HAIL! MAFIA (1965)

This low-budget, Fench Italian film with its quirky title—delivered during mafia club meetings—is a "prototype" leading up to the subject’s peak in The Godfather. The more creatively designed European poster is left. It took no less than three production companies to put this eighty-eight-minute film in the can. The dominant element is not acting, but Its period-specific jazz score that was apparently recorded in a parking garage. Without Hubert Rostaing’s score, however, this would be a dull movie. Yet it almost intrudes some scenes as if playing in the same room you are watching television and you wish someone would turn it down a bit. Expect some abrupt film edits. One, in particular, has the camera jumping from a train to a city street to an arcade in a mere two seconds. Superimposed sporadically are titles to identify the location or the time of day. This film has been rightfully forgotten since its premiere. Discovering it in a new century does not make it a lost classic. For your approval, here is the trio of restrained characters, each with a competent performance.

It is a rare occasion when two left-handed actors are in the same mafia film. Eddie Constantine, at the peak of European popularity, provides the cryptic opening voice-over narration describing his lot in life as the viewer watches him outwit an assassin in a Paris parking garage...er...recording studio. His single voice-over is rather meaningless, only acting as a device to introduce his persona. There are no additional voice-overs to help carry his character or the story. The other lefty, Henry Silva, found his niche in gangster films. His facial structure may give the impression of possible reconstructive surgery. Anyone familiar with him at this stage in his career knows he was essentially a supporting B-movie or television actor. Celebrating him in recent years does not make him one of the greats because he is still alive—as of this writing. Thankfully, he is always interesting to watch. He and fellow mafia club member, the right-handed Jack Klugman, have never been on an “assassination run” before. Klugman was adept at displaying pessimistic or disgruntled characters. So he makes a believable hitman with a lot of angst. Ever so cool, Silva tells him to relax and do what he tells him to do. Their road trip is a psychological study of how paid assassins' friendships can be so fleeting. Both are off to Paris to assassinate Constantine before he can testify against a mob boss indicted in America.

Minor characters are confusingly introduced, initially without a name. Elsa Martinelli has an insignificant role as a secretary or love assistant to Constantine. Micheline Presle is a French informer for Silva, who drives a 1965 Plymouth Fury through the streets of Paris. It becomes Silva’s loaner as he travels “invisibly” among Citroens and Volkswagens. Do not expect much suspense until the very end—which extends a bit too long. Expect a twist or two as the truth is revealed about Constantine.

Note: There is a poorly edited sequence as the duo heads toward Constantine’s hideout, providing a bit of confusion. It is irrelevant to the plot but I am compelled to mention its subtlety. Silva navigates the “SS Plymouth” into a service station for petrol. As Silva walks to the (apparently) self-service pump Klugman gets out and says he will be right back. With seemingly no time elapsing, Silva gets behind the wheel and drives away. There is no definitive evidence that Klugman ever returned. What might be missed in the two-second snippet, is the slight bounce of the car as Klugman gets seated and his split-second silhouette is visible at the far right of the screen. Once on the highway, Klugman is now driving!