MISTER SCARFACE (1976)

[The Burgomaster]

You can find this Italian gangster movie starring Jack Palance in Mill Creek's ACTION CLASSICS 50 MOVIE PACK.

First of all, "starring" Jack Palance is a misleading statement.  He is listed as the star, but he only has about 6 scenes and is probably on screen for 20 minutes or less.  His major function appears to be so they could use his name for the U.S. release of this movie.

This movie is bad, but it does have some entertaining parts.  The plot is pretty standard: a young collector for the mob is bored with his life and wants to make one big score and then move to Brazil.  A few elements make this somewhat different from a typical Italian crime film: the gangsters don't all dress and talk like rejects from THE GODFATHER (but Palance does); the main character drives a dune buggy (in Rome????); the main character beats people up using martial arts rather than clubs and brass knuckles. This movie has plenty of shooting, especially at the end, and also some humor.  But, overall, it's just another Italian import with an American actor.  And Jack Palance is totally wasted.

[Raffine]

That poster makes me wonder if this was the last movie to boast with a straight-face "IN COLOR!" as a major selling point. It also reminds me just how mean and bad junkyard dogs were back in the 70's.

With so many artsy indie and mainstream films being made in black & white these days maybe "IN COLOR!" could become a major advertising selling point again.

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
IN COLOR!!!

 

[RCMerchant]

I usta own this on vhs. I could never sit through the whole thing without nodding off. (I'm not sure if it was because of the booze or the movie...maybe a combanation of both...)

[CheezeFlixz]

Kinda like Brando getting top billing in Apocalypse Now and he was on screen, what 5 -10 minutes of a 200 minute film? Just a selling point to add Jack Palance as starring to the super drawing power of "In Color" But, hey but it's better than "The Sting" and "Bonnie and Clyde" and just as good as "The Godfather" I know it's true, it said so on the poster.