The Professor (1986)
"Il camorrista" (original title)

Vaguely inspired to the real story of boss of the Camorra's bosses Raffaele Cutolo, this is the story of the criminal career of "Il professore" (the professor). He is in prison, and by ... See full summary »

Director:

Giuseppe Tornatore

Writers:

Giuseppe Tornatore (story), Massimo De Rita (story),

Stars:

Ben Gazzara, Laura del Sol, Leo Gullotta

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Gazzara	...	Il Professore
Laura del Sol	...	Rosaria
Leo Gullotta	...	comissario Iervolino
Marzio Honorato	...	Salvatore
Luciano Bartoli	...	Ciro Perrella
Nicola Di Pinto	...	Alfredo Canale
Anita Zagaria	...	Anna
Franco Interlenghi	...	Don Saverio
Biagio Pelligra	...	The Father
Maria Carta	...	Madre
Lino Troisi	...	O' Malacarne
Marcello Bari
Sergio Boccalatte
Cloris Brosca	...	Cettina
Mariella Capotorto

Storyline

Vaguely inspired to the real story of boss of the Camorra's bosses Raffaele Cutolo, this is the story of the criminal career of "Il professore" (the professor). He is in prison, and by there he is able to build, step by step, an empire founded on murders and drugs. He starts a war to destroy all the old Camorra bosses and becoming the new "boss of the bosses". With his sister's help he manages to evade from prison and escape in New York. Here he starts immediately a new relationship with "Cosa Nostra" (Italian American Mafia). He is going to seat on the peak of the most powerful criminal organization, and the Italian authorities are almost impotent.

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Plot Keywords:

camorra | boss | cosa nostra | murder | new york | 

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Taglines:

Murder was the only human factor in his curriculum

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

12 September 1986 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Professor

Filming Locations:

Castello di Rota, Tolfa, Roma, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Titanus, Reteitalia, Arlac Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

171 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was originally produced as a 5-hour TV-movie.

User Reviews

Very good gangster movie

The main reasons why I bought this movie, are that it finally shows the Camorra and because of Tornatore. I read that this movie was banned in Napels, but I forgot the actual reason. Maybe it was banned because it gave politicians a bad name or because the Camorra was against it.

This movie has many things that the most (Hollywood) gangster movies are missing; gritty look, realistic gore and NOT glorifying crime. The Tornatore directing is very good; it's maybe not as superb as his "Legend of 1900" or "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" but that's okay, especially for a debut.

Ben Gazzara is good enough as The Professor (Raffaele Cutolo). He appears to me as a real Camorra capo (cunning, cruel and evil) would be. The only thing that bothered me about his acting, is that it looks a little silly when he goes crazy and bangs his head to the glass, but the dubbing isn't really helping there.

The supporting cast is quite good. Some of them also make their appearance in La Piovra (Nicola Di Pinto) and some even in Godfather Part 3 (The assassin from Sicily plays a magistrate here). There were no actors that bothered me or anything.

The soundtrack is good. It's no Morricone, but you cannot expect that from every Italian movie.

The DVD (EAN 5050232700587) is not very good. It is in English with no subtitles. The picture quality is bad, but still watchable. The sound is OK. There are no specials on the disc and for a movie of 144 minutes long, it has a very small number of scenes.

If you like La Piovra, you like this. If you don't like La Piovra, you can also like this, but it's a little different than what most people are used to.