Città violenta
Encyclopedia
Città violenta is a 1970
Italian film
directed by Sergio Sollima
and starring Charles Bronson
, Jill Ireland
and Telly Savalas
. Set and shot in the city of New Orleans, the film is an urban crime thriller with a plot of hitman
revenge.
Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson
) and mistress Vanessa (Jill Ireland
) pursued mercilessly while holidaying in the Virgin Islands
. Jeff is shot and left for dead, while Vanessa runs off with his shooter and former business associate Coogan (Michel Constantin
). After his release from prison on a framed murder charge, Jeff tracks the pair to New Orleans. However, after taking revenge on his betrayer and reuniting with Vanessa, Jeff is blackmail
ed by the very crime boss (Telly Savalas
) who framed him, took Vanessa as his mob wife, and who is now intent on having him join his organisation. When Jeff refuses, he is hunted through an unforgiving city only to discover that his real enemy is closer than he realised.
s. It was released just as Bronson was emerging from his career as a character actor
into a period of stardom as a leading man
. That transition was ultimately effected by the success of his later films for United Artists
beginning in 1972, and greater fame with Paramount's Death Wish
(1974), and during this era Città violenta received distribution in the United States
first by International Co-Productions, and later in even wider release by UA, and retitled The Family. By the time of its domestic release, UA edited some eight minutes from the Italian version. Only in recent years has this footage been restored by Anchor Bay Entertainment
for DVD issue. In a review of the 2008 DVD
release, Slant Magazine
singled out the opening car chase
sequence for praise, claiming that it almost outdoes those of Bullitt
and The French Connection
"by staging its engine-revving, pedestrian-dodging antics not on the wide streets of American cities but, rather, the narrow, winding pathways (and, in one case, staircases) of a Caribbean island."
Italian films of 1970
A list of films produced in Italy in 1970 :-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database...
Italian film
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
directed by Sergio Sollima
Sergio Sollima
Sergio Sollima is an Italian former film director and script writer.Like many Italian cult directors, Sollima started his career by directing mostly sword and sandal movies that were very popular in the early 1960s. After the genre's popularity quickly died out, Sollima was among the first ones to...
and starring Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
, Jill Ireland
Jill Ireland
Jill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress, best known for her many films with her second husband, Charles Bronson.-Life and career:Born in London, England, Ireland was the daughter of a wine importer...
and Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
. Set and shot in the city of New Orleans, the film is an urban crime thriller with a plot of hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
revenge.
Plot summary
The film opens with professional assassinAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
) and mistress Vanessa (Jill Ireland
Jill Ireland
Jill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress, best known for her many films with her second husband, Charles Bronson.-Life and career:Born in London, England, Ireland was the daughter of a wine importer...
) pursued mercilessly while holidaying in the Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
. Jeff is shot and left for dead, while Vanessa runs off with his shooter and former business associate Coogan (Michel Constantin
Michel Constantin
Michel Constantin was a French film actor.-Biography:Born to a Russian father and a Polish mother in Billancourt , Constantin made his first film appearance in 1956. His first credited role was in the prison breakout drama Le Trou in 1960.-External links:...
). After his release from prison on a framed murder charge, Jeff tracks the pair to New Orleans. However, after taking revenge on his betrayer and reuniting with Vanessa, Jeff is blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
ed by the very crime boss (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
) who framed him, took Vanessa as his mob wife, and who is now intent on having him join his organisation. When Jeff refuses, he is hunted through an unforgiving city only to discover that his real enemy is closer than he realised.
Release and reception
The film was a commercial hit, and one of Sergio Sollima's more political films, and less successful than the director's earlier Spaghetti WesternSpaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s. It was released just as Bronson was emerging from his career as a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
into a period of stardom as a leading man
Leading man
Leading man or leading gentleman is an informal term for the actor who plays a love interest to the leading actress in a film or play. A leading man is usually an all rounder; capable of singing, dancing, and acting at a professional level, but never outshining his female co-star...
. That transition was ultimately effected by the success of his later films for United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
beginning in 1972, and greater fame with Paramount's Death Wish
Death Wish (film)
Death Wish is a 1974 crime thriller film loosely based on the novel Death Wish by Brian Garfield. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a man who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by muggers.The film was...
(1974), and during this era Città violenta received distribution in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
first by International Co-Productions, and later in even wider release by UA, and retitled The Family. By the time of its domestic release, UA edited some eight minutes from the Italian version. Only in recent years has this footage been restored by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
for DVD issue. In a review of the 2008 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release, Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
singled out the opening car chase
Car chase
A car chase is the vehicular pursuit of a suspect by law enforcement officers. Car chases are often captured on film and broadcast due to the availability of video footage recorded by police cars and police and media helicopters participating in the chase...
sequence for praise, claiming that it almost outdoes those of Bullitt
Bullitt
Bullitt is a 1968 American police procedural film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness by Robert L....
and The French Connection
The French Connection (film)
This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
"by staging its engine-revving, pedestrian-dodging antics not on the wide streets of American cities but, rather, the narrow, winding pathways (and, in one case, staircases) of a Caribbean island."
Related articles
- Le SamouraïLe SamouraïLe Samouraï is a 1967 French crime film directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon.- Plot :The story follows a perfectionist free-agent hitman, Jef Costello , who religiously adheres to a strict code of duty...
, a 1967 French crime drama which influenced Città violenta - New Orleans in fictionNew Orleans in FictionNew Orleans is featured in a number of works of fiction. This article in an ongoing effort to list the books, movies, television shows, and comics that are set or filmed, in whole or part, in New Orleans.-Books and plays:...
- Out of the PastOut of the PastOut of the Past is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring , with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M...
, a 1947 film noir with a similar plotline