 "Lovely scenery, wrong guy for the part" | 2009-01-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3RACR5HAC8LPN |
Christopher Lambert was all wrong for Salvatore Giuliano. Also too many liberties were taken. I understand Mario Puzo's book had a girlfriend in Giuliano's life (not true, after he became a bandit). The parts that are true: Aspanu Pisciotta (good guy for the part--resembles him, too) did kill Giuliano, was poisoned in prison. The massacre at Portella della Ginestra occurred but only 7 died and 32 injured, Giuliano had indeed ordered "only shoot above their heads" but Passatempo went crazy and shot people and animals. Giuliano really did execute the barber for betrayal. A Duke was really kidnapped but so were dozens more including nobility. The ring he took was the Duke's and not the Duchess's. S.G. did shoot five mafia dons (a no-no in Sicily, especially with old-time dons, whom these were), which precipitated his downfall, and the Portella della Ginestra massacre was the final straw.
Among the most ridiculous parts were (1) when the girlfriend and Giuliano do a wild silly awkward jitterbug in public, after he announces to all who he is, (2) a badly scripted bedroom scene with the Duchess, and (3) in real life no one would dare talk to a mafia don the way the Duchess did on the dance floor.
Most of Chris's lines consist of Giuliano talking about himself in the third person and always introducing himself. They could have done so much better, i.e., mention Giuliano was actually made a colonel of the Sicilian EVIS, and they could have made him more credible.
OK, so the film is based on Puzo's book, and not on the true Giuliano. But the liberties they did take were what ruined the show. He was a bandit, had maybe 50 members in his band, but he was also considered a political hero, a legend. He was a "Robin Hood" type. The book was obviously fiction with some facts and (deliberately?) misspells Giuliano's name as "Guiliano" (then it would be pronounced "Gweeliano" not "Jooliano", right?)
The duke was a sad comic (and is dealt with as best Terence Stamp, a great actor, could--he was wasted on a bad part). The American Duchess's lines were ludicrous and the actress playing her was lousy, especially after she opened her mouth. She was unnecessary to the film. I get the impression Giuliano himself would never have wasted his time consorting with such a stupid, shallow self-serving woman. In short, all are miscast except the guy who played Pisciotta, almost a dead-on image of the real thing. Speaking of him, he did not shoot Giuliano in obedience to him--he confessed to shooting him in his sleep on orders of Scelba, Minister of the Interior.
The Sicilian scenery is hauntingly beautiful (if it is even Sicily!) and that's about it, so I gave it three stars. For a fine film on the real Giuliano I recommend "Salvatore Giuliano" directed by Francesco Rosi (1960)filmed only ten years after the actual death of the man. It is on DVD as well, and best seen on digital. It is in black and white but it is shimmering in Sicilian sun and mountain glory. It is an example of neo-realism, is faithful, and entertaining as well. It is thoughtfully done and I gave it a review, too.
I understand the American audience's need for sensationalism, but there is a line that should not be crossed. "The Sicilian" movie had no class. It was miscast, badly scripted, and did not do the real Giuliano justice.
That is why it failed at the box office. |
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 "You don't hate me, you hate not being me. But if you were born me you would have never been you...," | 2008-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By straydog21 |
No joke, this is two hours of amateurish stuff, which cannot really be called cinema without upsetting someone up there.
I just went back to see some of the scenes of this movie again because they are so ridiculous I wanted to have another go!
So, let's start in the right order (warning, contains some spoilers, but you're not really going to watch this movie, are you?):
- The fact that the movie was entirely in English should have given it away, very funny to hear would-be sicilians talking to each other in English.
- Past that, we encounter the limping professor. An attempt to add a sinister touch to an otherwise meaningless character. Very amateurish.
- Then came signs and inscriptions throughout the movie, all in English (things like Sicilian Region, Minister of Law and Justice). Made up stuff not corresponding to reality.
- Then the absurd way in which most of the actors talk, in English but very slowly, which makes their acting ridiculous. I guess another attempt to make the movie sound more 'Sicilian'...
- Then the plot, disjointed and difficult to follow. Considering that the script writers had three stories to copy from (the original Salvatore Giuliano movie, the book itself and the true story of Salvatore Giuliano) one would have expected more.
- Then comes the funny stuff, some of the scenes are just absurd! My favourite is the dancing of the Duchess with the Don, particularly the last bit, when she dances around him rolling her arms!
And the 'rape', when right in the middle of a robbery, Giuliano ends up in the room with the Duchess and whilst they are there she rapes him! Couldn't avoid feeling sorry for Giuliano's mates in the other room waiting with the goods just robbed!
Also, to add to the overall madness, Giuliano's girlfriend addresses him by surname, rather than by his first name Salvatore (see the scene when the barber gets shot).
- Finally, some of the dialogs, which I took the trouble of transcribing for your enjoyment.
Scene 1 - Giuliano decides to kidnap the Prince and take him to the mountains. He sends his mate to get him:
KIDNAPPER: Your excellency, Salvatore Giuliano respectfully requests your company for a visit to his mountains.
PRINCE: May I take my umbrella?
KIDNAPPER: Of course excellency, but when we go outside don't try and run.
PRINCE: I don't run, not since school, I have asthma.
KIDNAPPER (referring to music being played by the Prince): It's very beautiful.
PRINCE: Yeees [with really funny accent]. Scarlatti. He was born near here. He had asthma too, I think.
I don't suppose it's raining?
KIDNAPPER: No excellency.
Later in the mountains, here is an extract from the dialogue, it's the Prince speaking:
"You don't hate me, you hate not being me. But if you were born me you would have never been you, so you could take my money, my life, but you could never be me."
- To top it all up, the movie ends with the silhouette of Giuliano, on his horse, with an unrealistically blown up sun setting in the background. (maybe some science fiction effect thrown in for good measure?, or perhaps another attempt to make the movie more 'Sicilian' by showing how big the sun is in Sicily?)
Jokes apart, it's not the size of the sun that tops it all up, it's the fact that Giuliano died a few scenes earlier and from the horse on top of the hill he is watching his own funeral...
Warning: although it's not exactly boring (just poor), it goes over the two hours mark.
Watch it for a laugh, or for pure escapism... |
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 "A professional, timeless, and satisfying film" | 2008-01-02 |
| - Reviewed By mfcam |
The Sicilian is inspired from a novel of Mario Puzo, of Godfather
fame, of course, and filmed by Michael Cimino. From its 1987 release
date, the entire picture was way ahead of its time. This is the case
from the many timeless aspects depicted, such as rural Sicily and
the era following the Second World War. Much kudos to the visual
quality which is excellent, the acting which is very good and the
plot which is very good, mainly for being credible.
The DVD is the Director's cut, clocking at 146 minutes, which may
seem long, but actually isn't, because of the quality and
entertainment.
The soundtrack is superb (piano, orchestral, big band, etc.) which
enhances the various moods in a highly talented manner.
The difficulty of this picture are perhaps several. First and
foremost, it's doubtful the actors (and the spectators too)
actually understand what is going on in the film, in terms of
coherence, sequence of events, from the way the actors deliver their
lines in the first hour. Several leading actors and actresses are
also blatantly French, struggling a bit with pronunciation
(Lambert, Boschi, mainly.) Some dialog is delivered with difficulty,
at times cartoonish in simplicity but this gets better after the 1st
hour.
Secondly, for those having seen the commercial cut, 30 mins are
missing from the footage, so the previous aspect was more severe.
Third, Lambert and Tururro seem to struggle at times in the first
third of the picture, appearing as an odd couple of sorts,
reminescent of Mathau and Lemmon, which is distracting. Fourth,
Lambert should never have worn a trenchcoat in the last third of
the picture. Also, an actor should never be hyper-clean shaven,
combed hair, with clean and ironed white shirt and pants just coming
from a shower, when presented to the audience as a guerilla, living
in the mountains with 50 bandits, and sleeping in caves.
Fortunately, this only occurred 1 time in the movie, but there is no
doubt that Lambert brought a big non-Italian, urban - city feel to
the role. Lastly, there are no subtitles on the DVD.
Lambert, who plays a Sicilian Robin Hood called Giuliano, is an
enigma of sorts as an actor, as he has his high points and luke-warm
moments, but overall, despite many who will underestimate his acting
greatly, actually he brings a personal touch to the action,
appealing to the youth segment, that is often necessary for profit
reasons. Joss Ackland, playing the president of a Sicilian province
as Masino, is excellent in his demeanor, rapport built with the
audience, and credibile in the scenes. Turturro seems to get a lot
better over the course of the movie, as he is better able to portray
himself as a local ethnic, blending with the supporting actors,
playing down his presence perfectly.
Clearly, Puzo wanted to guarantee an American flavor to this
picture, so an American jeep is shown, references to the American GI
presence in Italy brought up. In a non-sequitur, there is nudity
with Barbara Sukowa, from a bubble bath scene, and another
non-sequitur, when Lambert robs Sukowa along with other rich guests
at the dinner table, and beds her shortly after, eagerly, willingly.
A special performance, is by Giulia Boschi, playing Lambert's
sensitive girlfriend.
The essence of the picture, is that following WWII, a region in
Sicily is impassioned with Communism, as the peasants do not partake
of the vast food, wealth generated by the lands, commerce and
industry of the region. Masino, seeing this, secretly hires a
delusional local, believing himself to be a Robin Hood, promising to
reverse the injustice, by confiscating land and giving it to the
poor. Of course, Masino's Hegelian goal of scaring the population
(through Lambert's bandit conduct) so they will run back to him and
vote for him, is coupled with a strategy of physically eliminating
Marxist voters at a peaceful march.
The visual beauty of the picture is vast, as all the critical time
pieces are shown of the era (music, automobiles, clothes worn,
demeanor of the population) as well as the medieval, European
architecture of a small village and country side, such as vineyards,
large estates.
Homicidal behavior is carried out, at times, in an unconvincing,
manner, such as those of the local father, barber, etc. Some humor
doesn't work, such as the line about the dream of locals in opening
a pizzaria in New Jersey.
As with his other novels, Puzo has the courage of showing ceremonies
of marriages, funerals, public processions, as well as joyful
moments at dancehalls and dinners among rich crowds to balance out
the sorrow of other moments. He also underlines the 3 powers, 1 of
which a citizen must adhere to: church, state or mob. After taking
out 4 big landowners, the story makes clear that Robin Hood conduct
is not only misguided, but irrational and isolating, as the poor do
not want land to toil on, but money.
Creating a movie from a book, is a huge challenge, like an orchestra
reading sheet music and playing a composer's musical intent. As
such, the movie's inspiration seems a bit blurred, but nevertheless
very professional, timeless, and satisfying. |
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 "More hokum than history - and shoddy hokum at that" | 2006-05-05 |
| - Reviewed By aclea |
Salvatore Giuliano has been poorly served by the two films made about him, albeit in very different ways. Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano sidelines the legendary Sicilian bandit completely and distorts much of the events around him to support a political agenda despite posing as a semi-documentary dramatisation. Despite a few good scenes, it almost seems as if the contradictions in Giuliano's story dictate it should best be told by an outsider with no political axe to grind.
On the surface, that theory is soundly kicked in the groin, beaten to a pulp and left for dead in a ditch by The Sicilian, along with Desperate Hours the only Michael Cimino film that really IS as bad as critics said Heaven's Gate was. This film is so far from the truth that only the addition of flying saucers and death rays could make it any more outlandish. This Giuliano is a Christ-like martyr and hero of the people caught smuggling grain to the starving (in reality he was selling on the black market), buying land for the peasants (Giuliano had no interest in land reform), marries the sister of a communist (Giuliano didn't even have a girlfriend), hijacking troop trains, crucifying priests and even trying to stop the massacre at Portella della Ginestre (shamefully blamed in the film on Terranova, who was one of the few of Giuliano's band who it's definitely known did NOT fire a single shot on that day). No sign of the American occupation, no mention of the Separatist movement, no sense of how Giuliano operated: just Hollywood hokum, and badly executed hokum at that.
Of course, a film can be a total fantasy and still be enjoyable, as anyone who's ever seen a Jesse James or Robin Hood movie knows. Unfortunately, The Sicilian also has the disadvantage of being an astonishing piece of crap for most of its running time. It's full of atrocities, from Joss Ackland's comedy Mafia don (his dance with Barbara Sukowa is one of cinema's great this-isn't-working-but-just-grit-your-teeth-and-try-to-get-through-it-as-quickly-as-possible acting moments), an embarrassing acappella bebop mountain wedding (dig those crazy jitterbugging bandits, man), clunking dialog ("They'll never trust you again." "Yes. Sad, isn't it?") and situations, a terrible grinning performance from Christophe Lambert and a has-to-be-seen-to-be-disbelieved final shot of Salvatore rearing up on a horse against the setting sun at his own funeral. The uncut version actually is worse than the edited version released in the US, giving more screentime to Barbara Sukowa's atrocious `American' aristocrat ("Ja, ay em verr Amerikahn"), who even gets to rape the hero during a robbery at her villa, and amplifying the inept Messianic parallels to a comic degree. There are hints at ambition, with a couple of scenes that threaten to work and the odd good line that one suspects comes from Gore Vidal's rewrite, but it's just another Hollywood mafia movie, with Ackland's Don protecting and ultimately betraying Giuliano, the son he never had. This was, after all, originally a semi-sequel to The Godfather (in Mario Puzo's novel Michael Corleone tries to arrange Giuliano's escape) until the producers found out Paramount owned the screen rights to Corleone characters and had to write them out. Unfortunately, they threw out the baby with the bathwater.
For those who want the film in its original 2.35:1 ratio rather than Artisan's fullframe panned-and-scanned version, the European PAL DVD is the uncut version in a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that showcases the fine photography. Extras are limited to a trailer and stills gallery.
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| "Scenery and Sets" | 2006-01-01 |
| - Reviewed By inf0427 |
There are many reasons for watching--and ways to enjoy--a movie. In "The Sicilian," these do not include strong performances by actors and/or a well-crafted film.
The movie was filmed entirely on location and that is its greatest asset. If you are considering travel to Sicily or simply enjoy beautiful scenery and sets, viewing "The Sicilian" in lieu of a travelogue may be enough to overcome the rest of the movie's limitations. |
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| "A sad day for Puzo and mob movies" | 2005-08-05 |
| - Reviewed By bosnc42 |
After watching the Godfather trilogy countless times and reading Puzo's novel twice, I gave "The Sicilian" a try. Let me just say I highly recommend the book.
After reading the book, I then decided to see the movie. WOW! Christopher Lambert?? Cmon! I guess we were just spoiled with the phenomenal casting in the Godfather. The fact that there was no actor of Italian descent is ludacris.
Moreover, I was not impressed with the way Giuliano is portrayed. Reading the book, you think he would be portrayed as much smarter. And what about La Venera or Sal's parents? Characters that should have been included.
The plot is just as hard to follow. There is no flow or drama. It is just very hard to get into.
I think a new version of this story, with better acting and directing, might force this version to die!
In other words, only watch this if you're curious to see how bad it is
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