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The Sicilian - (1987)
This film was about as good as the above poster looks. I was interested because it was directed and co-produced by the infamous Michael Cimino. Remember
Heaven's Gate? Not a bad movie by any means, but the movie that exposed the egotistical hubris Cimino was now saddled with after the critical success of
The Deer Hunter. Executives found it hard to rein Cimino in when it came to his expensive demand for perfection, and some of his methods were verging on complete madness. Once United Artists had finally brought shooting to an end, Cimino screened a version of the film that ran around 325 minutes - the climactic battle in the film running 90 minutes alone, the length of most feature films. As word had been getting out about the struggle this movie had getting made, it bombed, and the incredibly expensive production helped push the studio into bankruptcy. Cimino (and most other auteur directors) was never allowed to helm a big budget epic film again, and his career never recovered.
Cimino did end up making more movies. I have a friend who's into these post-
Heaven's Gate productions, and who loves
Heaven's Gate itself. He is especially fond of
Year of the Dragon, featuring Mickey Rourke - his next film, made 5 years after the
Heaven's Gate disaster.
The Sicilian came out in 1987, and followed
Year of the Dragon. It's interesting, but there are certain aspects to it that are very off-putting. Most obvious the horribly miscast Christopher Lambert as Sicilian bandit and folk hero Salvatore Giuliano. Fortunately though, I watched the director's cut, otherwise (from what I hear) the film would have been near-nonsensical. It has a strange narrative structure - somewhat hard to follow in the way scenes follow one another without an absolutely clear story being told. You never quite know what's happening when a scene starts, but thankfully this is often addressed in a scene itself, so the audience will keep on feeling they don't know what's happening, but still "get it", if that makes any sense.
Lambert is terrible, but John Turturro as Giuliano's friend and partner Gaspare "Aspanu" Pisciotta, is really terrific in comparison. Joss Ackland features as Don Masino Croce, probably the most powerful man in Sicily. The movie takes place after the Second World War, in the somewhat lawless Mediterranean island region of Italy, with Giuliano and Pisciotta stealing from the rich and trying to empower the poor - but of course they end up getting involved with powerful people, and the violence gets out of control. It's very well shot, but the screenplay could have done with more work, and while it's an interesting failure it's still not a great movie. My curiosity is sated.
5/10