Dreadfully Boring

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This mobster film titled ¨Gli Intoccabili¨ or ¨Machine Gun McCain¨ (1969) talks about a just-released gangster called Hank McCain played by John Cassavetes who is pitch-perfect and Britt Ekland has a big part in this suspenseful movie . As a tough criminal called Hank (John Cassavetes) goes out from prison (it was shot at San Quentin Prison without permits) , being received by his son . One time being released from jail , two-fisted criminal Hank hooks up with his son Jack , who has assembled a gang for one robbing . As they attempt to rob a Mafia-controlled casino in Las Vegas . Unbeknownst to Hank , Jack is also involved with a mobster (Peter Falk) who utilizes Hank as a pawn so he can gain control of Vegas territory that's ordinarily being run by the boss Don Francesco De Marco (Gabriele Ferzetti) ; at the same time , the latter is under orders of Don Salvatore (Salvo Randone) . In the meantime , Hank falls in love for a young woman called Irene Tucker (Britt Ekland) and marries her in a rapid wedding in Las Vegas . This stirring film contains suspense , action , sharp-edged set pieces , thrilling situations and terrific performance by a plethora of known main actors as well as sensational supporting cast . A very moving plot with a misfit group planning a suspenseful heist . A realistic treatment glamorizes nothing and implicates the small-time thieves , capos , and big bosses . Including some car pursuits that were shot in two days without permits using rented automobiles . The movie is slickly narrated in original manner by means of various twists , red herrings , puzzles , jigsaw , in which the main protagonist has devised a daring plan that goes awry and it finally results to be a total disaster . The picture displays usual elements noir cinema like the fatalism and tragic fate , twisted intrigue and loser characters . But the movie belongs to John Cassavetes as the public enemy who earned the alias 'The Machine Gun MacCan' , also named Hank McCain who gets released from prison after serving twelve years for armed robbery . Montalvo realized for Paramount this ¨Machine Gun MacCan¨ along with ¨Grand Slam¨ that bear remarkable resemblance , both of them deal with spectaculars hold-ups . These films received great recognition and were widely appreciated by the international public , getting big box office . Filmmaker Montalvo usually worked with an international cast , and in Machine Gun MacCan reunites some of the best actors that worked in the sixties and seventies . John Cassavetes is the first among equals from extraordinary cast . The cluster of magnificent players give extraordinary interpretations . As exceptional acting by Peter Falk as volatile and ambitious mob capo Charlie Adamo , a ringleader marvellously incarnated by Gabriele Ferzetti , Tony Kendall as ruthless killer , Florinda Bolkan , Luigi Pistilli , Val Avery , Salvo Randone as Don Salvatore and there stands out Gena Rowlands , as a lovely ¨Femme Fatale¨ . Colorful cinematography in Techniscope , but a perfect remastering being necessary . Special mention for musical score by maestro Ennio Morricone who composes a rousing and sensitive score , including wonderful ballads , adding the catching song titled ¨the ballad of MacCan¨ sung by Jackie Lynton . The motion picture was professionally directed by Giuliano Montalvo who realizes an adequate piece of film-making , though has some flaws and gaps . Montavo is a good craftsman whose films have been shown in several nations , and won various Festival Awards and Emmy Awards . Other prizes worldwide for cinematography , production design and costumes were received in his movies , throughout a long career . His beginnings were as a directing assistant , as he made the second unit of Pontecorvo's masterpiece ¨The Battle Of Algiers¨ . After having filmed for Paramount the heist movie ¨Ad Ogni Osto¨ (1967) and this ¨Machine Gun MacCain¨ in the US, then Montaldo went back to Italy to direct ¨Gott Mit Uns¨ or ¨The Fifth Day Of Peace¨ (1969). Montalvo's experience reveals a turning point in his work in the famous politic film : ¨Sacco E Vanzetti¨ , it stars Gian Maria Volonte and Riccardo Cucciolla , that participated in competition at Cannes Film Festival , where it won Best Actor 1971 and ¨Giordano Bruno¨ (1973) also starred by Volonte . These pictures were well acclaimed by the reviewers , achieved awesome critiques and great successes at various film festivals around the world . The theme of the Resistance underlined ¨L'Agnese Va A Morire¨ directed by Montaldo in 1977 . In 1980 the director engaged in the production of a television series about the exploration of ¨Marco Polo¨ with Ken Marshall that was filmed in Italy, the Middle East, Tibet, Mongolia and China ; being an international co-production with RAI, BBC and NBC . Other films he directed are ¨Circuito Chiuso¨ that was in competition at the Berlinale in 1978 , ¨Il Giocattolo¨ , ¨Gli Occhiali D'Oro¨ or "The Gold Rimmed Glasses", ¨Il Giorno Prima¨ or ¨Project¨ , ¨L'Industriale¨ , ¨Tempo Di Uccidere¨ or "Time to Kill" and ¨Demoni Di San Pietroburgo¨ or " The Demons of St. Petersburg" .

It's not a masterpiece by any mean, but Giuliano Montaldo's crime thriller is still terrific. John Cassavetes is sprung from jail by his son (working for mafioso Peter Falk) to rob a Las Vegas casino. When the job is canceled, everyone complies but Cassavetes. Mayhem ensues. Cassavetes is great and Falk is too (though they have no scenes together). Britt Ekland plays a waif recruited by Cassavetes and she's stunning. A great score by Ennio Morricone helps and the supporting cast, including Gabrielle Ferzetti, Tony Kendall and bitchy Florinda Balkin, is very colorful. Gena Rowlands, in an extended cameo, plays a tough as nails Cassavetes crony.

I caught this on TCM the other morning. I had seen it years ago, and it was about as bad as I remembered. Cassavetes was a wonderful actor but he appeared in a lot of lousy pictures to earn the dough that financed FACES, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, GLORIA, and his other directorial efforts.Perhaps GLI INTOCCABILI suffers in translation to MACHINE GUN McCAIN. Some of the English dialogue seemed shoehorned into the original Italian, out of place and nonsensical as English. But it was the relationships among the characters that seemed most outlandish here -- particularly between McCain and his "son" (Pierluigi Apra?) and, later, with Irene (Britt Eklund). There's no chemistry among these actors, yet we're supposed to believe that their character relationships are significant. Too bad the scriptwriter didn't bring Gena Rowlands into the film in the first ten minutes -- she would have been even more credible as McCain's longtime accomplice and lover. And it would have been nice if there had been some opportunities for interaction between McCain and Joey Adamo (Peter Falk, who also was wasting his talent here).The Vegas heist is the one part of the film that works, but it takes a lot of dull exposition to get there, and -- as another poster here points out -- how can a career criminal as wily as McCain not have had an escape plan worked out before the heist? If the ending of a story is as inevitable as the fates, then it had better be a damned good story. MACHINE GUN McCAIN is tedious, predictable, and in the end, just plain shipshod storytelling. (However, I do hope some bright political satirist picks up on the closing ballad in the film and applies it to a montage of John S. McCain's campaign photos after he loses the presidential election in November.) By the way, McCain's submachine gun is a Sten, not a Thompson.

Peter Falk's performance as a ruthless gangster was the best part of this movie.What undermines this movie is McCain's stupidity. Even when he knows that the Mob is looking for him he goes to his friends and ex-wife for help. Doesn't he know they are the first places the Mob would look ? Didn't he have a plan for how to disappear with the money ?