10/3/07: VIOLENT CITY

VIOLENT CITY, made in 1970 by Sergio "Big Gundown" Sollima, and starring Charles Bronson and his smokin hot wifey Jill Ireland and her body double, was not released in the States until 1973, in order to piggyback THE GODFATHER. Known in this form as THE FAMILY, it was (as typical) cut by about 20 minutes ... And if judging the recent Blue Underground DVD is any indication, I probably would have preferred the shorter one! The majority of the cut scenes are unnecessary character scenes that belabor certain points ... Namely that Chuck Bronson is A VERY HARD MAN. But do we really need to see a spider crawl across his hand for five minutes to get this point?

That being said, the movie is freakin GREAT. Really wonderful Morricone score permeates almost the whole thing, and it is filled with crazy violence that is beautifully staged and artfully shot. It reminds one of POINT BLANK meets THE KILLER, the latter mostly because both films involve a hitman named Jeff who falls in love and wants to go straight. It also recalls DAY OF THE JACKAL with its patient attention to the process of paid assassination.

The movie is punctuated by lengthy showstopping action set pieces ... A car chase at the beginning (and obvious inspiration for a scene from DRIVER 3 if you ask me) climaxes in a sadistic fiery gunbattle ... The shooting of a race car driver results in his car catapulting off the track, through a brick wall, and into a populated street!!! The finale in an elevator reminds us of both Hitchcock and Argento in equal measure. Oh yeah and did I mention that Jill Ireland is an uber babe? Too bad her body double got more screen time than she did ... A real shame.