Humpo is gettin’ humped” or “When you’re
born with a hump, you ain’t got much room for a heart”. How’s that for some thought provoking
existentialism? As Pigsty, Milian ups
the comedy factor and dons the exact same wig from Lenzi’s FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP (1976) and Stelvio Massi’s DIRTY GANG (1977). In a fairly impressive bit of optical work, Milian
plays both Humpo and Pigsty in the very same scene quite effectively, but the
best is saved for last when Milian as Pigsty actually rises above the material
in a rather poignant and bittersweet finale.
As mentioned earlier, Pino Colizzi as Inspector
Sarti is no Maurizio Merli, but he does an adequate enough job even as he tries to
emulate signor Merli right down to
his appearance with the same mustache and haircut. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but it doesn’t seem
so. Other notable poliziesco veterans include Guido Leontini as Mario “Coldcuts” di
Gennaro, Sal Borgese as Albania and Carlo Gaddi as The Panther, one of Humpo’s
right-hand men.
Released on Italian DVD by Federal Video under its
original title of La Banda del Gobbo, this was a nice release that offered a
great 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, but unfortunately had no English language or
English subtitle options. In what seems
to be a continuing series of poliziescos,
Film Art’s DVD also includes a superb 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer but they have
decked out their edition with Italian, German and English language options
along with optional subtitles in German and English as well. Extras include Part 2 of the Franco Micalizzi
interview from The CYNIC, THE RAT AND
THE FIST DVD, an English language trailer (under the English export title BROTHERS TILL WE DIE) and an attractive booklet, which is in German
only. This is a PAL Region 2 disc and limited to 1000
copies, so grab one here while you still can.
No comments:
Post a Comment