Year of the Gun ** (1991, Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone, Valeria Golino) – Classic Movie Review 13,117

John Frankenheimer’s 1991 film Year of the Gun stars Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone and Valeria Golino. A real-life Italian-set political thriller from the director of The Manchurian Candidate, well that sounds good. 

‘In a city bathed in blood… who can you trust?’

Director John Frankenheimer’s 1991 film Year of the Gun is based on Michael Mewshaw’s semi-autobiographical novel, and stars Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone, and Valeria Golino. A real-life political thriller from the director of The Manchurian Candidate, well that sounds good.

The year is 1978, and the place is Rome in this real-life political thriller film, with Andrew McCarthy miscast as David Raybourne, a hard-nosed American journalist covering political news in Italy and investigating group of terrorists calling themselves the Red Brigades [Brigate Rosse], who hatch a scheme to abduct the real-life former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

There are a few action thrills and there is a little tension, but not enough of either. Frankenheimer’s nervous direction is very touch and go, the plot development is shaky and some of the performances are wobbly. The assets are the intriguing story, the action highlights, Blasco Giurato’s cinematography, the all-Italian location shooting, and Stone’s wholehearted portrayal of a life-endangering photojournalist, Alison King.

David Raybourne gets involved with the Red Brigades trying to help his friend Alison King, who photographed the Red Brigades in action, and discovers the Mafia is everywhere..

The cast are Andrew McCarthy as David Raybourne, Sharon Stone as Alison King, Valeria Golino as Lia, John Pankow as Italo Bianchi, George Murcell as Pierre Bernier, Mattia Sbragia as Giovanni, Roberto Posse as Lucio, Thomas Elliot as Marco, Lou Castel as Lou, Carla Cassola, Darren Modder, Carol Schneider, and Ron Williams.

The film was shot entirely in Italy, with a mostly Italian crew and support cast.

It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 1991, and was released in the US on November 1, 1991 and in the UK on January 10, 1992.

Its budget was $15,000,000 and it grossed $1,182,273 worldwide.

Year of the Gun is directed by John Frankenheimer, runs 111 minutes, is made by Initial Films, J & M Entertainment and Shomedia, is released by First Independent Films (UK) and Triumph Releasing Corporation (US), is written by David Ambrose and Jay Presson Allen, is shot by Blasco Giurato, is produced by Eric Fellner and Edward R Pressman, is scored by Bill Conti, and is designed by Aurelio Crugnola.

Former Newsweek correspondent Michael Mewshaw’s semi-autobiographical novel was published in 1984.

The Red Brigades [Brigate Rosse or BR] was an Italian Marxist–Leninist armed terrorist guerrilla group responsible for violence from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, including the kidnapping and murder of former prime minister of Italy Aldo Moro in 1978.

On the morning of 16 March 1978, the car of ex-PM Aldo Moro, president of the Christian Democracy party, was attacked by the Red Brigades in via Fani in Rome. Firing automatic weapons, the terrorists killed Moro’s five bodyguards and kidnapped him. Moro’s body was found on 9 May 1978 in the boot of a Renault 4 in via Caetani after 54 days of imprisonment.

Cinematographer Blasco Giurato was born on 7 June 1941 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was known for Cinema Paradiso (1988), A Pure Formality (1994) and Octav (2017). He died on 26 December 2022 in Rome.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,117