''Order to Kill'' ( es, El clan de los inmorales, link=no, it, La testa del serpente) is a 1974 Spanish-Italian crime-action film written and directed by

José Gutiérrez Maesso José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

. In the movie the police inspector (José Ferrer) offers passports to a hit man (Helmut Berger) and his girlfriend (Sydne Rome) if the hit man kills a mob boss.

Cast

Helmut Berger Helmut Berger (; born Helmut Steinberger; 29 May 1944) is an Austrian actor, known for his portrayal of narcissistic and sexually-ambiguous characters. He was one of the stars of the European cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s, and is regarded a ...

– Clyde Hart *

Sydne Rome Sydne Rome (born March 17, 1951) is an American-Italian film actress. Her first name is often misspelled ''Sydney'' or ''Sidney''. Biography Born in Akron, Rome grew up in a wealthy, Jewish family in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Her father was preside ...

– Anne *

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Rep ...

– Ed McLean *

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, w ...

– Detective Reed *

José María Caffarel José María Caffarel Fábregas (10 November 1919 – 6 November 1999) was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in more than 170 films between 1957 and 1998. He was born in Barcelona and died in Madrid, Spain. Selected filmography * ''The L ...

– Richard * Howard Ross – Richard *

Manuel Zarzo Manuel López Zarza (born 26 April 1932) better known as Manuel Zarzo is a Spanish film actor. He has appeared in more than 150 films since 1951. Selected filmography * '' Day by Day'' (1951) * '' Love in a Hot Climate'' (1954) * ''Cursed Mo ...

– Hugo *

Juan Luis Galiardo Juan Luis Galiardo Comes (2 March 1940 – 22 June 2012) was a Spanish television, theater and film actor. Life The eldest of six children, Juan Luis Galiardo Comes was born in San Roque, Cádiz, but spent most of his childhood and youth in ...

Álvaro de Luna Álvaro de Luna y Fernández de Jarava (between 1388 and 13902 June 1453), was a Castilian statesman, favourite of John II of Castile. He served as Constable of Castile and as Grand Master of the Order of Santiago. He earned great influence in t ...

– Daniel

Production

Eugenio Martín Eugenio Martín (born 15 May 1925) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He is known for the low-budget genre films he made in the 1960s and 1970s, including ''Bad Man's River'', ''The Bounty Killer'', and ''Horror Express'', the latter be ...

minimized his contributions to the script in the film, stating that it was "It was Maesso's project, and Moncada and I were to write it. However, there was no way we could come up with a good plot, so we soon called ourselves out. Maesso did not give up, though, and he called and Italian screenwriter to do the job" When the film was finished, Maesso credited both Moncada and Martin for their work on the film, but Martin stated that he probably did not use much of it.

Release

''Order to Kill'' was released in Italy on August 31, 1974. In Italy, the film grossed a total of 360,601,000 lire.

Reception

In his book ''Italian Crime Filmography 1968–1980'', Roberto Curti referred to the film as a "tiresome variation on the classic theme of a lonely man's vengeance, notable mainly for a script that in the second part predates Enzo G Castellari's powerful ''

The Big Racket ''The Big Racket'' ( it, Il grande racket) is a 1976 Italian ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. Fabio Testi stars as a police inspector who takes on a gang of hoodlums who terrorise an Italian city by extorting cash from loca ...

''" and that actor

"is given little to do with the clichéd character".

Notes

References

External links

*
''Order to Kill''
at

Variety Distribution Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...

Poliziotteschi films Italian crime action films Spanish crime action films 1970s crime action films 1970s Italian films {{1970s-crime-film-stub