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Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: January 29th, 2024.
Director: Damiano Damiani
Cast: Tony Musante, Claudia Cardinale
Year: 1959
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Goodbye & Amen – Movie Review:
Directed by Damiano Damiani, who co-wrote with Nicola Badalucco and Francis Clifford, 1977's Goodbye & Amen takes place in Rome where we're introduced to a CIA agent named John Dannahay (Tony Musante) who is there under the guise that he’s handling security at the American embassy. The truth is, he is there to set into motion a plan that the American government has put into place to overthrow the government of an African country but things almost immediately go south when one of his cohorts, Happy Lambert (Wolfango Soldati), snaps and goes on a shooting spree from a hotel rooftop.
From there, Lambert takes a couple – a pair of actors named Douglas Grayson (John Steiner) and Mrs. De Mauro (Claudia Cardinale) - hostage and locks himself and this couple in a hotel room, at which point things start to unravel for Dannahay as his association with Lambert starts to boil over. With John’s mission in Africa completely foiled by this random act of violence, his superiors back in America are starting to wonder what to do with him.
Set to a genuinely fantastic score from Guido and Maurizio De Angelis and beautifully shot Luigi Kuveiller, Goodbye & Amen is a pretty compelling watch. Granted, some of the hostage situation scenes go on a little longer than they need to and, as they take place inside a smallish hotel room, aren’t as visually arresting as much of the rest of the film is, but they do advance the plot effectively and help flesh out the different characters in those scenes, so even if maybe they could have been trimmed down a bit, they still very much matter to the way that the storyline plays out. Aside from that, however, this is pretty tense stuff and Damiani otherwise does a great job controlling the pace of the production.
Acting is very solid across the board. Musante is a great choice for the lead as his makes his character believable. We don’t always like John Dannahay but we definitely want to know what’s going to happen to him as he’s an interesting guy despite, though sometimes because of, his questionable motivations. Wolfango Soldati plays the heavy in the film really well, he’s got a solid screen presence and proves to be a very good choice to play a character that has, for all intents and purposes, snapped. John Steiner handles his role well and, probably not surprising to those familiar with her work, Claudia Cardinale steals more than a few scenes from everyone else. She’s a little older here than she was in her heyday but she still looks amazing but more importantly than that, she brings a really believable sense of humanity to her character that proves to be very important as the story plays out.
Note that this edition from Radiance Films includes the original, full-length Italian version which runs 1:49:33 as well as the shorter English language export version that runs 1:42:17.
Goodbye & Amen – Blu-ray Review:
Radiance Films brings Goodbye & Amen to Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.85.1 widescreen on a 50GB disc taken from a 4k restoration of the original negative. Both versions of the movie share the same disc and quality between the two transfers is very similar. Detail is frequently outstanding on this transfer and the image always looks crisp and film-like. It’s an impressive picture with great contrast and strong, deep black levels that always looks like proper film and shows no obvious noise reduction, edge enhancement or overzealous digital sharpening. Colors look good but some scenes do seem to have a slight blue tint to them – having never seen the movie before, I can’t say if this should be the case or not (but you can see it in some of the screen caps below). That issue aside, the image retains the natural film grain you’d want it to and offers good depth and texture throughout. All in all, this looks really nice.
Italian and English language options are offered up in 24-bit DTS-HD Mono tracks, with removable English subtitles offered for each track. For older, mono tracks, the Italian mix offers a decent amount of depth. Levels are set properly, dialogue is clean and clear and there’s not a trace of hiss or distortion to be found. The score has very good clarity to it. That said, the English track is in much rougher shape than the Italian track. Radiance notes that they did as much restoration as possible with it but that it should be enjoyed more as a curio than anything else, due to the fact that not all of the audio damage could be properly repaired.
Extras start off with an audio commentary by Eurocrime experts Nathaniel Thompson and Howard Berger that covers all the bases including the film's alternate titles, Damiano Damiani's work in the Italian crime arena, how the film depicts C.I.A. agents, how they movie was shot in English, the differences between the shorter export cut of the film and the longer full-strength version, the movie's release history and home video release history, the quality of the movie's score and its importance to the movie's effectiveness, details on pretty much every one of the cast and crew that worked on the picture, the intricacy of the cinematography in the film, thoughts on the effectiveness of what is at its core a pretty simple plot, where the movie deals in trends that were popular in seventies cinema, the way that the American characters are portrayed in the movie and plenty more - it's a solid and intelligent dissection of the movie that's worth listening to.
A thirty-nine minute interview with editor Antonio Siciliano discusses how he came to work as a film editor after falling in love with the medium as a kid, the importance of getting a small projector of his own during this period, how he studied and learned the craft, his early work in the industry and some of the first productions he worked on, how he came to work with Damiani and how they got along personally and professionally, how detailed the director's storyboards were, learning from mistakes, specific memories of Goodbye & Amen and the themes that it deals with, doing some television work, why Damiani was a "grump with a heart of gold," how the industry and editing have changed since the advent of digital filmmaking and how he earned the nickname 'golden scissors.'
And archival interview with Wolfango Soldati from 2013 lets the actor talk about how he got the part in the movie, what it was like meeting Damiani for the first time at the audition, shooting on location in Rome, thoughts on his character and his wardrobe, challenges that arose during the shoot, getting along with his co-stars and Claudia Cardinale's kindness, Damiano's sometimes violent nature, how Tondinelli wound up doing a nude scene in the movie, why he thinks cinema is made of stereotypes, thoughts on playing the villain, how he feels about the movie overall and the importance of eating well and enjoying food!
As to the packaging, as usual, Radiance Films offers up some reversible cover sleeve art featuring original art on one side and newly commissioned artwork on the other. The clear keepcase holds not only the Blu-ray disc but also a limited edition booklet featuring cast and crew notes and in interesting an essay on the film titled ‘The American Connection: Damiano Damiani’s Goodbye & Amen’ by Lucia Rinaldo. Also included in the booklet are some technical notes on the presentation and a few archival photos and promotional images. As is the norm with Radiance’s releases, we also get a removable Obi strip included as well - always a neat touch.
Goodbye & Amen - The Final Word:
Goodbye & Amen is a solid and well-made thriller, a smart film with some interesting characters and a few really solid plot twists that keep things engaging. The Blu-ray release from Radiance Films is up the label’s typically high level of quality, offering the movie up looking really nice and with some interesting extra that do a nice job of putting this film into context and detailing its history. Recommended!
