Wild East's I Am The Law / Mafia Double Feature DVD

[Andrew Monroe]

You can borrow my disc sometime if you want, like I said I won't be revisiting these for quite a while. I do think they're worth seeing though.

[Ian Jane]

Thanks Andrew, I'll wait until I find it at a better price.

[Andrew Monroe]

Both of these are worth seeing but neither is very strong on action. They're both character driven. I'd give the edge to MAFIA - it was directed by Damiani and has excellent performances from Claudia Cardinale and Franco Nero. It's an interesting look at the small town dynamics between the police and the mafia. I AM THE LAW is worth seeing for Gemma as a Commisioner specially charged with bringing down the Mafia, and it's set in pre-WWII fascist Italy. Cardinale is (as you'd expect) good in this one too. I'd say while they're both worth checking out, maybe rent if possible as I for one won't be rewatching these for a long time.

[Ian Jane]

I never made that connection before but you're right, the resemblence is there.

[Nolando]

That does sound good - especially Delli Colli doing the cinematography there.

But is it just me or does the young Nero look a lot like Michael Fassbender?

[Ian Jane]

I knew I could count on you.

[Ian Miller]

Gemma. Nero. Cardinale. Morricone. Sounds up my alley.

I think all of the justification you need is right there!

[Ian Jane]

Anyone seen either one of these films? I haven't seen either one.

Diabolik has it up for order here.

From their description:

"Wild East presents two films starring Claudia Cardinale and two of Italy's most popular leading men, Giuliano Gemma and Franco Nero, in stories about the Sicilian Mafia.

In the first, I Am The Law (Il Prefetto Di Ferro - 1977), Gemma is Cesare Mori, an iron-fisted judge sent to pre-World War Two Sicily to end the stranglehold of the mafia on the peasants. Cardinale plays a mother desperate to protect her young son from the violence of the mob. Director and co-writer Pasquale Squitieri based I Am The Law on a real life incident in the life of a judge who rose through his tough and unorthodox methods. The film also features an evocative score by Ennio Morricone.

In the second film, Mafia (Il Giorno Della Civetta - 1968), during the turbulent sixties, Sicilian peasant woman Cardinale's husband witnesses a mob hit and disappears leaving her in the middle of a murder investigation that pits fledgling police captain Franco Nero against respected and feared mafia don Lee J. Cobb. Directed by Damiano Damiani (Confessions Of A Police Captain), this somber police procedural boasts cinematographer by Tonino Delli Colli (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West). The film has been fully restored with a few scenes containing subtitles as no English tracks were recorded."

Gemma. Nero. Cardinale. Morricone. Sounds up my alley.

Someone justify this to me so I don't feel guilty if I buy it.