Mad Dog Coll ** (1961, John Davis Chandler, Kay Doubleday, Brooke Hayward) – Classic Movie Review 8531

John Davis Chandler stars as notorious Thirties gangland killer Vincent ‘Mad Dog’ Coll (born on 20 July 1908), an Irish-American mob hitman, in director Burt Balaban’s fictionalised 1961 biographical crime drama Mad Dog Coll.

He starts his own street gang, becomes a mafia member, thrills to shooting people with his Tommy gun, and enjoys feuding with fellow mobster Dutch Schultz (Vincent Gardenia) over whisky hijacking.

Distributed by Columbia Pictures, it is a robust movie telling an engrossing real-life story, though it is totally Z grade and very basic, but it is memorable for its cast.

Also in the cast are Kay Doubleday as Mad Dog’s ex-stripper moll Clio, Brooke Hayward as music student Elizabeth, Neil Burstyn (billed as Neil Nephew) as Rocco, Jerry Orbach as Joe Clegg, Vincent Gardenia as Dutch Schultz, Telly Savalas as Lieutenant Darro and Glenn Cannon as Harry, with Tom Castronova, James Greene, Joy Harmon, Ron Weyand, Peggy Feury and Leonardo Cimino, with Gene Hackman (uncredited) as a Cop.

It is written by Leo Lieberman and the producer Edward Schreiber. It is shot in black and white by Gayne Rescher, with music by Stu Phillips.

Vincent Coll is portrayed by Richard Gardner in the 1960 film The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, Joseph Gallison in the 1961 film Portrait of a Mobster, John Davis Chandler in the 1961 film Mad Dog Coll, Nicolas Cage in a fictionalized version of Coll in The Cotton Club, Nicholas Sadler in the 1991 film Mobsters, Christopher Bradley in the 1992 film Mad Dog Coll and  in the 1992 film Hit the Dutchman.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8531

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