MACHINE GUN MCCAIN
Italy | 1969
Directed by Giuliano Montaldo
Starring
John Cassavetes
Britt Ekland
Peter Falk
Color | 96 Minutes | Not Rated
Format: DVD (R0 - NTSC)
Blue Underground
Music from the film
Ballad of Hank McCain
MP3 format - 5.2 MB
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Review by
Troy Howarth

Film:9
: DVD:8
Hank McCain (John Cassavetes) is released after twelve years in prison and finds himself embroiled in a gangland heist that may prove to be the end of him...
    Following the success of the colorful Rio-set caper Grand Slam (1967), director Giuliano Montaldo was approached to make another genre film in an "American style". Machine Gun McCain may have American stars and location photography, but it's still recognizably Italian — in the best way imaginable.
    The film tells a fairly conventional story — a hood gets in over his head — but Montaldo's energetic direction and the performances by a gifted cast elevate it to something special. The script is well plotted, even if it doesn't give a tremendous amount of depth to its characters. It's also a great looking movie, thanks to the cinematography of Erico Menczer (The Cat O'Nine Tails). Add one of Ennio Morricone's great soundtracks and you're left with a Euro-Cult enthusiast's wet dream of a movie. Montaldo doesn't aim for the sleazy excesses typical of the crime thrillers of Umberto Lenzi or even Ruggero Deodato, but there's much to be said for the slow burn approach he favors. The film takes its time to build, but once the action starts to cut loose, he doesn't hold back. Indeed, the film is go exciting and builds with such great momentum that one is left a little disappointed by the jarringly sudden finale — without wanting to spoil any plot points, let's just say that those picturing a grand, spectacular finale are bound to be a little disappointed. In hindsight the ending makes perfect sense, however, and Montaldo is to be congratulated for resisting the more obvious show piece finale.
    The cast is a big selling point with this film, and it's all held together — in more ways than one — by John Cassavetes. It's well known that Cassavetes didn't think well of the films he acted in; he did them for a quick pay check, in order to finance his own films. It may be due to the fact that the experience of making this film helped him to direct his next opus, Husbands (1970) — producer Bino Cicogna would put up a lot of the financing for that film — but it has been said that Machine Gun McCain was one of his personal favorites. Cassavetes tears into the role with manic glee — he truly conveys the excitement of a man in love with committing crime — but he does so without resorting to camp overstatement. It's a totally convincing performance in a film fully deserving of his talent and commitment. Beautiful Britt Ekland (The Wicker Man) gives one of her better performances as the girl McCain falls in love with. Ekland was often a pretty but vacuous performer, but she really lights up in her scenes with McCain — it may be a disservice to Montaldo, but it seems likely that the actor-friendly Cassavetes may have helped to loosen her up a bit. Cassavetes' real life wife Gena Rowlands (Woman Under the Influence) makes a cameo appearance as McCain's old flame — it's the type of role that a lesser actress would have fluffed off, but Rowlands makes it work. Peter Falk (soon to become linked to Cassavetes' personal brand of filmmaking via Husbands) is terrific as the short-tempered mob boss looking to carve out a name for himself (though oddly, he and Cassavetes don't share a single scene together), and Gabriele Ferzetti (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) is in fine form as his mafia superior. Euro-Cult favorites Florinda Bolkan (Don't Torture a Duckling), Tony Kendall (The Whip and the Body) and Luigi Pistilli (Tragic Ceremony) round out an impressive supporting cast.
    Machine Gun McCain remains one of the best Italian mob thrillers. Its success permitted Montaldo to ditch genre fare in favor of more personal films — typified by such socially conscious fare as Sacco & Vanzetti (1971) — but while those later films also have their merits, it can be argued that Italian popular cinema lost one of its best practitioners in the process.
Machine Gun McCain gets its long overdue DVD (and Blu-Ray) debut in the U.S. courtesy of Blue Underground. The 2.35/16x9 transfer looks terrific. Colors are strong (though there has been some criticism on line that they don't accurately reproduce the hues found in the IB Technicolor prints), detail is very sharp, and edge enhancement is kept to a bare minimum. The print appears to be fully uncut. The (English dubbed) mono soundtrack is in good shape. Dialogue is easy to understand throughout, and fortunately Cassavetes, Falk, Ekland and Rowlands provide their own vocal performances. Morricone's score is particularly well served in this presentation.
    Extras include an Italian and English theatrical trailer (with Montaldo's first name oddly misspelled in the former!), and a 23-minute interview with the director. Montaldo admits that he and Cassavetes got off to a rocky start, with the intense actor suspicious of the director's talent and ability, but they ended up becoming great friends and collaborators. The remainder of the cast gets only passing mention in comparison, but Montaldo certainly shares some interesting Cassavetes anecdotes. 8/24/10
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