The Sicilian clan

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Movie
German title The Sicilian clan
Original title Le clan des Siciliens
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1969
length 115 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Henri Verneuil
script José Giovanni
Pierre Pelegri
Henri Verneuil
production Les Films du Siècle
Les Productions Fox Europe
music Ennio Morricone
camera Henri Decaë
cut Pierre Gillete
occupation

The Sicilian Clan is a French gangster film from 1969. The novel is based on Auguste Le Breton . Directed by Henri Verneuil . The three main roles played Jean Gabin , Alain Delon and Lino Ventura . It is considered one of the best French gangster films. It premiered in France on December 1, 1969, and premiered in Germany on February 13, 1970.

action

The Sicilian Manalese family runs a company for electronic games and pinball machines on the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris . However, behind the scenes she is involved in criminal business. The family patriarch of advanced age is Vittorio Manalese, who plans to return to Sicily as a respected citizen in the future, from where he came to France as a poor emigrant in his youth . His family includes his wife, three sons and wives and a young grandson.

The Manalese family clan is planning its most spectacular coup. One of Vittorio Manaleses s sons sat in a prison cell with the brutal police murderer Roger Sartet and became friends with him. Since Sartet has since learned the plans for the security system of a jewelery exhibition from another inmate, but he is threatened with execution for multiple murders , he is freed from a prisoner transport during a transfer trip. The Manalese procure him a special tool with which he can cut through the floor of the police bus, stage a car breakdown at a pre-planned location and thus jam the traffic so that Sartet can leave the car unnoticed and transfer to a Manalese van. The plan succeeds and Sartet is able to go into hiding with the help of the Manalese.

The outbreak case is passed on to Commissioner Le Goff, who already knows Sartet from his previous crimes. He and his employees are aware of the danger that Sartet poses, but initially they have no trace of the escapee and his helpers. While visiting a brothel, Sartet barely escapes the summoned inspector Le Goff a short time later. He's on Sartet's heels two more times, but he's late again; once the clues were previously blurred by accomplices, once again the Manalese managed to distract the police until Sartet managed to escape again.

On his escape, Sartet brings the security plans for the jewelery exhibition in the Villa Borghese in Rome with him, and the Manalese are planning to rob the exhibition together with him and other gangsters, for which Vittorio Manalese and his old friend Tony Nicosia, who emigrated to the USA, are in the villa meets. Both explore the exhibition, but realize that an additional new security device makes it impossible to break into the exhibition unnoticed. In the event that they still find a solution to this problem, the two agree to contact them again.

The solution comes from Tony Nicosia, who plans to hijack and divert the plane on the transfer of the jewels to New York City , the exhibition's next stop. The company is arranged, a former pilot is organized to guide the machine and an alternative landing site is organized. A security officer from the jewelery exhibition kidnapped the Manalese before the flight so that he could not pose a threat to them and boarded the plane in Rome. During another stopover in Paris, the wife of the kidnapped security officer wants to get on the plane with her husband, but finds that he is not on board, even though he is on the passenger list. She is distracted with a feint so that the flight to New York takes off. Shortly before landing, the Manalese seize the machine and divert it to the prepared area, where numerous accomplices are waiting and disappearing after picking up the jewels and the hijackers.

The wife of the security officer is meanwhile with the Paris police and accidentally discovers Sartet on a mug shot. She informs the police that he is sitting in the jewel machine, but the warning to the New York security authorities can no longer prevent the kidnapping and theft. But now Commissioner Le Goff knows that Sartet has something to do with the attack. The Manalese's plan, meanwhile, works smoothly, the jewels are monetized and the loot divided up, and those involved immediately disperse to the wind.

Some time later, Sartet wants to collect his share from Tony Nicosia as agreed, but learns that his share has been passed on to the Manalese and returns to Paris furiously. The viewer also learns the reason for this: Vittorio Manalese has meanwhile found out that one of his daughters-in-law, Jeanne, the only French woman in the family, had a sexual affair with Sartet, and decides to resolve this incident in his own way and to restore the family honor. Sartet wants to collect his share, and a meeting is arranged in a remote location. Manalese also brings his daughter-in-law Jeanne with him. The latter wants to warn Sartet when the money is handed over, but Vittorio Manalese manages to shoot both of them by firing a pistol from his coat pocket. In the meantime, Commissioner Le Goff has uncovered all the connections and expects Manalese to return to his home. With reference to the bullet hole in Manalese's coat pocket, he remarks dryly that the latter was probably lucky again and arrests him after his sons have already been arrested.

criticism

"Well photographed and musically intelligently accented crook story, which, however, lacks a psychological representation and adequate characterization of the people."

“'The Sicilian clan' impresses not only with its grandiose cast, which unites everything that had a name in the genre at the time: Jean Gabin, the grand seigneur of the genre, Lino Ventura, who is responsible for squat killer figures, and the 'ice-cold angel' Alain Delon . The film also owes a large part of its atmosphere to the cold photography. "

“The script was based on a novel by Auguste Le Breton ('Rififi'), and France's most famous cameraman at the time, Henri Decae, put it into the picture under the direction of veteran Henri Verneuil. What else could go wrong? Many things. Because the big coup - the kidnapping of a jeweled, heavily guarded Boeing with forced landing on the autobahn near Manhattan - remains just an exciting episode in a luscious opera about Sicilian gangster honor. "

“Technically excellent, milieu-authentic crime thriller from the grandpa cinema, played by popular actors. In its genre, the film belongs to the first set. For lovers of the genre. "

Awards

The film was nominated for the US Laurel Award in 1971 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Sicilian Clan . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2013 (PDF; test number: 41 866 V).
  2. The Sicilian clan. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. prisma.de
  4. Der Spiegel of July 27, 1998
  5. Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 76/1970