Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
More hokum than history - and shoddy hokum at that, 8 Oct 2005
Salvatore Giuliano has been poorly served by the two films made about him, albeit in very different ways. Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano sidelines the legendary Sicilian bandit completely and distorts much of the events around him to support a political agenda despite posing as a semi-documentary dramatisation. Despite a few good scenes, it almost seems as if the contradictions in Giuliano's story dictate it should best be told by an outsider with no political axe to grind.
On the surface, that theory is soundly kicked in the groin, beaten to a pulp and left for dead in a ditch by The Sicilian, along with Desperate Hours the only Michael Cimino film that really IS as bad as critics said Heaven's Gate was. This film is so far from the truth that only the addition of flying saucers and death rays could make it any more outlandish. This Giuliano is a Christ-like martyr and hero of the people caught smuggling grain to the starving (in reality he was selling on the black market), buying land for the peasants (Giuliano had no interest in land reform), marries the sister of a communist (Giuliano didn't even have a girlfriend), hijacking troop trains, crucifying priests and even trying to stop the massacre at Portella della Ginestre (shamefully blamed in the film on Terranova, who was one of the few of Giuliano's band who it's definitely known did NOT fire a single shot on that day). No sign of the American occupation, no mention of the Separatist movement, no sense of how Giuliano operated: just Hollywood hokum, and badly executed hokum at that.
Of course, a film can be a total fantasy and still be enjoyable, as anyone who's ever seen a Jesse James or Robin Hood movie knows. Unfortunately, The Sicilian also has the disadvantage of being an astonishing piece of crap for most of its running time. It's full of atrocities, from Joss Ackland's comedy Mafia don (his dance with Barbara Sukowa is one of cinema's great this-isn't-working-but-just-grit-your-teeth-and-try-to-get-through-it-as-quickly-as-possible acting moments), an embarrassing acappella bebop mountain wedding (dig those crazy jitterbugging bandits, man), clunking dialog ("They'll never trust you again." "Yes. Sad, isn't it?") and situations, a terrible grinning performance from Christophe Lambert and a has-to-be-seen-to-be-disbelieved final shot of Salvatore rearing up on a horse against the setting sun at his own funeral. The uncut version actually is worse than the edited version released in the US, giving more screentime to Barbara Sukowa's atrocious `American' aristocrat ("Ja, ay em verr Amerikahn"), who even gets to rape the hero during a robbery at her villa, and amplifying the inept Messianic parallels to a comic degree. There are hints at ambition, with a couple of scenes that threaten to work and the odd good line that one suspects comes from Gore Vidal's rewrite, but it's just another Hollywood mafia movie, with Ackland's Don protecting and ultimately betraying Giuliano, the son he never had. This was, after all, originally a semi-sequel to The Godfather (in Mario Puzo's novel Michael Corleone tries to arrange Giuliano's escape) until the producers found out Paramount owned the screen rights to Corleone characters and had to write them out. Unfortunately, they threw out the baby with the bathwater.
The region 2 PAL DVD is the uncut version in the original 2.35:1 ratio in a good transfer that showcases the fine photography rather than Artisan's fullframe panned-and-scanned version. Extras are limited to a trailer and stills gallery.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Mario Puzo would be ashamed., 9 Dec 2002
Mario Puzo's book, The Sicilian was a superb novel, Mafia intrigue, the Sicilian code of honour and silence. Twisting and turning to the very end. A sequel to the Godfather.This film is none of the above. The film although "based on the novel by Mario Puzo" is very badly put together. Disjointed information is fed to you throughout the film, even after reading the book first, I was frequently puzzled by what was going on on screen. If you have read the book do not watch the film, even out of curiousity. If you have not read the book, do not watch the film, even out of curiousity.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Sicilian, or another book!, 9 Aug 2004
Please i beg all that intend to either buy the book or this DVD, to concider, what they prefer.The book, is marveously, witty, a true classic of Mario Puzo, rivalling the Godfather (well nearly). The story line keeps you truly hanging on your seat until the end, with twist, true insights to Mafios workings, which leaves....surly...a trully great script for a film.... .....you think...but whether Michael Cimino (director) has actually read the book, who's knows, because the film has absoltely no relation to the classic, it seems Cimino, has rewitten the book trying to make his name. To be honest i be happy if i never here his name again! The film, misses main plot lines, rules out main characters, changes relationship between characters,invents new ones, and in Michael Corleone case, doesnt even include him (how could you do that to great man himself). To be honest, i thing Michael Cimino and his crew one day decided just to put all the story line of the book, into a lottery machines, spun it, and then outcame Michael Crimino's The Sicilian. An unjust version of a great masterpiece and a i hope one day FFC will remake this film, just as well as he invented the Godfather, please FFC.
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