Borsalino & Co.
1974 Crime / Drama / Thriller
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Credits
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Summary
1930s Marseilles. Having attended to the funeral of his friend, Capella, gangster
king Roch Siffredi sets about trying to find his killer. Disposing of Capella’s
murderer proves to be easy, but the latter has a brother, Volpone, who in turn intends
to take his revenge on Siffredi. To that end, Volpone sets out to take control of
Marseilles, killing all who get in his way. Humiliated and discredited, Siffredi
is forced to flee Marseilles. He returns, some years later, with a new band of gangsters,
and unleashes a bloody fight to death against Volpone.
Review
It is a rare that a sequel to a popular film is anywhere near as good as the original
and Borsalino and Co. proves the point with (literally) a vengeance. The
1970 film Borsalino was quite a respectable gangster film, bearing a favourable
comparison with Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films which appeared later in
the same decade. Its misguided sequel, however, is little more than a derivative
tale in which two rival gangs spend the best part of two hours systematically slaughtering
each other before our eyes. Totally lacking in dramatic tension and characterisation,
with Alain Delon at his most irritatingly complacent, this film would have little to commend
it if its production values were not so damned impressive. Even with such third
rate nonsense as this, French cinema proves itself second to none in recreating an authentic
period setting, with cinematography and music to die for. Yes, the film does have
some artistic strengths, but mercifully there wasn't a Borsalino III.
© James Travers 2002
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