The Curator of Schlock #279 by Jeff Shuster
The Boss
You’re not the boss of me!
I’m getting a bit tired of these Wikipedia entries that are three sentences long. You think I remember about half the things that occur in each movie I watch? Sigh. I’m not sure why the three films of Fernando di Leo’s Milieu Trilogy are given such little attention on the people’s encyclopedia. I suppose I could fill out those entries myself, but Wikipedia ain’t paying me, so forget about it.
Okay.
Time to wrap up Poliziottesco Month.
1973’s The Boss from director Fernando di Leo is a movie about Henry Silva ruthlessly killing lots of people. The movie begins with a bunch of mafia guys sitting down in a porno theater, obviously, to watch a porno fresh from Copenhagen. Henry Silva plays Nick Lanzetta, an enforcer for Don Corrasco (Richard Conte) who has decreed death to this rival mob, something about them not being Sicilian. Lanzetta sneaks into the projection booth, knocks out the projectionist, and sends a bunch of grenades into the movie theater. The bodies of mobsters are charred and on fire. He kills the theater owner on his way out.
This is some cold shit.
Naturally, Don Corrasco is pleased. So is his associate, Don Giuseppe Daniello (Claudio Nicastro), until his daughter Rina (Antonia Santilli) is kidnapped by Cocchi (Pier Paolo Capponi), a surviving member of the rival mob. Don Corrasco will not negotiate with Cocchi. To do so would show weakness and leave his organization vulnerable to more attacks. Don Daniello pleads with Don Corrasco to get his daughter back, but Corrasco refuses his plea. Corrasco asks Lanzetta if he can rescue Daniello. Lanzetta says it will take time and that they should pretend to negotiate a price with Cocchi in order to gain time.
Cocchi settles for 500 million lira? What’s the exchange rate on that? Five hundred US dollars? Anyway, Don Corrasco asks Lanzetta to keep an eye on Don Daniello because Don Daniello can’t quit blubbering about his daughter and about the flesh of his flesh and about how he’ll go against Don Corrasco’s wishes to get her back and how he raised Lanzetta as a son even though he was some nameless war orphan. Lanzetta tells Don Daniello he’ll go along with a new plan to get Rina back and then shoots and kills Don Daniello for going against Don Corrasco’s orders. Lanzetta then brings the corpse of Don Daniello to a little place I call the furnace to destroy the bodies. I wonder how much the guy that throws the dead bodies into the furnace gets paid.
Yeah, this is some cold shit.
Meanwhile, Cocchi’s men are having their way with Rina, but she doesn’t mind since she’s a nymphomaniac. Lanzetta busts in, kills Cocchi’s men, knocks Rina out, and carries her naked body back to his apartment.
More violence ensues.
There are corrupt police officials. Don Corrasco eventually determines that Lanzetta is expendable. Lanzetta will not go quietly into that good night. We get a TO BE CONTINUED at the end of the movie, but I don’t think there was ever a sequel. Not that I’m going hunting for it as Poliziottesco Month is now officially over.
Photo by Leslie Salas
Jeffrey Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, and episode 284) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.
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