Crime caper with a buddy act thrown in. It's an Italian production and so the foreign cast members are dubbed, though Roger Moore speaks fluent Italian as and when required. Moore plays an English-Sicilian lawyer, nephew of a Sicilian crime family head who now operates out of San Francisco. Moore teams up with Friscan wiseguy Stacey Keach as they track down some drug smugglers who've cross the line, coming into conflict with a wider criminal underworld. There are impressive car chase sequences and shoot-outs, but the double act never really goes up the gears despite good screen chemistry. Moore comes over a bit stilted while Keach is the funnier of the two. Although scripted by the Academy Award winning screenwriter of The French Connection the film suffers from poor editing and some shoddy camerawork at times. The film might have some interest value for viewers who have a curiosity for a story that is hard to fathom.
... View MoreWhen a cross from a Sicilian church is shipped into San Francisco with a million dollars worth of heroin hidden inside, mafia don Salvatore Francesco dispatches his nephew Ulysses (Moore) to find the three thugs responsible. Ulysses then teams up with his race-car driving buddy Charlie (Keach). Charlie checks out all the seedy haunts and dives of San Francisco while Ulysses goes to Sicily for answers. When back together in SF, all hell breaks loose, as a series of double crosses and emotional flashbacks reveal the horrible truth.Maybe it's the presence of its two major stars, but this mafia yarn is pretty restrained. It's not nearly as sleazy/violent as it could have been or should have been. It seems that in the wake of The French Connection (1971) and The Godfather (1972), among others, all the many writers and directors involved in this project (one of which was Ernest Tidyman of Shaft (1971) and French Connection fame) tried to mash it all up and hoped Roger Moore would be the glue that held it all together. Sadly, that plan was as half-baked as the movie itself.Not to say that "Street People" is all that bad. There are some funny stereotypes, an enjoyable 70's atmosphere, nice San Francisco locations, Roger Moore is charming as the half British, half Sicilian cousin, and Stacy Keach looks like he's having fun. Keach gets off some great dialogue, not the least of which is: "I'm gonna spread the word that you're a turkey deluxe!" Keach pretty much steals the show, with his relaxed, fun-loving performance. The highlight of the movie, the "car test-drive" scene, succeeds mainly because of him. There's an impressive car chase towards the end, and some slow-motion emotional flashbacks with Bacalov's score at the climax of the film, and presumably the director(s) were, at the last minute, aiming for a Sergio Leone-like experience. It would have been better if it was all more cohesive.Released by American International Pictures (the original AIP) in the U.S., and released on video here on Vestron, "Street People" may be worth seeing for the chemistry of Moore and Keach, or for people that have seen a lot of 70's drive-in mafia flicks and want to see something else, but for casual viewers, it does leave something to be desired.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
... View MoreThis is really a movie which has lost its interest by the time. The actors just seem to drive around like in a mediocre American police-serial. When people are shot, it is by a killer who appears and disappears and is everywhere. When there is a pursuit on the road, by accident three big trucks try to drive Stacey Keach from the road. I prefer Mannix or Kojak. The mafia is typical but described without any details or exactitude. The story has no point and nobody could believe it. Roger Moore is not only a lawyer, he must be also something as an SAS-agent capable of killing any professional killer. Who believes that?
... View MoreThis film is one of the hardest Roger Moore films to track down, other than the almost forgotten Sunday Lovers. The version I saw was entitled The Executors and ran for 100 minutes, and as far as I'm aware it is the most complete edition of the film in circulation. Other editions include Sicilian Cross, Gli Esecutori and Street People. Under any title it is not a good film..... in fact, it is one of the worst examples of Italian profiteering movie making.The film is similar to The French Connection. It deals with drug peddlars in San Francisco. In order to smuggle their latest consignment in the US, they have used a wooden crucifix sent as a gift to the Californian fishermen from the island of Sicily. This enrages the local godfather, who sends his nephew Moore to catch the culprits. Moore enlists the aid of his hard-driving buddy Stacy Keach and eventually tracks down the villains, but the truth affects him more personally and emotively than he could have foreseen.The film is full of under developed moments. There's a great opportunity for a classic car chase, but the sequence is badly editted and makes little sense. The final showdown could have packed a real wallop, but it fizzles out without generating anything of note. The best scene involves Keach wrecking a car, but even then it isn't a great scene... merely a mediocre scene in a movie full of bad scenes.Moore gives an OK performance and Keach is pretty good in his usual casual way. The foreign actors are embarrassingly dubbed and look foolish as a result. All in all, this film is for Roger Moore completists only,as anybody else will certainly find it a hard slog.
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