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Reviews
Namus (1973)
Solid Turkish drama from the 70's
****WARNING SPOILERS THROUGHOUT****
Turkish leading lady Fatma Girik stars as Zeynep, who lives with her father, sister Ayse (Perihan Savas) and Ayse's husband on a farm in a very small village. Along comes Orhan whose father is a life long friend of the family. After flirting with both sisters, Orhan forces himself upon and rapes Zeynep who becomes pregnant. Orhan promises marriage but it all proves to be a lie because he then goes back to Istanbul to tend to business matters and also his blonde mistress. Unable to stand the disgrace and embarrassment, Zeynep tracks Orhan down and begs him to marry her (or she will look like a 'whore' to the rest of her village). Orhan refuses. Zeyneps father comes to Istanbul to track her down, where after quite a moving scene where Orhan and his rich guests ridicule Zeynep's father, he takes his daughter back to the comfort of their village. After Orhans fathers passing, complications with the will bring him back to the small village where he then rapes (do you see a recurring theme here?..) the now married and pregnant Ayse. Zeynep stumbles across this horrible scene and the film ends in a very bloody and downbeat fashion with muchos pick axe mayhem...
I doubt that many people will read this but for those that do manage to track this film down will be amazed at how much punishment Fatma Girik's character endures. She is raped, slapped about, kicked repeatedly, drugged and raped again and humiliated in nearly every scene. Those familiar with Turkish films will know what to expect here though the acting and editing is of a higher standard than usual, as is the handling of the exciting finale. The sight of Fatma Girik brandishing a pick axe with her face and white dress bloodied is a classic of the genre.
Probably a bit to talky for most tastes (especially if you don't understand Turkish) but fans of serious Turkish dramas are strongly urged to seek this little gem out.
Quelli che contano (1974)
Bianchi, Silva and Bouchet....well I liked it anyway!
Personally, I didn't think that this film was too bad. I have seen tons of Italian crime / mafia films of similar ilk and there is definitely a hell of a lot worse out there!. I would advise those reared on Hollywood blockbusters and popcorn to steer well clear, but for those of us who enjoy these cheap and cheerful Italian productions with their inane dialogue and gratuitous violence and nudity then 'Cry Of A Prostitute' may well appeal. The mighty Henry Silva plays Tony Aniante who yo-yo's back and forth between two rival families in Sicily, playing both hands until he sees the moment to take the initiative. Yes, we've seen it all before but for me , the film is all about Henry Silva. His fans will be pleased to know that he gets maximum screen time in this one and has at least one classic scene, where he is being taunted by a couple of hoods in a café. One of them pours hot coffee over his expensive leather shoes and all hell breaks loose ("Clean my shoes motherf*****!"). Barbara Bouchet is as memorable as ever as the slutty, bored 'wife' of one of the mafia dons. Best scene has to be where she is flirting with Henry Silva by simulating fellatio on a banana at the dinner table... The action scenes are clumsy in places but fairly bloody (lots of slo-mo bursting blood squibs!) and the score is pretty good too. Right, now I'm off to watch Bianchi's mutli-million dollar epic 'Nights Of Terror'....
La polizia è sconfitta (1977)
Very entertaining Italian crime film
One of the better Italian crime films of the genre, it's also a fairly obscure one and although the plot is hardly original, the film never lets up and delivers more than it's fair share of thrills. Marcel Bozzuffi (of French Connection & Fulci's Contraband amongst other) is as reliable as always, this time as Inspector Grifi who sets up a special unit of commandos (the 'stunt squad') to combat the rise of violence towards innocent shop owners who refuse protection from the rackets. Their number one target is main villain Valli, who surprisingly turns out to be quite a memorable bad guy - impulsively gunning down, and in some cases exploding, anything that stands in his way. The best moments of the film are when Grifi and his Stunt Squad are pursuing Valli. Amongst some mild nudity (courtesy of the obligatory but very welcome night club scene) there are also some pretty brutal moments including a vicious throat slashing & repeated knifing of an hospital patient and **spoliers** the death of a double crossing pimp (Nello Pazzafini who can be seen in over 100 euro crime, Giallo and Westerns) who is beaten, castrated and then gunned down. (There is a very generous amount of blood squibs - no 'bloodless' deaths here!). I would highly recommend this to fans of Italian & Euro crime, it's pretty solid throughout and doesn't have any of the unnecessary humour or cheesy moralising which ruins so many other films of it's type.
La legge dei gangsters (1969)
Under acknowledged Euro Crime Gem!
I was surprised to see that there weren't any comments posted on this neglected Euro Crime gem. The plot revolves around a heist at a bank that goes horribly wrong, especially when they arrive at their meeting point to split the cash between them - typically for this genre, it appears that there is a double crosser within the fold! Comparisons to Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs are plentiful - including opening the film with a heist gone wrong and injured robber in the back of the vehicle, the loosely assembled gang, the double cross at the rendezvous point etc. Klaus Kinski is excellent as usual as the smug, suave but highly dangerous Renier, Franco Citti (who can also be seen in The Godfather) gives a very likable performance as Bruno - the most sympathetic character here and Maurice Poli (Rabid Dogs) is brilliant as Quintero, every scene with him (especially his getaway towards the end) is great, the guy has quite a bit of screen presence. A lot more character development than usual for this type of film, with us witnessing flashbacks from each of the main characters from inside the getaway truck until it abruptly cuts back to screeching tyres and police sirens and bringing us back to the present. Needs a decent widescreen DVD to be fully appreciated and highly recommended for fans of Euro crime, Italian cinema and of course Klaus Kinski!. (PS Don't be fooled by some of the rubbish cover art that accompanies most versions of this film! Most of the artwork I've seen has nothing to do with the film whatsoever!)