Cry of a Prostitute
| Cry of a Prostitute | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Andrea Bianchi |
| Screenplay by | Piero Regnoli[1] |
| Story by | Sergio Simonetti[1] |
| Produced by | Mauro Righi[1] |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Carlo Carlini[1] |
| Edited by | Otello Colangeli[1] |
| Music by | Sante Maria Romitelli[1] |
Production company | Alexandra Cinematografica Internazionale[1] |
| Distributed by | Variety Distribution |
Release date |
|
| Country | Italy[1] |
| Box office | ₤444 million |
Cry of a Prostitute (Italian: Quelli che contano, also known as Love Kills and Guns of the Big Shots) is a 1974 Italian gangster film directed by Andrea Bianchi.[2][3][4]
Plot[edit]
While crossing the border from France to Italy with a sick child, a couple crashes their car and die. The police commissioner finds that the child had been dead for some time before the crash and that the corpse had been filled with tubes of heroin. Angered by the increased activity of the police, the 'boss of bosses' calls a meeting of mafia leaders, where outrage is expressed at the use of a child in the smuggling operation. Don Ricuzzo Cantimo, an American mafioso now based in Sicily is blamed, and Don Cascemi is chosen to bring him under control.
Leaving the meeting, Cascemi is followed by a man wearing a gold ring and driving a VW Beetle. At home, Cascemi is kidnapped by three of Cantimo's henchmen, who drive to a deserted clifftop where, after giving him a warning, they plan to abandon him. A whistled tune then drifts across the air, and all the henchmen are shot dead, the bullets piercing the centre of their foreheads. Cascemi's rescuer is the driver of the Beetle, Tony Aniante, who has been brought to Sicily from America to help with the problematic Cantimo. Cascemi says that the problems originate in the feud between Cantimo and Don Turi Scannapieco and his family, centred on the town of Colle Pietra. Tony drives to the town, and rents a room, but not before being recognised by Cantimo's principal henchman.
Two of Cantimo's men are driving a cart loaded with cherries, and a consignment of drugs, when they are murdered by two Scannapieco men, who are in turn killed by Tony. He then drives the cart to the house owned by Don Turi Scannapieco. Although suspicious that his men have not brought the cart themselves, Scannapieco welcomes Tony and pays him for his trouble, introducing him to his grandson Zino, who had been crippled following an attack by Cantimo that killed his father.
That evening, in a bar in Colle Pietra, Tony is accosted by four of Cantimo's henchmen, but beats them up. The next day Tony talks to a priest. It is revealed that he had grown up locally and has personal matters to settle in the town. Their conversation is interrupted by an 'invitation' to visit Cantimo, and Tony is driven to his villa. While waiting outside, Tony looks into a barn and sees a woman massaging fresh milk into the skin of her thighs. Tony is called away before they can speak.
Don Cantimo knows about Tony's involvement in the cherry heist was, and asks him to arrange for the return of the drug consignment. Cantimo will provide men to kidnap Zino to use as a bargaining chip, while Tony will negotiate a swap with the drugs. He also introduces Tony to his American wife Margie, who is the blonde from the barn. Margie is an alcoholic, and Cantimo can only have sex with her if she tells him about sex she has had with previous partners.
Cantimo's men kidnap Zino as planned, but then the whistling is heard again, and Tony kills them both, subsequently crushing their corpses with a steamroller. He returns Zino to his grandfather, and Scannapieco agrees to return Cantimo's drugs. Tony has dinner with Cantimo and Margie, then a storm prevents him from going home so he agrees to stay the night. When Tony goes to the kitchen for a glass of water in the middle of the night, he finds Margie there. She demands sex, threatening to say that Tony tried to rape her if he refuses. When Tony insults her, she admits that she was a cheap prostitute when she met Cantimo. While having sex with her, Tony forces her face into a bloody pig carcass hanging from the ceiling.
When Tony wakes the next day he finds that Cantimo's men have staged an early morning attack on Scannapieco's villa, killing many men including Don Turi's son Carlo. Carlo's brother Alfio accuses Tony of betraying his family and attacks with a hay fork, but Tony knocks him out. Before leaving, Tony tells Don Turi that he has a plan that will help gain revenge for the death of his son.
When Cantimo leaves to meet another drug shipment, Margie accosts Tony again. When he rejects her, she threatens to tell her husband that Tony has betrayed the family. Enraged, he slaps her and, when she runs into a barn, he follows her and beats her with his belt. Aroused by reducing her face to a bloody pulp, he has sex with her in the barn.
Meanwhile Cantimo's gang is ambushed by Scannapieco's men. Alfio is killed in the ensuing gunfight, and a desperate Don Turi challenges Cantimo to a duel to settle their differences, but is mortally wounded. At home, Cantimo finds the injured Margie. Furious, he orders his men to kill Tony. They beat him, throw him into a quarry and leave him for dead, but Tony survives and is found by Zino, who gives him his dead grandfather's gun.
Severely injured, Tony goes alone to Cantimo's villa, and faces off against Cantimo and his henchmen. Cantimo says that Margie has killed herself. Then, gunmen appear on the walls of the compound and massacre Cantimo's men. Tony shoots Cantimo dead.
Don Cascemi pays Tony for a job well done, but Tony has no plans to leave Sicily and reveals that he knows that it was Cascemi who had planned the original smuggling operation in order to justify the elimination of Cantimo. Cascemi grabs Tony's gun, admits his guilt, and shoots Tony in the face - but the gun is unloaded. Tony now reveals his real reason for coming back to Colle Pietra - his parents had been murdered by Coscemi years earlier and he wants to avenge their deaths.
Cascemi calls for help, his henchmen arrive and gunshots are heard. But it is Cascemi who falls dead, and Tony who is driven away in a convoy of cars in a position of honour. The mafia bosses already knew the truth, and Tony has been chosen to take over Don Cascemi's empire.
Cast[edit]
- Henry Silva as Tony Aniante
- Barbara Bouchet as Margie
- Fausto Tozzi as Don Ricuzzo
- Vittorio Sanipoli as Don Cascemi
- Patrizia Gori as Carmela
- Dada Gallotti as Santa Scannapieco
- Mario Landi as Don Turi Scannapieco
- Alfredo Pea as Zino
- Carla Mancini as Margie's Maid
Production[edit]
Cry of a Prostitute was filmed at Incir-De Paolis in Rome and on location in Savona.[1]
Release[edit]
Cry of a Prostitute was released on 11 January 1974 in Italy, where it was distributed by Jumbo.[1] The film grossed a total of 444,963,000 Italian lire.[1] The film was released on VHS as Cry of a Prostitute: Love Kills and on DVD by Televista.[1] The Televista release is cut to 86 minutes.[1]
Reception[edit]
Austin Fisher in Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema wrote that the film was one in a series of Italian film, alongside La mala ordina (The Italian Connection, also starring Henry Silva) and Milano rovente (Gang War in Milan) that featured "'fixers' travelling over from the USA to resolve problems in the Italian mafia" and "overtly position American practices as the epitome of efficient modernity, in contrast to outmoded Italian ways of conducting business."[5]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Curti 2013, p. 109.
- ^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059695.
- ^ Marco Giusti (1999). Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Sperling & Kupfer. ISBN 8820029197.
- ^ Roberto Curti (2006). Italia odia: il cinema poliziesco italiano. Lindau, 2006. ISBN 8871805860.
- ^ Fisher, Austin (2019). Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 146–147. ISBN 9781474411745.
References[edit]
- Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
