''Crazy Joe'' is a 1974

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero' ...

and produced by

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...

. The Italian-American co-production is a fictionalized retelling of the murder of Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo, a mobster who was gunned down on April 7, 1972, at a restaurant in

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...

. The screenplay by

Lewis John Carlino Lewis John Carlino (January 1, 1932 – June 17, 2020) was an American screenwriter and director. His career spanned five decades and included such works as '' The Fox'', '' The Brotherhood'', '' The Mechanic'', '' The Sailor Who Fell from Grace ...

is based on a series of articles by journalist

Nicholas Gage Nicholas Gage (born Nikolaos Gatzoyiannis; el, Νικόλαος Γκατζογιάννης; July 23, 1939) is a Greek-born American author and investigative journalist. Early life Nicholas Gage (original name, Nikos Gatzoyiannis) was born in ...

. The film stars

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof '' Young ...

in the title role, with

Paula Prentiss Paula Prentiss (née Ragusa; born March 4, 1938) is an American actress. She is best known for her film roles in '' Where the Boys Are'' (1960), ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965), ''Catch-22'' (1970), '' The Parallax View'' (1974), and '' The Stepf ...

, Fred Williamson,

Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...

Luther Adler Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway. Early life and career Adler was born on ...

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series '' Happy Days'', Winkler has ...

and

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...

Plot

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, hot-tempered gangster Joe Gallo pulls a knife on a man in a theater who complains about Joe's talking during the movie. Joe later enters a car with his brother Richie and cronies Jelly and Mannie. They don masks, pull guns and perform a mob assassination at a restaurant. Joe and Richie are offended when their boss Falco does not invite them into his home when they arrive for payment of their crime. Falco pays them just $100 each for the job. They crash through the gates of his stately lakeside mansion and take Falco's brother and others prisoner. Don Vittorio, the head of all New York crime families, settles the dispute. Falco agrees to reward Joe and Richie in the future, but he double-crosses them, his thugs nearly strangling Richie to death before burying Jelly in cement. Coletti, who also betrayed Joe and Richie, takes over Falco's operations after the terminally ill Falco dies inside an iron lung. Richie is also ill, suffering from a stomach ailment. His brother is set up, cops catching him red-handed as he tries to extort a merchant. Joe is sent to prison, where he befriends Willy, a black inmate, and helps Willy instigate a prison riot over the prison's unjust conditions. Joe is glad to have a new ally, particularly with the terminally ill Richie committing suicide by driving a car off a cliff. As soon as Joe gets out of jail, he returns to New York and the woman in his life, Anne, then begins building his crime organization with the help of Willy and Harlem associates. "Crazy Joe" becomes a notorious figure in New York, known for his temper but also for his colorful associations around town. Joe has a confrontation with Coletti and vows to avenge the betrayal that landed him behind bars. But before he can, Don Vittorio beats him to it. Upset with an Italo-American federation Coletti has organized that attracted unwanted attention to the crime families, Don Vittorio arranges for Coletti to be assassinated at a rally and for Joe to be blamed. Anne pleads with Joe to leave town, and an angry Willy needs to be convinced that Joe wasn't the one responsible for Coletti's murder. When he and Willy go to Don Vittorio's home to discuss the situation, Joe threatens the mob boss rather than believe his offer to work together. Vittorio immediately puts out a contract on Joe, and at a restaurant where he, Anne and Willy are having dinner, gunmen turn up and open fire, both men ending up dead.

Cast

as Joe Gallo *

as Anne * Fred Williamson as Willy Bates *

as Don Vittorio Giovanni *

as Richie Gallo *

Charles Cioffi Charles M. Cioffi (born October 31, 1935) is an American film and television actor best known as Lt. Matt Reardon in '' Get Christie Love!'' opposite co-star Teresa Graves. Born in New York City, he attended Michigan State University, where h ...

as Joe Coletti *

as Danny Falco * Carmine Caridi as Jelly *

as Mannie *

Sam Coppola Sam Coppola (July 31, 1932 – February 5, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in almost 70 films, beginning in 1968, but may be best remembered for his role as Dan Fusco, owner of the hardware and paint store in ''Saturday Night Fever'', wh ...

as Chick * Franco Lantieri as Nunzio *

Louis Guss Louis Guss (January 4, 1918 – September 29, 2008) was an American character actor with a long line of screen credits, having appeared in hundreds of TV series, feature films and stage productions, specializing in blue-collar ethnic roles, over ...

as Magliocco *

Fausto Tozzi Fausto Tozzi (29 October 1921 – 10 December 1978) was an Italian film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in 70 films between 1951 and 1978. He wrote the script for ''The Defeated Victor'', which was entered into the 9th Berlin Internation ...

as Frank *

Guido Leontini Guido Leontini (21 March 1927 – 26 April 1996) was an Italian stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Catania into a family of actors, Leontini debuted on stage in the post-World War II era, specializing in the Luigi Pirande ...

as Angelo * Mario Erpichini as Danny * Michael V. Gazzo as Sal * Adam Wade as J.D. *

Hervé Villechaize Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor and painter. He is best known for his role as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'', and his role as Mr ...

as Samson * Gabriele Torrei as Cheech * Peter Savage as DeMarco * Tony Lip as Andy * Jay Rasumny as Clyde Barrow

Production

According to ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', the screenplay for ''Crazy Joe'' was based on a series of articles on mafia wars by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reporter

. Director

stated that the reason he made the film was because he felt that Gallo's story was a mirror image of a character who was "typical of the '68 movements. Gallo was a young Mafioso who gathered the young against the old, just as it happened in China in the name of

Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

and in the rest of the world as well." Lizzani went on that "What's more - a sacrilegious thing in the Mafia - he made a pact with the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

, an interracial alliance! I could choose ten other different stories, I could do whatever I wanted and I had the money to do it, but for these reasons I chose to do ''Crazy Joe''. It was a parable that symbolized a season of our contemporary society."

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

was initially going to be Lizzani's assistant on the film, while Lizzani's original choice for the role of Gallo was going to be

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

, after seeing him in ''

Bloody Mama ''Bloody Mama'' is a 1970 American exploitation crime film directed by Roger Corman and starring Shelley Winters in the title role, with Bruce Dern, Don Stroud, Robert Walden, Alex Nicol, and Robert De Niro in supporting roles. It was very loose ...

''. Filming began on 25 June 1973, and took place entirely on location in New York City.

Release

''Crazy Joe'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by Cineriz on 8 February 1974. The film grossed a total of 628,266,000

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically. Italian film historian and critic Roberto Curti described the film a "commercial failure" in Italy, noting that it grossed less than "mediocre genre products such as ''

Kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

'', despite a sturdy cast". The credits of the Italian version of the film are largely incomplete, and differ from the credits of the American version; for instance, the former version credits Dino Maiuri, Massimo De Rita and Lizzani with the screenplay, while the latter credits

as the sole screenwriter. The Italian version also does not credit an editor, who is identified as

Peter Zinner Peter Zinner (July 24, 1919 – November 13, 2007) was an Austrian-American film editor. Following nearly fifteen years of uncredited work as an assistant sound editor, Zinner received credits on more than fifty films from 1959 to 2006. His most ...

in the American version. The film opened in New York on 15 February 1974. It was distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

in the United States. The ''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'' reported that on same date,

Barry Slotnick Barry I. Slotnick (born 1939) is a New York City-based defense attorney. Slotnick is well-known for defending infamous Mafia crime boss, John Gotti and New York City subway shooter, Bernhard Goetz. Along with his son Stuart, he negotiated for ...

, a lawyer for Mafia member Joseph Colombo intended to file an injunction against ''Crazy Joe''. This involved a claim that the character of Coletti was based on Colombo, which violated his "right of privacy." Colombo was comatose during this period after being shot in the head in June 1971. ''Daily Variety'' reported on 26 Feb 1974 that a New York Supreme Court judge ruled against the injunction, as the film was not an invasion of Colombo's privacy.

Reception

From a contemporary review,

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

found that the film presented the "ins and outs of Mafia family wars sdifficult to follow as pre-World War I Balkan politics, though not quite so fascinating." Canby continued that Peter Boyle played Joe as if he were a "dim‐witted numbers runner", and that casting

as his girl was "one of the minor mysteries of the movie year. Could she have wandered onto the wrong set?"

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Lewis John Carlino 1974 films Biographical films about gangsters Films directed by Carlo Lizzani Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films set in 1972 Italian crime films American crime films Films about the American Mafia American biographical films Italian biographical films English-language Italian films Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Colombo crime family 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s Italian films