Who payed the critics

The greatest movie ever made..!

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I didn't know the movie's background when I started watching it but events in the story brought to mind the internecine gang wars of the New York Mafia during the Sixties. If you lived in, or in proximity to New York City during that time, you would have been regaled with photos and headlines of the latest mob hit on the front page of the New York Daily News or New York Post. Often quite bloody, you knew the Five Families played for keeps to protect their turf.Though the last name is never used in the story, it's 'Crazy' Joe Gallo they're talking about here, a celebrated gangster who was part of the Profaci Crime Family. Peter Boyle fans have probably seen him in his 1970 movie "Joe" in which he portrays a racist redneck, so his casting here as another Joe seemed apropos to me. The picture matter of factly presents the intricate back stabbing and double crosses inherent in mob family life, deftly assigning certain contract hits as independent jobs or family matters as the situation warrants.Other characters in the movie are also stand-ins for historical crime figures. Fred Williamson's Willy represents African-American drug trafficker Nicky Barnes, and Eli Wallach's portrayal of Don Vittorio gives way to Colombo Family boss Joe Colombo, the target of a hit at the second Italian Unity Day Rally at New York's Columbus Circle. It appears the dates cited in the picture are fairly accurate, the hit on Joe Colombo did take place on June, 28th, 1971.With it's eclectic casting and intricate story line, "Crazy Joe" makes for an entertaining gangster flick, all the more interesting for it's parallels to the real life Mafia scene of a bygone era. Comparisons to "The Godfather" are probably unwarranted as the 1972 film is far superior, though Michael Gazzo's brief appearance as 'Uncle' will recall his "Godfather II" role as the forgetful Frankie Pentangelli.

As far as being a true story goes, it is, but it is very sketchy, very broad strokes. If you know the history of the guy this is just a 1 minute flat quickie pencil sketch. I'm a fan of the director, but he usually puts more into the story and meaning than this. It's a very simple '70s mafia flick that satisfies that craving if you just want 100 minutes of the sights and genre and not much more. It is not an underrated classic. It's a solid, slightly above average example of the genre. It is not in the same league with the top 20 Italian crime flicks of the era (like the "Violenta" trilogy), but is as good as Hollywood's from this period. That's why I give it a six. I love Italian films from the '70s and '60s and consider them to be much better than Hollywood's output. To say one is on a par, is to say it's a bit of a disappointment that way, though I wasn't disappointed to have watched it. Once.I'm a fanatic about pairing food and movies, and for this one I highly recommend Spaghettini and Red Clam Sauce.

Enjoyable movie from the 70's NY gangster movie era. This movie does capture of some essence of life in the boroughs of New York city.Also, the review form "WarnersBrother from Florida", is by-far, the best and even gives us some actual facts of this story/movie, that is based upon the true story of the Gallo Brothers and particularly "Crazy" Joe Gallo.The WORST is by "fedor8 from Serbia". "fedor8 from Serbia" writes his review as the movie was made and written by the actors in the film. Come on "fedor8 from Serbia" your opinions is pure asinine. He fails to realize this movie is made over 40 years ago, in the early 70's.

While I have not seen this film since it's release I am anxiously awaiting the day when it gets the well-deserved DVD release.I would like to set something straight: Another reviewer insinuated that this is a "Godfather" rip-off, and nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact this film is the (largely) true story of the Gallo Brothers and particularly "Crazy" Joe Gallo. I have something of a personal interest in the movie because I lived in NYC during the days of the mob war triggered by the Gallos, and actually had the dubious honor of meeting Joe Gallo several times after his release from prison in 1971 (he had spent ten years educating himself in prison, and became something of a social butterfly and curiosity of the entertainment and arts crowd. I believe this is portrayed in the film.) As to the "Godfather" thing: Coppola/Puzo naturally used many real occurrences and characters from the real-life mafia. This has been analyzed to death elsewhere so I'll be specific here re the Gallo connection: The sequence in GFII where Frankie Pantangeli is lured into an empty bar and the killers attempt to strangle him, only to be thwarted when a Police Officer enters the bar and sees the victims feet protruding from behind a table ACTUALLY happened. It is an EXACT re-enactment of the attempt to murder Larry Gallo in the Sahara bar in Brooklyn in either the late 50' or early 60's, during the Gallo-Profaci war.The character of Joey Zaza in GFIII is clearly based on John Gotti and largely on Joe Gallo, who had been responsible for the worst gang wars in New York since the 1930's.When I have a chance to see this again, I'm going to add my review, as I don't generally comment on movies unless I have recently viewed them.One personal not: The one thing a do recall when I saw it the day it opened was that the great Peter Boyle did an excellent job, the thing that stuck out was Boyle was very tall and bald. Joe Gallo was shortish and dark blond as I recall.UPDATE August 2007: I've just gotten a chance to see this again, and I'm surprised that it holds up very well indeed. This is a nearly perfect cast..Rip Torn is excellent as Richie (Larry Gallo) Peter Boyle is as usual right on his game. Luther Adler makes a great Profaci and Eli Wallach is nearly perfect as "Don Vittorio" (Carlo Gambino) He would get to essentially reprise the role in Godfather III. The only person better suited to the part would have been the great Richard Conte (though he had basically played Gambino as Don Barzini in The Godfather). Paula Prentiss does her best with a small, thankless and poorly written part.The movie is fairly true to the facts (as we know them), but does need to condense and fictionalize events. Example: Two separate attempts to kill Joe and Larry Gallo are presented very effectively as one single event.As much as I am a Peter Boyle fan, I have to say that I always felt that he was not the right person for the part. My own dream cast for this would have been Harvey Keitel, who was physically closer to Joe Gallo, and had the same kind of intensity as Boyle.For some odd reason (probably that he was (and is)still alive), the third Gallo brother, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo is absent completely from the film; Henry Winkler plays a much watered-down character named "Manny" in his stead. And a fun point: The name Gallo is never used in the film...however, in a scene where Joe is arrested for shaking down a liquor store, the place is comically stacked to the rafters with wine boxes marked "Gallo" in huge letters!!All in all, a film that deserves true classic status in the mob-movie genre.