Le Clan des Siciliens / The Sicilian Clan

Le Clan des Siciliens. Alain Delon (Roger Sartet), Jean Gabin (Vittorio Manalese), Lino Ventura (inspector Le Goff).

Sisilialaisklaani / Sicilianska klanen. FR © 1968 Les Productions Fox Europa, Les Films du Siècle. P: Jacques-Eric Strauss. D: Henri Verneuil. SC: Verneuil, José Giovanni, Pierre Pelegir – based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton (1967). DP: Henri Decaë – Panavision – Eastmancolor. PD: Jacques Saulnier. COST: Hélène Nourry. M: Ennio Morricone. ED: Pierre Gillette.
    Starring: Jean Gabin (Vittorio Manalese), Alain Delon (Roger Sartet), Lino Ventura (inspector Le Goff), Irina Demick (Jeanne Manalese), Amedeo Nazzari (Tony Nicosia), Sydney Chaplin (pilot). 124'.
    A vintage 35 mm print with fine definition of colour and Swedish subtitles by Olle Ekelund.
    Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 31 May 2005.

Henri Verneuil and his trusted star team (Gabin, Delon, Ventura) at their best. It's a big caper story where the Sicilian family located in Paris plans an ingenious heist of the top secure jewelry collection at Rome's Villa Borghese to be transported to New York. They hijack the plane to a highway construction site as all NYPD are waiting for them at La Guardia. The weakness of Delon for women in general and the voluptuous charms of Irina Demick in particular does for them what the united police forces of France, Italy and the USA cannot. Designer Saulnier and cinematographer Decaë are at the top of their game. There's an elegant confidence and a sure sense of timing in Verneuil's touch right from the beginning as Delon's flight from the police prison car is detailed. There is a master of mise-en-scène to be discovered in Verneuil's best films. Yes, the crooks are impossibly glorified. Gabin to Ventura: "On y va". To his grandson: "Pas ce soir".