"Rulers of the City" is enjoyable for fans of the Italian crime flick, with a fast moving story and a sense of humour to let you know that it's never taking itself too seriously. The actors are all good and the film is effectively violent without ever getting very bloody. True enough that it may not be all that believable, but it *is* entertaining, if not memorable in the end. Director Fernando Di Leo was prolific in this genre and the viewer may want to check out his other works; they're available in DVD and Blu-ray box sets from Raro Video.The amiable Harry Baer stars as Tony, a young debt collector who's tired of his go-nowhere job. So he hatches a scheme with aging mobster Napoli (Vittorio Caprioli) and his new friend Rick (Al Cliver of "Zombi 2") to con big time hood Manzari (Jack Palance) out of several million. Naturally, things don't work out the way that they want and they end up having to make a stand against Manzari and his goons.It's enjoyable to see this international, familiar cast at work. Palance is convincing as the bad guy, the engaging Caprioli supplies a good deal of the comedy relief, Edmund Purdom (the dean in "Pieces") has a welcome presence as mafioso Luigi Cherico, the lovely Gisela Hahn provides the eye candy (and also sings some tunes), and Enzo Pulcrano is amusing as volatile jerk Peppi, who's out to get Tony. Co-scriptwriter Peter Berling also plays the role of Valentino in the film.All in all, this is pleasant to watch, with a reasonably rousing action climax and an eclectic score by Luis Bacalov.Seven out of 10.

An OK Italian crime thriller from director Fernando Di Leo. Harry Baer is a low level collector for a mafia don who swindles a rival Mafioso (Jack Palance) out of some money. The rival wants revenge. Baer and his clever cohorts thwart Palance and his goons at every turn. Not exactly the action packed thriller you'd expect from Di Leo, but still fairly entertaining. Baer gives an energetic performance and most of the supporting players are great. Palance, who's top-billed though off screen much of the time, smokes and growls. He's called "Scarface" throughout (he has a pronounced scar over his left eye). The music by Luis Enriquez Bacalov is dynamite and the photography by Erico Menczer captures a particularly sunny Rome circa 1976. Edmund Purdom appears briefly.

Italian crime director Fernando Di Leo has helmed heavyweight gangster thrillers far more unsavory than this relatively lightweight 'David vs. Goliath' mobster melodrama with Oscar winner Jack Palance in the title role. The no-nonsense Peter Berling & Fernando Di Leo screenplay establishes both character and plot for the first forty-five minutes of this young Turks revenge yarn and then during the last half-hour blends gunfights galore with comic relief. This average but entertaining urban crime drama depicts the rise and fall of Palance as the head of his own crime syndicate in Italy. Although it would help to see this amoral shoot'em saga in a letterboxed version with good sound, "Mister Scarface" combines elements of far superior American racketeering narratives like "Mean Streets" and "The Godfather." Di Leo's "Manhunt" a.k.a. "Italian Connection" with Mario Adorf and "The Big Boss" a.k.a. "Wipe Out" with Henry Silva surpass "Mister Scarface" in terms of their sheer amount of violence and bloodshed. Hooligans aren't fed like cordwood into a blazing furnace, and women & children aren't run down in the streets by Volkswagen buses. Long-time Di Leo collaborator Luis Enríquez Bacalov provides a serviceable jazz score to heighten the suspense and tension."Mr. Scarface" opens with a dreamy slow motion scene where two criminals enter a household with a satchel of loot. One of them, Manzari (Jack Palance of "Shane"), shoots his unnamed partner (Fulvio Mingozzi of "Django Against Sartana"), and awakens a sleeping child. The lad seizes the pistol that Manzari has laid aside and tries to shoot Manzari, except that Manzari's pistol is now empty. Manzari smacks the kid around.The scene shifts fifteen years later as a twentysomething hood, Tony (Harry Baer of "The Venus Trap"), tools around town in a souped-up, red Puma GT dune buggy collecting protection money from storeowners for his boss, Luigi Cherico (Edmund Purdom of "City of the Walking Dead"), a racketeer that runs a gambling hall with an army of henchmen. A young man, Rick (Al Cliver of "2020 Texas Gladiators"), gets in a card game at Luigi's and loses. A fight erupts later between Rick and Luigi's hoods and they run Rick off. Later, Rick returns with Manzari and his army of thugs. Tony and an older criminal, Vinchenzo Napoli (Vittorio Caprioli of "Moving Target"), watch Manzari enter Luigi's gambling parlor, Napoli observes that just looking at Manzari makes his anus 'twitch.' Manzari's thugs rough up Luigi's minions and then Manzari takes three million lira from Luigi and gives him a check.Once Manzari takes care of Luigi's men, he lectures Rick about his gambling losses. "If you don't know which table to sit at, don't go gambling, you know what I mean?" Palance's Scarface adopts the line "you know what I mean" for his signature phrase, and he uses it at least three times so that it becomes identified with his wicked character. "If a man gets taken as a sucker, he can't be one of mine." Manzari has a tiny crescent scar on his left cheek and he smokes a cigarette in a holder. Manzari's men beat up Rick and leave him sprawled on the street. Tony comes along and lets Rick heal up from his beating at his place. Rick dreams up a scheme to scam Manzari. Tony and an actor that they hire masquerade as 'Finance Ministry' officials. They visit Manzari's office decked out in official uniforms to inspect the mob boss's records. Scarface's underling Luca calls him about the situation and Scarface orders him to bribe the official so that he will not see some of Scarface's illegal folders. Scarface authorizes his people to pay Tony and the Finance imposter approximately 10 million lira. Later, Luigi blows a gasket when Tony shows up with the three million lira, but he doesn't inform his associates about the other 7 million lira. Previous another of Luigi's hoods had ridiculed Tony because Tony wanted to move up in the organization and collect from bigger clients.Scarface dispatches his thugs to bust heads in retaliation for the scam. Luca (Roberto Reale of "Being Twenty") tracks down the actor that impersonated the Finance Minister and shoots him with a silenced pistol in the head as he is concluding a performance on stage at a theatre. A frightened Luigi decides to clear out of town and leaves his affairs to an underling, Peppi (Enzo Pulcrano of "The Kidnap Syndicate"), and Peppi shoots Luigi in the head in the movie's biggest surprise. (You were warned about spoilers!) Peppi joins forces with Manzari and prepares a list of places where Luca and his boys can find Tony and Rick. Rick saunters into the late Luigi's gambling parlor and shoots Peppi several times with a silenced automatic. All hell then breaks loose in the last forty-five minutes with a minor gunfight where Rick blows away three of Manzari's thugs that try to string up Napoli because he would reveal the whereabouts of Rick and Tony, and ultimately in a massive gun battle takes place at an old, derelict slaughter house factory where Manzari gets his comeuppance and we learn Rick's true identity."Mister Scarface" contains minimal nudity and some profanity, including use of the F-word. Di Leo doesn't linger on anything and keeps the story moving forward at all times. Ironically, Jack Palance's lethal gangster boasts that nobody in his organization qualifies as a sucker and hubris turns out to be his undoing when the Tony and Rick scam him. Our low-level criminal protagonist spend most of their time defending themselves from higher up hoods so they can be classified as sympathetic heroes. Di Leo appears to have lensed everything in authentic Italian locations. Napoli, the older hood, supplies the comic relief, particularly in an amusing scene during the shoot out in the slaughterhouse factory when he has trouble killing a Manzari ruffian. Typically, "Mister Scarface" appears in public domain collections along with other European public domain movies.

A small time hood tricks the local mob boss out of a lot of money. Of course the mob boss wants his money back and doesn't care who he has to kill to get it. The punk enlists his friend and an old mobster to help him save his life.If this sounds ridiculous, it is. The whole idea that this Izod-wearing, dune buggy-driving punk could hold off one of the most powerful mobs in Rome is just plain silly. His friend may be good with a gun, but he's up against a group of trained killers. The old mobster is little more than comic relief and no real help when it comes to the face off with the mob. There's also a sub-plot about how the friend's father was killed years ago by the mob boss, but there's little made of it and it doesn't help the movie any at all.The mob boss, Mister Scarface, is played by Jack Palance. I suppose he got the name because he has what looks like a shaving nick on his cheek. Palance is as ineffective as the rest of the cast, doing what he must to get a paycheck.I've seen some pretty good Italian crime/cop flicks recently, but Mister Scarface isn't one of them. Check out Syndicate Sadists or Revolver instead.