kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Somewhat fictionalized movie about the life and times of Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo played by a scaled down Peter Boyle who's last name-Gallo-for some reason in the film is never once mentioned and slipped in when he's in a liquor store shaking down the owner, that he ended up getting sent up the river or prison for,by showing Crazy Joe standing next to a case of Gallo wine. As for Crazy Joe himself we get to see him and his gang including his ulcer ridden big brother Richie, Rip Thorn, that feel that their getting the short end of the stick from their Mafia bosses by receiving just $100.00 a hit, knocking off someone, that they preform for them.Wanting respect as well as a place in the mob hierarchy in the end gets Crazy Joe in hot water with his boss of bosses Mafia Don Vittorio, Eli Wallach, who at first tries to placate the crazy guy by giving him control of the Brooklyn Red Hook sections mob operations that Crazy Joe and his boys come from. This is after Don Vittorio had one of Crazy Joe's rivals for Mafia promotion Coletti, Charles Cioffi, knocked off at an Italian anti defamation rally at New York's Central Park for not keeping his big mouth shut and not drawing attention to the mobs criminal activities! Crazy Joe was in no way as crazy as a fox he was really crazy and got his name after being diagnosed by the prison doctors as suffering from sever schizophrenia which explains his actions in the movie. One of them integrating the black Harlem mob lead by his friend and former cell-mate Willy, Fred Williamson, into his at the time all white Italian gang!This had Don Vittorio's blood boil especially when Crazy Joe invited Willy and his boys to the Don's mansion-That shocked and enraged Don Vittorio- who made a complete mess, by not showing any respect to the Don, of the place! With Crazy Joe now too big for his own bridges and completely out of control Don Vittorio ordered a hit on him and waited for his 43rd birthday, April 7, 1972, to execute it on the wild and crazy guy as well as his good friend black mob boss now known as Uncle Willy who's invited to his birthday party at the Victorio's Clam Bar in Little Italy.P.S Crazy Joe paid the price in the saying that those who "Live by the gun die by the gun". Crazy Joe always admired Johnny Udo in the 1947 film "Kiss of Death" and styled himself after Mr. Udo in being as he always called those he hated in the film a "Big Man" or the guy in the movie-Victor Mature-who's ratting him out to the police that sent Johnny Udo up the river. In the end Crazy Joe shared the same fate as his screen idol-Johnny Udo-who unlike himself lived to face justice for the crimes that he committed.

adrianswingler As far as being a true story goes, it is, but it is very sketchy, very broad strokes. If you know the history of the guy this is just a 1 minute flat quickie pencil sketch. I'm a fan of the director, but he usually puts more into the story and meaning than this. It's a very simple '70s mafia flick that satisfies that craving if you just want 100 minutes of the sights and genre and not much more. It is not an underrated classic. It's a solid, slightly above average example of the genre. It is not in the same league with the top 20 Italian crime flicks of the era (like the "Violenta" trilogy), but is as good as Hollywood's from this period. That's why I give it a six. I love Italian films from the '70s and '60s and consider them to be much better than Hollywood's output. To say one is on a par, is to say it's a bit of a disappointment that way, though I wasn't disappointed to have watched it. Once.I'm a fanatic about pairing food and movies, and for this one I highly recommend Spaghettini and Red Clam Sauce.

JasparLamarCrabb Peter Boyle's hyperactive performance anchors this Carlo Lizzani thriller about the short life of mafia hood "Crazy" Joe Gallo. Boyle is all energy ready to explode (and frequently does) as a mafia soldier who suffers from more than a little paranoia and a lot of low self-esteem. Easy to dismiss as an exploitation version of THE GODFATHER, the film is actually immensely entertaining and expertly directed by Lizzani. Full of oddball touches from Boyle's rescue of kids from a burning building to one of oddest uses of an iron lung that you're likely to find. The NYC locales help a lot as does the extremely strong supporting cast: Rip Torn; Eli Wallach; Charles Cioffi; Michael V. Gazzo. Hervé Villechaize plays Samson. Aldo Tonti did the very colorful cinematography and the music is by Giancarlo Chiaramello. Paula Prentiss, Henry Winkler and Fred Williamson are in it too.

Uriah43 Looking at it in retrospect I suppose this film turned out to be an okay movie which essentially involves a gangster known as "Crazy Joe" (Peter Boyle) who believes that his efforts working for the mob haven't been appreciated enough. So he decides to force the issue and create his own gang. The problem with his logic, however, is that although he was certainly a top-notch thug, he doesn't quite have the discipline or a good understanding of the intricacies involved in building a crime family. Anyway, I thought Peter Boyle did an adequate job but it was Eli Wallach (as "Don Vittorio") and Fred Williamson (as "Willy") who really stood out. I also enjoyed seeing Henry Winkler cast as one of Crazy Joe's thugs named "Mannie" and Paula Prentiss as Joey's wife "Anne". Even so, the pace of the movie sometimes seemed a bit slow and I occasionally felt that some of the movie had been left in the cutting room. Not a great film by any means but somewhat entertaining all the same.