Fernando Di Leo's 1974 'Rulers of the City' is a delightful find among the gems of Italian cinema. The film is fast paced. It is, in hindsight, a gentle send up of the gangster genre. Remember took his treatment of spaghetti westerns to the urban turf, and, under all the grime and grit, he brings a comic turn. The cast is international: Harry Baer (Tony)is German; Jack Palance (Mr. Scarface)American; Al Cliver a Cairo-born Italian; and Vittorio Caprioli (Napoli) Italian. All things considered, it should come as no surprise that a German should appear in an Italian film. Remember, Visconti's casting of Alain Delon and his lover Helmut Schmidt. Italy was a haven for Americans: Italian directors brought out the hidden talent of some actors rarely seen in America. Richard Basehart in Fellini's 'la Strada'or Clint Eastwood who found an exit from a dead-end career in the US in Leone's spaghetti westerns as did Lee Van Clef. De Leo used well the image of Palance's face which incarnates the evil of loan sharks, and within he got an actor who could speak Italian. Baer brings the youthful elan of wanting to make it big and quick as a 'tax collector' though his fists and his intelligence. Cliver with a face of a fallen angel seeks revenge with a natural quickness and understanding of a finely tuned intelligence. And of course in Caprioli, he well used a finely turned the finely tuned sense of comedy and the wiliness of an old fox. The film opens up with a dreamlike sequence that as the quickly paced story is the key to its denouement. There is only one thing for you to do: rush out, find a copy of 'Rulers of the City', sit back and enjoy it!

Rulers of the City does have a lot going for it. It does fall short of being great, and Fernando Di Leo and Jack Palance have done better in their respective careers, but this is not even close to being career-worsts for either and is a very respectable film overall.The locations are splendid, and the gritty roughness of the photography and clever (without being too much or too dizzying) camera angles capture it more than ideally. There is also a dynamite score, exhilarating action scenes (the final shootout being the prime example) and mostly above-decent direction, if in need of more tension in places. The script is tight and more light-hearted than Di Leo's Milieu trilogy, but it was light-heartedness and witty humour that didn't feel too misplaced, and the story is at least engrossing and swiftly paced on the most part.Casting-wise, Rulers of the City is very much a mixed bag, with the best performances being from a sinister Jack Palance (though he was deserving of more screen time) and a lively and lots-of-fun, without being too clownish, Vittorio Napoli as the film's most colourful character. Harry Baer has some charming moments too and Giselda Hahn brings a little heart. Al Clivar however does show his limitations as an actor in a somewhat one-note performance and Edmund Perdum is rather stiff in an underwritten role.Aside from a slow-motion dream-like opening sequence, that was quite striking if perhaps not necessary, Rulers of the City does take too long to get going and the story only really comes to life once Palance appears. The film was in need of more tension and suspense, and stronger writing for the villains (who were underutilised and never really developed, and this is including Palance's character) would have helped. The final shoot-out is great, but ends a little anti-climactically. And I do have to agree about the homo-erotic undertones and homosexuality hints being clumsily written and out of place, which did feel the film a bizarre feel at times.Overall, respectable but could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Writer/director Fernando Di Leo chronologically made three of the most stupendously amazing "Poliziottesco" (hardcore Italian cop/gangster thrillers) milestones with "Milano Caliber .9", "La Mala Ordina" and "Il Boss". I respectively granted those films with rating 10/10, 9/10 and 9/10 … just to indicate how powerful and overwhelming they are. Di Leo honestly was a brilliant but sadly underrated director who really knew how to make hardcore-to-the bone action movies. There are no good or loyal characters in Fernando Di Leo's depiction of the Italian mafia… There are only vicious and emotionless gangsters that would butcher their own parents in order to climb one small step up the ladder of power & influence. Although nearly not as brilliant as the aforementioned trio, Di Leo's later films keep featuring the same story elements. "Rulers of the City" – the literally translated title which I vastly prefer over "Mister Scarface" – is another mafia flick full of ultra-sadistic characters, nasty double-crossings, merciless executions, brutal bare-knuckle fistfights and explosive vendettas. Tony is a smooth and handsome but insignificant guy who works as a debt collector for Luigi Cherico; the number #2 gangster boss of Naples. He wants to make an impression on his boss and ingeniously plunders 10 million Lire from the absolute biggest crime lord in town, the feared and relentless Scarface. Tony unwillingly evokes a mafia war in Naples and finds himself in between the two camps. Luckily he receives help from an elderly Mafiosi and a mysterious blond shooting expert with an old personal vengeance to settle. "Rulers of the City" has a well- written and fast-paced script, and all the fistfight battles and shootout sequences are exhilarating and brute. The film also benefices from neat camera-work and a terrific score provided by Di Leo's regular composer Luis Bacalov. Still, "Rulers of the City" suffers from two serious defaults that simply cannot be neglected. First of all, everything is done to make it seems like the entire film orbits around Jack Palance and his character Mr. Scarface, but his role honestly isn't that extended or fundamental. The DVD-cover image that I own illustrates Jack Palance looking bewildered and firing off a machine gun, but never at one point during this movie he takes the effort of even picking up a weapon. Secondly, what's with the homo-erotic undertones in this film? It isn't too abnormal that there generally aren't many female lead roles in Italian gangster movies, but this one exaggerates! The only women in this film are secretaries, prostitutes and walking eye-candy on the sidewalk. Furthermore the hints at homosexuality are downright bizarre and misplaced. The older Mafiosi Vincenzo Napoli is obviously gay, with his pink scarves and feminine gestures the entire time, but even the two lead actors could easily pass for a cute couple. Whenever they're driving around the city in Tony's flamboyant buggy, they look like an advertisement campaign for coming out of the closet and the only thing missing is a slogan on the bottom of the screen saying "it's okay to be gay".

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.