Lucky Luciano ***** (1973, Gian Maria Volontè, Vincent Gardenia, Silverio Blasi, Edmond O’Brien, Rod Steiger, Charles Cioffi, Larry Gates) – Classic Movie Review 11,073

Gian Maria Volontè stars brilliantly as Sicilian-American Mafia boss gangster Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, in Francesco Rosi’s superb 1973 Technicolor biopic Lucky Luciano.

The detailed screenplay covers the mobster’s life from 1946, when the Americans gave him a get-out-of-jail pardon and he was sent back extradited to Sicily, up to his death from a heart attack in 1962, with occasional flashbacks. US Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent Charles Siragusa is assigned to bring down Luciano, turning his associate Gene Giannini informant.

Rod Steiger, the star of Rosi’s Hands Over the City [Le mani sulla città] (1963), appears as Gene Giannini. It also stars Vincent Gardenia as Colonel Poletti, Charles Cioffi as Vito Genovese and Edmond O’Brien as Harry J Anslinger. Charles Siragusa, the real-life US federal narcotics agent who pursued Luciano, plays himself in the film and is also technical consultant.

It is written by Francesco Rosi, Tonino Guerra, Lino Iannuzzi, and Jerome Chodorov, based on a story by Francesco Rosi.

It is a French and Italian co-production, filmed on location in Italy and New York City.

Like Rosi’s previous film The Mattei Affair (1972), Lucky Luciano is made in a docudrama style according to Rosi’s idea of cine-inchieste [film investigations], focusing on the researched facts of Luciano’s life and their implications while avoiding the personal aspects of the biopic or gangster film.

Also in the cast are Silverio Blasi as Italian Commissario [Captain], Larry Gates as Judge Herlands, Magda Konopka as Contessa, Dino Curcio as Don Ciccio, Karin Petersen as Igea Lissoni, Jacques Monod as French Commissioner, Luigi Infantino as opera singer, Carlo Mazzarella as radio journalist, John Francis Lane as reporter in Naples, and Pier Maria Pasinetti as the narrator.

Lucky Luciano is directed by Francesco Rosi, runs  105 minutes, is made by Vides Cinematografica, Les Films de la Boétie and Harbor Productions, is distributed by Titanus Distribuzione (Italy) and AVCO Embassy Pictures (US), is written by Francesco Rosi, Lino Iannuzzi, Tonino Guerra and Jerome Chodorov, based on a story by Francesco Rosi, is shot by Pasqualino De Santis, is produced by Franco Cristaldi, and is scored by Piero Piccioni.

Release dates: October 10, 1973 (Italy) October 31, 1973 (France) July 24, 1974 (US).

Francesco Rosi (15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015)

Francesco Rosi was born on 15 November 1922 in Naples and died on 10 January 2015 in Rome, aged 92. He was best known for Lucky Luciano (1973), The Mattei Affair (1972), Three Brothers [Tre fratelli], Illustrious Corpses (1976), La sfida [The Challenge] (1958), Carmen (1984), Hands Over the City [Le mani sulla città] (1963) and Salvatore Giuliano (1962).

He won the 1983 BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Christ Stopped at Eboli [Cristo si è fermato a Eboli] (1979). His film The Mattei Affair won the Palme d’Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Salvatore Giuliano won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962.

The films of  Francesco Rosi: La sfida [The Challenge]  (1958), The Magliari (1959), Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Hands Over the City [Le mani sulla città] (1963), The Moment of Truth (1965), More Than a Miracle (1967), Many Wars Ago (1970), The Mattei Affair (1972), Lucky Luciano (1973), Illustrious Corpses (1976), Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979), Three Brothers (1981), Carmen (1984), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987), The Palermo Connection (1990) and The Truce (1997).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,073

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