other title:
辅导员
/
Il consigliori
…
Third-rate GODFATHER clone is so clearly patterned after the Francis Coppola blockbuster that the end result, despite the occasional felicities, is doubly disappointing: Tomas Milian, the consigliori of the title, naturally has the Robert Duvall role; Martin Balsam steps in for Brando as the Don and also suffers an attempt on his life (while visiting his wife's grave); there is also a death scene featuring a bullet-ridden car a' la James Caan's demise in GODFATHER and another one in a restaurant (with the owner unceremoniously dumped into the furnace while still alive); a violent retribution (this time against rebellious mafioso Francisco Rabal and his renegade gang) juxtaposed with a religious ceremony (here a village procession); Balsam and Milian fleeing to their Sicilian homeland with Rabal in pursuit, etc.
The film also features Euro-Cult favorites Dagmar Lassander (wasted as Milian's girl) and Edoardo Fajardo (in a small role towards the end, as a Sicilian Mafioso whose "godfather" had been Milian's father!) but, unfortunately, they contribute next to nothing to the mix. Although the version of the film I watched was in Italian, the gangsters (particularly Balsam) have a habit of slipping into English ("Yu-unna-stan", "Well", "Busy-ness", etc.) perhaps to show that they've been living for far too long in America but, frankly, I couldn't help laughing when at the end the mortally-wounded Milian (riding away in a car after the final showdown with Rabal) has to listen to Balsam rattling away one "Damn Bastard" after another without letting the old man know that he was done for; it practically reminded me of those scenes in AIRPLANE! (1980) showing the various passengers sitting next to Robert Hays who end up doing the craziest things to themselves so long as they're spared from listening to his life story! As usual with this kind of film, the music is an asset and Riz Ortolani's lush score here is no exception.
