The Climber (1975)

A young American in Italy who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working for a big gangster, but for some reason he gets beaten and banished from the gang. Determined to take revenge, he starts over and begins rising to the top.

Director:

Pasquale Squitieri

Writers:

Carlo Rivolta (story), Pasquale Squitieri (screenplay)

Stars:

Joe Dallesandro, Stefania Casini, Benito Artesi

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joe Dallesandro	...	Aldo, the Climber
Stefania Casini	...	Luciana
Benito Artesi	...	Ciriaco
Ferdinando Murolo	...	Carlo
Raymond Pellegrin	...	Don Enrico
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Askin	...	Frenchman
Leopoldo Buondonno
Giovanni Cianfriglia	...	Gianni
Angelo Corrieri
Paolo De Lucia
Ugo Donadio
Bernard Farber	...	(as Bernard Faber)
Antonella Fasano
Ranieri Ferrara
Marcello Filotico	...	Night Clu Owner

Storyline

A young American in Italy who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working for a big gangster, but for some reason he gets beaten and banished from the gang. Determined to take revenge, he starts over and begins rising to the top.

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Plot Keywords:

poliziottesco | nudity | shower | male rear nudity | male nudity | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

18 February 1975 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Climber

Filming Locations:

Dear Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Laser Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Italian censorship visa # 66023 delivered on 7-2-1975.

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Connections

Featured in Little Joe's Adventures in Europe (2017)

User Reviews

An Italian Shooter

A hungry young buck (Joe Dallesandro) who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working at a warehouse for a gangster, and because of his ruthlessness and dependability he begins to ascend the ladder of organized crime.

Writer-director Pasquale Squitieri is not one of the better-known Italian directors. But he did come up the right way, being mentored by Vittorio De Sica and then going through a very brief (two film) spaghetti western phase with Klaus Kinski. By the time of "The Climber" (1975), he had already honed his action / crime film skills with "Camorra" (1972) starring Jean Seberg.

The star of "The Climber" is, of course, Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, who is something like a more handsome Peter Fonda. In fact, Squitieri personally stopped by the set of "Flesh For Frankenstein" to make sure he could get Dallesandro. Opposite him is Stefania Casini, who is today probably best known for "Suspiria" (1977), but interestingly enough had just appeared in Paul Morrissey's "Blood for Dracula" (1974)... with Dallesandro! (The pair ended up dating for a while.)

There is a rumor going around that this film was a big influence on Brian DePalma's "Scarface". Reviews all around the internet suggest it to be true, but no source is cited beyond the fact that the plots have some vague similarities. Whether the inspiration story is true or not, I do not know, but if it is, that is more than enough reason for this film to be preserved and studied. (Another reason is the score from Franco Campanino, who had been a popular musician alongside his brother since 1957, especially the song "Naples Dock".)

The Arrow Blu-ray is a bit sparse compared to some of their other releases. But it does feature a broad 28-minute interview with Joe Dallesandro, where he discusses being mentored by Warhol and Morrissey. We also learn how he was scammed into shooting a movie in Africa, the rarely-seen "Safari Rally" (1978). And he discusses his drinking problems. The interview barely covers "The Climber", but fans of European cinema will enjoy Dallesandro's honest and interesting reflections on working "underground".