Il conto è chiuso (1976)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Stelvio Massi

Writer:

Piero Regnoli (writer)

Release Date:

30 December 1976 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime

Cast

Luc Merenda	...	Rico Manzetti
Carlos Monzón	...	Marco Russo
Mariangela Giordano	...	Lisa's mother
Gianni Dei	...	Beny Manzetti
Giampiero Albertini	...	Sapienza
Mario Brega	...	Bobo Belmondo
Susana Giménez	...	Maristella
Luisa Maneri	...	Lisa (as Annaluisa Pesce)
Leonora Fani	...	Nina
Claudio Zucchet	...	Alex Manzetti
Nello Pazzafini	...	Rico henchman
Giovanni Cianfriglia	...	Rico henchman
Claudio Ruffini	...	Rico henchman
Renato Basso	...	Presentator at 'Gatto Nero'
Marcello Venditti	...	Rico Henchman

Also Known As:

The Last Round

Runtime:

USA:95 min (DVD version)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

FRAL Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

References Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)

A forgotten poliziotteschi worth remembering

Although pretty much forgotten, The Last Round aka Il Conto é Chiuso is a good example of a familiar story made fresh by the quality of its execution, as a stranger drifts into a decaying Italian industrial looking to settle an old score. But this violent modern-day (well, 1976) poliziotteschi is closer to Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest than the first two films it inspired, Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars, set in its own Italian Poisonville divided between two rival gangs that he soon sets against each other. Surprisingly, despite being directed by the sometimes more adequate than inspired Stelvio Massi, it's shot with striking visual imagination and remarkably fluid camera-work from Franco Delli Colli. The two leads are impressive too, with Luc Merenda a wonderfully effective and dapper villain and undefeated middleweight champion boxer and offscreen wife-beater and murderer Carlos Monzon a surprisingly effective leading man in the mould of a young Charles Bronson.

NoShame's R1 DVD of this impressive little sleeper boasts an exceptionally good transfer, as well as one of the more surreal DVD extras of recent years – a 35-minute tour of Merenda's Paris antique shop.