Avenging Angelo went straight to DVD in the US which sadly seems about right. This has the feel of a movie of the week with a predictable plot, ridiculous dialogue and just dumb situations. Its also full of mistakes, or liberties taken where we are just meant to go with it in a slap-sticky comedy sort of way which includes fart jokes from dead bodies.That being said, if you can bear with it this is the last film from the great Anthony Quinn. He plays aging Mafia Godfather Angelo, trying to make amends with the daughter he gave up as a baby to protect. Sylvester Stallone is Frankie, his loyal bodyguard who has been watching and keeping Jennifer safe throughout her life, he is (of course) also in love with her. When Angelo is murdered Frankie tells his daughter the truth, she in turn decides to avenge her father's death with a very limited understanding of "whacking" protocol.I will say that Stallone does a good job with the material given. He doesn't have much to work with here and you have to give him credit for continually trying to break free of the action genre, even if it just doesn't work for him.I'm also a fan of Madeline Stowe and while definitely beautiful, her character is so annoying here that she's just painful to watch. The soundtrack is also terrible and there are weird fantasy romantic montages sequences that look like romance novel covers. Whatever they were meant to be they didn't work.All in this was a struggle to get through only endurable thanks to Stallone. 4/19/16

Sylvester Stallone isn't the actor to make many comedies. It's been proved in the past that he's tried many a time to shed his action star image by taking on a role that is full out comedy. It seems like though the only kind of comedic role he can play is either a role that involves action or is a parody of an action role. Stallone's best performance is from Tango & Cash (1989) where he partnered up with Kurt Russell as two professional cops who do things completely opposite but team up to take down a common enemy. That's his comedic action role. This movie is his parody of an action role.In this what is of sorts, a comedy revenge film, Stallone plays a bodyguard named Frankie, who is assigned the job of protecting his boss' daughter, Jennifer played by Madeleine Stowe. The catch is, Frankie's boss, Angelo (the late Anthony Quinn) did not tell Jennifer that he is in fact her biological father and would only know when Angelo passed on. Thus creating complications. At first, Jennifer denies such a claim but soon learns that Frankie knows more than she ever could, making her come to grips with the reality and wanting revenge of Angelo's death. The film is directed and written by some not so well known people that will have viewers leery about deciding to watch it - that's understandable.But to be honest, it really isn't all that bad. It's by no means the next biggest laugh out loud film but it does have its moments. First off, here's why this movie is more or less an action parody; how the Italian language is perceived. There is a mob boss called Malatesta - mala is the word for bad and testa is the word for head in Italian. In other words, he's a headache. Of course, if you don't know Italian, that's not the viewer's fault but the point is that the writers did incorporate some sense of humor into the language.The majority of the action that goes on here is all shootings since the plot revolves around mobs, bosses and hits. That's about it, there's one fight scene but it isn't anything being too excited over. But here's the films strongest point, the characters. The way Stallone's character was written has a very good memory and it's funny to watch him ramble off a bunch of information that Jennifer didn't know about or to prove someone else wrong because they were lying. Frankie is that good of a bodyguard. What's also enjoyable is how Frankie disposes of the hit men that try to kill Jennifer. It's done so nonchalantly that it helps make that scene, that much more comical. But in all honesty, not every scene does its job. A lot of the comedy is hit or miss and that's where the film falls flat.Madeleine Stowe does an alright job playing Jennifer because she has no clue how to deal with the mafia. But her character also lacks intelligence on some very well known things – things that involve common sense. It's insulting. As Anthony Quinn's last film, his performance is appropriate since he's Italian he plays what is famously known as the "God father" portrayal. And for what it's worth, it seems like he went out with a smile, which is good, since this film is dedicated to him. Lastly, Bill Conti's music to the film is good too. It has some very sweet piano tunes and goofy Italian related themes. However, the insertion of contemporary music wasn't always needed. It felt too much like the movie was being directed as another genre. For a comedy starring Stallone, it's alright.It is by far from being an excellent comedy but it does work in a number of scenes. It is more of a revenge parody than it is an actual comedy.

This is the last film of actor Anthony Quinn after a career of 60 years in cinema with more than 150 appearances and half dozen Academy awards. He holds the record of longest active professional life in Hollywood though somebody lived longer but were not active. Paradoxically, I myself consider Anthony Quinn a man with little cinematographic talent and yet he participate in so many films that I love - favorite movies. This is rare phenomenon in art, showing how film industry acts as a monopoly where success is in no way dependent on a single person but is aggregate (or macro) from the efforts of a collective. That's nothing new under the sun.I want to correspond here my overall impressions from actor Anthony Quinn and not about the real life man since there are other people to judge him. Quinn wrote himself a biography in 1972 which shows that obviously he wasn't well aware of his future. But he always had around him a staff of fully functional intelligent men that were ready to delve with his minutest problems fee-for-service. The sometimes sickening and bad image on screen is always compensated with next following that looks good and convincing. That means that there were always paid people around to heed. Because Anthony Quinn had so many hidden personalities that were product of nearby consultants I see that man not as a unity but as 10 people playing simultaneously. As if I see a Turkish sultan carried over by his servants and yet he is impressive and untouchable.To tell the truth since I consider him a bad actor it remains consequently that only his remarkable physique carried his performances for so long. Evidently that physique of a heavyweight boxing champion was enough argument for producers and directors to employ him. This seems to have its logical explanation since Hollywood didn't have the habit to recruit Black Americans in leading roles until mid 1950s. And from anthropological view of point Negroes in America are the largest reservoir of physical sturdiness and fitness. I am not talking here about issues of racism and things before the great Civil War which seem to be still alive in America and abroad.I want to pool out for our host here some of my best choices from Anthony Quinn's long film list - certainly, "25th Hour" (1967), "Lion of the Desert" (1981), "High Risk" (1981), "Revenge" (1990) but also other movies that I watched as a youth and liked very much. As conclusion, I want to say to the people reading here never to compare outwardly Anthony Quinn with his corollary Marlon Brando - those are two separate entities staying on opposite poles of the human continuum. Thank You!

i don't see anything good in this movie. Frankly, it was VERY boring. the only good thing about the movie is that it tried something different with the lead, Stallone. But he too is helpless as the script does not support a good performance. The film is all about a gangsters daughter taking revenge of her fathers death along with his gunman, Stallone. It tries to insert comic stuff in a very serious plot. And worse, comedy by Stallone!!! Agreed that he's not as bad an actor as he is often criticized and i did like the movie Oscar which was comedy stuff. but that kinda comedy is different. Avenging Angelo needed someone like Eddie Murphy or even Bruce willis could do it... i guess. but no Stallone. He's tough as rock in his looks and he can create comedy only through situations, not by actions. Anyways, I would recommend this movie to all, so that u would finally say "damn... he was right about it." ;)