Stiletto (1969)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Stiletto |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1969 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bernard L. Kowalski |
| script |
Harold Robbins A. J. Russell |
| production | Norman Rosemont |
| music | Sid Ramin |
| camera | Jack Priestley |
| cut | Stuart Chasmar |
| occupation | |
| |
Stiletto is an American crime film directed by Bernard L. Kowalski in 1969 and based on the novel by Harold Robbins .
action
Cesare Cardinali is a budding car dealer and playboy based in New York. He works as a contract killer for mafia boss Emilio Matteo, and he tends to stab his victims with a stiletto. Cardinali is indebted to Matteo, who saved his life in Italy years ago. Cardinali has a new assignment and watches his victim in a night club. Meanwhile, the District Attorney Frank Simpson tried to indict Matteo and two other Mafia members. Matteo was released and asked Cardinali to kill two possible witnesses. Cardinali did his job and followed Matteo, who was expelled to Italy. There he wants to part with Matteo because he believes his debt has been paid off. But Matteo doesn't want to lose his killer.
Simpson's deputy, George Baker, finds evidence that points to Cardinali as a murderer. In order to be able to investigate further on his own, he resigns from his position. Cardinali returns to the US and finds that he has been sentenced to death by the Mafia. Only Matteo is his only hope. Cardinali sends his wife Illeana to Italy to alert Matteo. At the airport, she is checked and interrogated by Baker. Only when Baker knows about Cardinali's situation is she allowed on the plane.
Illeana manages to get Matteo to meet with Cardinali in Puerto Rico. Don Andrea, the head of the New York Mafia, orders Cardinali to be killed because he is no longer useful. Cardinali is in Harlem with his girlfriend Ahn Dessie. Mafia killers attack and kill Ahn, but Cardinali escapes to Puerto Rico. Baker, who was bugging Illeana's phone, follows him and witnesses the meeting. Too late he notices the assassin armed with a rifle who is shooting Cardinali. Baker kills Matteo and is then killed by the assassin.
criticism
The lexicon of international films describes the film as "a crime thriller which is not uninteresting in terms of subject matter, suffocates in superficial pomp and trivialities and plays out brutal scenes unnecessarily blatantly."
Howard Thompson of the New York Times writes that the film has no point of view and no mercy. But what begins as a tough lesson in mafia terror turns into a lame, conventional chase that competes with the greasiest westerns.
The evangelical film observer has a predominantly positive opinion : Shot from a bestseller by Harold Robbins, the film shows good acting performances and an exciting plot. The pessimistic outcome should probably make the US public thoughtful. For friends of tough crime novels.
background
The world premiere took place on July 30, 1969. The film first appeared in Germany on June 25, 1970. It was shot in New York and Puerto Rico.
Olympia Dukakis , Charles Durning (in his first feature film role), Raúl Juliá (film debut) and M. Emmet Walsh (second cinema appearance) can be seen in small supporting roles .
Bibliography
Harold Robbins: Stiletto - English edition - Ulverscroft, 1983 - ISBN 0-7089-8101-1
Web links
- Stiletto in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stiletto. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9E06E7DB103AEF3BBC4F53DFBE668382679EDE
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 281/1970