The Family (1970)
5/10
Family Business
7 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS**** Unevenly slapped together with it's subtitles switching from English to Italain, causing major confusion to those of us watching it, crime movie. With what looks like an equally confused and just going through the motions Charles Bronson as once top and now retired Mafia hit-man Jeff Heston. Jeff is being forced to work for mob boss Al Weber, Telly Savalas, who uses the leverage of Jeff's old flame-as well as Bronson real life wife-Vanessa Shelton played by Jill Ireland to get him to join his criminal operation.

It's in fact Vanessa who double-crossed Jeff in trying to get him whacked by his once good friend race car driver Coogan at the start of the movie! That's after a wild 12 minute car chase, by Weber's men, while the two were vacationing in the sunny Virgin Islands. With Jeff now looking for revenge later has Coongan killed in an ambush he set up for him at a New Orleans race track. It's there that Jeff is secretly photographed shooting Coogan's wheels from right under him causing his car as well as Coogan to disintegrate when it hit a brick wall on impact. With Weber using the photos of Jeff's crime to blackmail him to join his gang Jeff feeling betrayed twice takes his rage out on Vanessa by brutally working her over and at the same time, when he gets tired of using her as a punching bag, making love to her.

****SPOILERS**** Unknown to Jeff he's being used by Vanessa and her as well as his, who once got Jeff off on a triple murder rap, shyster lawyer Steve, Umberto Orsini, who in fact double-cross Jeff's boss Al Weber, whom he ended up killing, and thus together with Vanessa take over Weber's entire criminal operation! Faking that he checked out to Africa as a paid mercenary in the Congo Jeff back tracks to New Orleans and sets up a kill-zone to zero in on both Vanessa & Steve as their about to legally, with all the papers signed, take over the late Al Weber's criminal enterprise. You get quite a blast for your money or admission in Jeff not only turning the tables on his blackmailers, Vanessa & Steve, but how he set the two up in a glass and outside high-rise elevator to off them. The beautiful color photography more then makes up for the confusing and uneven script and storyline that seems to have been patched together by its screen writers while they were getting themselves good and high on drugs and strung out in an opium den.
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