Most fans of Italian cult films are familiar with director Umberto Lenzi, but I've always felt like it was for all the wrong reasons. Most see him as a schlock director; he churned out trash horror flicks such as "Cannibal Ferox" and dull war pictures like "Wild Team" in the 80's. Most aren't aware of his excellent work from the early 70's, in the crime genre. One such film is the namesake of my blog, 1974's "Almost Human", A.K.A. "The Kidnap of Mary Lou" and "the Death Dealer."
The film follows Guilio Sacchi, a small time hood in Milan. Played by character actor Tomas Milian, Sacchi is alternatively vicious and cowardly - he has no qualms about killing policemen, however weeps and begs like a child when beaten by a local mobster. This is definetly one of Milian's best performances - Sacchi's costant facial tics and strange mannerisms make for a rather frightening character. The role is in contrast to Milian's "no-nonsense" cop performances in other Italian crime films (i.e. "the Violent Four" and "Emergency Squad") - unlike most Italian B-Movie actors, Milian played very different characters in each movie.
Along with pretty boy Ray Lovelock (playing a character known as "the Tobacconist") and Gino Santercole, Sacchi, hoping to move up in the underworld, kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy buisnessman. Henry Silva, in a rare departure, plays the hero of sorts - a no nonsense cop, trying to track Milian and company down.
Director Lenzi is in top form here - his crisp visuals and stylish camerawork are a beauty, thankfully kept intact by NoShame's DVD release. Compare the lively visuals of this film to the bland, journeyman aesthetics of his later horror/war films, and it becomes clear that Lenzi felt most at home in the crime genre.
One of the films many highlights include Ennio Morricone's score; while by no means his best, it's still a damn good composition, and unlike most scores in Italian crime films, it's fittingly urgent. I don't know why, but many of the 1970's Italo-Crime films had very benign music (i.e. the aforementioned "Emergency Squad".) Not sure if this qualifies as a highlight, but the scene in which Milian & Co. break into the homes of wealthy party guests and subject them to rape and sexual humiliation (which is shown in the poster) is accordingly disturbing.
Unlike Lenzi's other crime films, "Almost Human" has a healthy dose of black humour - in one scene Tomas Milian presses a gun to an edgy Ray Lovelock's throat, commanding him to go outside and take a shit to calm his nerves.
Milian: "Go and take a shit. But if you take one step past those bushes, I'll stop the diarrhea with this."
Tomas Milian has little tolerance for Lovelock's weak bowels.
It seems like the only purpose of Ray Lovelock's Tobbaconist to be slapped around and derided by Sacchi. Lovelock often played either wimps or idiots in these types of movies - in "Emergency Squad" he preaches the virtues of Marxism and then has his head split open, in "the Violent Four" he's a naive soccer player who joins up with a gang headed by Gian Volante. He tries to play a badass in Ruggero Deodato's "Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man", but his tough guy dialogue is constantly undermined by his pretty boy looks and frat boy antics.
As mentioned earlier, Henry Silva's role was a huge departure for him. Perhaps his most well known film is "the Manchurian Candidate", in which he has a martial arts battle with Frank Sinatra. In Italian films, he often played vicious gangsters (i.e. his characters in Fernando Di Leo's "the Italian Connection" and "the Boss.") Here he plays a role more often seen from actors such as Maurizio Merli and Milian - the Dirty Harry-esque cop who dosen't play by the rules.
With a great cast, an excellent score by Ennio Morricone, and top rate direction by Umberto Lenzi, "Almost Human" is one of the finest gangster movies of the 70's. Luckily there is an excellent, albeit hard to find DVD release, in the form of NoShame's 2005 release. Don't let the shoddy cover art fool you, the picture quality is impeccable. Hopefully more Italian film buffs will give this a look - no doubt it'll make them re-evaluate their opinions on Umberto Lenzi.
