Bootleggers (1969)

A group of gangsters escape from prison and attempt to destroy a rival organisation holed up in a convent in Mexico.

Director:

Alfio Caltabiano

Writers:

Ferdinando Baldi (screenplay), Ferdinando Baldi (story)

Stars:

George Eastman, Wayde Preston, Graziella Granata

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Eastman	...	McGowan - L'Irlandese
Wayde Preston	...	Grim Doel
Graziella Granata	...	Leticia
Tano Cimarosa	...	Mancho
Archie Savage	...	Jeremias
José Suárez	...	Engineer
Nello Pazzafini	...	Pazzafini
Antonella Murgia
Gianni Solaro	...	Inspector (as Gianni Lorenzo)
Sandro Dori	...	Contadino
Mirella Pamphili	...	(as Mirella Pompili)
Porfiria Sanchíz
Tito García	...	Prison Warden Charlie
Goyo Lebrero	...	Barber
Gia Sandri

Storyline

A group of gangsters escape from prison and attempt to destroy a rival organisation holed up in a convent in Mexico.

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Plot Keywords:

poliziottesco | spanish poliziottesco | gangster | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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User Reviews

The usual late sixties war plot...with spatz

Hey! This is one of those late sixties Dirty Dozen rip-offs disguised as a Eurocrime film just to confuse me. Sure it's all about bootlegging and the tommy guns and zoot suits, but it's about five guys who break out of jail in order to infiltrate an enemy stronghold in a suicide mission. That's the plot of every sixties Italian war film ever made. Except Eagles Over London.

Let's look at our Dirty Five then - there's George Eastman as Irish, dubbed by a guy who is probably from Hampshire but read about Irish people one time. Then there's a mysterious guy who looks like Richard Harrison but isn't, Gaetano Cimarosa playing a...knife guy or something, and two other fellows, one an explosives expert and one of which is black so therefore Irish hates him. That's your crew - what you gonna do?

Wait - I forgot about the hooker lady they rope in to pretend to be starting a new job at the fortified bootlegging place they are supposed to be destroying, because instead of the usual Nazi citadel these neer-do-wells are roped in to attack, this time around they are working for a rival bootlegging firm led by Luciano Pigozzi (there's not enough of him in this film if you ask me). According to Luciano, there are only three bootlegging operations in the US and he wants to wipe the others out. He even has a high tech map hidden behind a picture for reasons that were lost on me.

As usual, there's a lot of fannying about before we get to the big battle at the end, so the film is filled with double crosses, a comedic bar fight, and an awful lot of racial tension between Irish and the other fella, but it really is just Battle of the Damned, Five for Hell, Churchill's Leopards all over again. Not the best.

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

6 March 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

5 tolle Hunde

Company Credits

Production Co:

B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l., Tecisa

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1