Umberto Orsini | Through the Shattered Lens

VIOLENT CITY opens with Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson) and Vanessa Shelton (Jill Ireland) living it up on a tropical island. They boat, they make love, and then spend some time enjoying the local island culture. Unfortunately, this is all a mirage and Jeff can’t escape the effects of his day job, that of a professional assassin. Soon a group of men are after him in a high speed chase on the narrow streets of paradise. Just when he thinks he’s gotten away, he’s double crossed and shot by his former associate, Jerry. Even worse, Vanessa gets in the car with Jerry and the two speed off. Waking up in jail, Jeff is visited by Steve (Umberto Orsini), the lawyer of his former boss Weber (Telly Savalas). Steve and Weber want him to come back and work for their organization. Jeff is more interested in finding Jerry and Vanessa, so when he finally gets out of jail, he turns their job offer down and continues on his odyssey into New Orleans. Jerry’s not too hard to find because he’s a professional race car driver. Jeff goes to his next race and shoots his tire out from long distance with a high powered rifle and watches as his car explodes in flames of death! Vanessa’s not so easy, not because he can’t find her, but because he loves her. He’d much rather make love to her than kill her, so that’s exactly what he does a couple of more times when he locates her. Even when he finds out she’s actually married to Weber, she’s able to convince Jeff that she only married him so she could be safe and that she despises him. She convinces Jeff that for them to be happy together that he should kill Weber. Does she really love him, or is she just using his badassery again?

In honor of Jill Ireland’s birthday (April 24, 1936), I thought I’d review a Charles Bronson film that features a strong performance from his beautiful wife. And speaking of beautiful, she has never been any more beautiful than she is in VIOLENT CITY. I mentioned earlier that the film opens in a tropical paradise. Let’s just say that Bronson and Ireland are in peak physical condition and absolutely striking as they walk the island streets. With his chiseled features and mustache, Bronson is the perfect image of masculinity. With her blonde hair, curvaceous figure and perfect tan, she’s a vision of feminine beauty. Bronson’s Jeff Heston is as tough as it gets, and we soon find out that no man can get the better of him. It’s a tribute to Ireland’s performance that we don’t necessarily blame him for continuing to give her second and third chances, even to his own peril. And she saves her best work for the end, when we all find out that she has more going for her than just beauty.

VIOLENT CITY was directed by the Italian filmmaker Sergio Sollima, whose other credits include the excellent spaghetti western, THE BIG GUNDOWN with Lee Van Cleef, and the solid “Polizziotteschi” crime film REVOLVER, with Oliver Reed. He gets more sensual performances from the stars than we’d get in future years, as they do lots and lots of loving on each other throughout the course of the film. The musical score is from the master composer himself, Ennio Morricone. It’s not quite ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST level, but it’s really good stuff and quite memorable. If I had one complaint it would be that I wish Telly Savalas had more screen time as Weber. His character added life to the film whenever he appeared. He could be a real asshole, but he seemed to have a lot of fun, and he makes one hell of a cocktail (the moonlight passion)!

My final word on VIOLENT CITY is that it’s a solid Italian crime film, with a lean, mean Bronson, good action sequences, and a more than adequate Jill Ireland as a beautiful femme fatale. I certainly recommend it. Happy Birthday, Jill!

VIOLENT CITY was initially released in America under the name THE FAMILY in hopes of drafting off the THE GODFATHER. See the trailer below.

What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable or streaming? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!

If you find yourself having trouble getting to sleep tonight, you can always pass the time by watching the 1968 film, Candy. It’s currently on Tubi.

Based on a satirical novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, Candy follows Candy Christian (Ewa Aulin), a naive teenager from middle America as she has a number of increasingly surreal adventures, the majority of which end with her getting sexually assaulted by one of the film’s special guest stars. It’s very much a film of the 60s, in that it’s anti-establishment without actually seeming to know who the establishment is. It opens with a lengthy sequence that appears to be taking place in outer space. It ends with an extended sequence of Candy walking amongst the film’s cast and a bunch of random hippies. Director Christian Marquand appears as himself, directing the film. Yep, this is one of those films where the director and the film crew show up and you’re supposed to be say, “Far out, I didn’t realize I was watching a movie, man.”

The whole thing is a bit of a misfire. The novel was meant to be smut that satirized smut. The film isn’t really clever enough to work on any sort of real satirical level. As was the case with a lot of studio-made “psychedelic” films in the 60s, everything is a bit too obvious and overdone. Casting the Swedish Ewa Aulin as a character who was meant to represent middle America was just one of the film’s missteps. Based on The Graduate, Mike Nichols probably could have made a clever film out of Candy. The French Christian Marquand, a protegee of Roger Vadim’s, can not because he refuses to get out of the film’s way. It’s all jump cuts, flashy cinematography, and attempts to poke fun at American culture by someone who obviously knew nothing about America beyond the jokes told in Paris.

That said, the main reason that anyone would watch this film would be for the collection of guest stars who all show up and try to take advantage of Candy. Richard Burton plays an alcoholic poet named MacPhisto and his appearance goes on for far too long. (Burton, not surprisingly, appears to actually be drunk for the majority of his scenes.) Ringo Star — yes, Ringo Starr — plays a Mexican gardener who assaults Candy after getting turned on by the sight of MacPhisto humping a mannequin. When Emmanuel’s sisters try to attack Candy, she and her parents escape on a military plane that is commanded by Walter Matthau. Landing in New York, Candy’s brain-damaged father (John Astin) is operated on by a brilliant doctor (James Coburn) who later seduces Candy after she faints at a cocktail party. Candy’s uncle (John Astin, again) also tries to seduce Candy, leading to Candy getting lost in New York, meeting a hunchback (Charles Aznavour), and then eventually ending up with a guru (Marlon Brando). Candy’s adventures climax with a particularly sick joke that requires a bit more skill to pull off than this film can afford.

If you’re wondering how all of these famous people ended up in this movie, you have Brando to thank (or blame). Christian Marquand was Brando’s best friend and Marlon even named his son after him. After Brando agreed to appear in the film, the rest of the actors followed. Brando, Burton, and Coburn received a share of the film’s profits and Coburn later said that his entire post-1968 lifestyle was pretty much paid for by Candy. That seems appropriate as, out of all the guest stars, Coburn i the only one who actually gives an interesting performance. Burton is too drunk, Matthau is too embarrassed, Starr is too amateurish, and Brando is too self-amused to really be interesting in the film. Coburn, however, seems to be having a blast, playing his doctor as being a medical cult leader.

Candy is very much a film of 1968. It has some value as a cultural relic. Ultimately, it’s main interest is as an example of how the studios tried (and failed) to latch onto the counterculture zeitgeist.