The Family (1970)

A hitman is double-crossed by his girlfriend and barely escapes a murder attempt. He then sets out to take his revenge on the woman and the gang boss who put her up to it.

Director:

Sergio Sollima

Writers:

Gianfranco Calligarich (screenplay), Massimo De Rita (story)

Stars:

Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Michel Constantin

Cast

Credited cast:
Charles Bronson	...	Jeff Heston
Jill Ireland	...	Vanessa Shelton
Michel Constantin	...	Killain
Telly Savalas	...	Al Weber
Umberto Orsini	...	Steve
Ray Saunders	...	Prisoner (as Ray Sanders)
Benjamin Lev	...	Jeff's Mate
Peter Dane	...	Television Host
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Savalas	...	Shapiro

Storyline

After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead, professional hit man Jeff tracks the shooter and his beautiful mistress to New Orleans. But when Jeff takes both revenge and the woman, he finds himself blackmailed by a powerful crime boss who wants the fiercely independent gunman to join his organization. Jeff refuses, and is hunted through an unforgiving city where love is like a loaded gun and debts of vengeance are paid in bullets.

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Plot Keywords:

hitman | revenge | crime boss | double cross | murder | 

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Taglines:

"The Godfather" Gave You an Offer You Couldn't Refuse. "The Family" Gives You No Alternative.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

1 February 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Family

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fono Roma, Target Associates, Unidis

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 104 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie had two major American releases in the United States. The first run was distributed by International Co-Productions whilst the second, a wide release, was distributed by United Artists. The film was known as "Violent City" for the first of these releases but was retitled "The Family" for the second. The film's second release in February 1973 had the film's "The Family" title-logo set in white text on black background and in a display font - all similar to The Godfather (1972)'s title logo, that movie having had been released around just a year beforehand. This was to cash-in on that film's success as this Italian movie also involved the mob and family: the inter-relationship between a hit-man, a mob boss and their shared love interest. This movie's title has reverted to "Violent City" for its DVD release in English speaking territories. The "Violent City" title of this picture is a literal English translation of its original Italian title which is "Città Violenta".

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Goofs

After Jeff fires numerous holes into the glass elevator, we see Vanessa looking out the glass which has no holes in it.

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Connections

Referenced in Millennium Mambo (2001)

User Reviews

Charlie & Telly in a gritty 'n great urban western!

There's absolutely no way that any movie can start off better than "Violent City". Charlie Bronson on a yacht with a ravishing blond chick, then moving onto land where the couple immediately gets subjected to a wild car chase through extremely narrow streets (and over stairs!) and ending with a violent shootout! And all this time not a single word is being spoken by anyone and all we here are the sounds of squeaking tires, snorting car engines and Ennio Moricone's umpteenth fabulous soundtrack. The first ten minutes of "Violent City" are so damn brilliant I was even tempted to stop watching the film because I honestly feared things could only go downwards from that point, ha! Luckily it didn't. Sure the pacing slowed down a bit (only a little bit, mind you) but a great film unfolds itself, with a simplistic but nevertheless compelling plot, gritty atmosphere and terrific acting performances by Charles Bronson (as the silent as always but deadly killer), Telly Savalas (as the sneering, sleazy and eccentric super-villain) and Jill Ireland (as the bimbo who appears to screw around with half of the city). Jeff is a retiring hit man who completes one more personal killing job when a former friend double-crosses him, leaves him for dead and runs off with his lady friend. Jeff's spectacular payback, executed at a race car circuit) gets him noticed by the big boss of the city's organized crime network. He wants Jeff to be a part of his successful crime-family, and when he refuses an exhilarating and testosterone-packed cat and mouse game ensues. The plot isn't highly original, but several independent sequences are magnificent, like the aforementioned opening, the intense finale or – most of all – the scene where Vanessa gets introduced to Weber (Savalas) in a restaurant. Sergio Sollima is a gifted director, who primarily earned his fame in the spaghetti western genre ("The Big Gundown" and "Run Man Run"). That's also exactly what "Violent City" often resembles; a gritty urban western with Bronson in his familiar role of lone outlaw passing through a town where no one can be trusted. If I understood correctly, the titular violent city is supposed to be Michigan, where strangely everyone speaks a combination of English and Italian. Funny detail on the Dutch DVD-release is that the dubbing is incomplete. Some of the dialogs start in English but halfway the conversation swifts to Italian and back to English again. Not at all bothering, especially not in case you looked forward to this movie as much as I did.