Die Rache des Johnny Cool (1963)
34KDie Rache des Johnny Cool: Directed by William Asher. With Henry Silva, Elizabeth Montgomery, Richard Anderson, Jim Backus. Exiled American gangster Colini sends his protégé-killer Giordano to the USA to eliminate Colini’s mob enemies.
“u0026#39;Lostu0026#39; classic crime movie, with u0026#39;Rat Packu0026#39; member Peter Lawford as Executive Producer, and featuring Rat Packers Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop in single scene cameos, this is an often brutal mob movie featuring glacial Henry Silva as a pitiless, downbeat anti-hero pitting his wits and weaponry against a variety of slick-suited, big-city mobsters operating behind an outwardly respectable veneer. Opening the movie as a Salvatore Giuliano-type Sicilian folk-hero (the early scenes show a young u0026#39;Johnnyu0026#39; being taken under Giulianou0026#39;s wing in World War II after witnessing his motheru0026#39;s death at the hands of the Nazis), u0026#39;Johnnyu0026#39; is reinvented and resurrected by Marc Lawrenceu0026#39;s exiled u0026#39;Lucky Lucianou0026#39; type syndicate boss, who has arranged his faked death in order to set him loose against the former Stateside associates who are now lining their pockets with his ill-gotten gains. Swiftly acquiring Elizabeth Montgomeryu0026#39;s thrill-seeking, well-heeled moll (a cinematic half-sister to the similarly enthralled Claire Trevor in Robert Wiseu0026#39;s BORN TO KILL), Johnny sets about his one-man vendetta amidst the boardrooms, casinos and fancy spreads with a singleminded ruthlessness that, in its settings and attitude (if not itu0026#39;s visual style) appears to foreshadow Lee Marvinu0026#39;s similarly brutal rampage through the well-heeled trappings of contemporary corporate America four years later in POINT BLANK. Comparisons aside, this is a slick slice of thick-ear hardboiled crime, aided by a snappy Billy May score and Sammy Davis Jr. theme which adds to the sense of pace and rhythm engendered by William (BEACH PARTY) Asheru0026#39;s snappy direction. And the endingu0026#39;s a killer (pun intended). Undoubtedly worthy of wider (any!) availability, as itu0026#39;s an often cynical, but arresting crime movie (pun similarly intended)with the makings of a cult. Catch it if you can.”
