JOHNNY COOL (1963) – Okay, this weekend I once again met someone who never heard of this film, so I resolved to do what little I could to spread the word about it by reviewing it here on Balladeer’s Blog.
Even among cult films, Johnny Cool has a certain prestige. It was released in October 1963 – the month before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Peter Lawford, JFK’s brother-in-law and Rat Pack member was a co-producer and got fellow Rat Pack figures Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joey Bishop to appear in the movie.
Sammy was still wearing his pre-glass eye eyepatch in the film and also sang the movie’s title song. There’s a boatload more kitsch casting in Johnny Cool, which I’ll cover as we go along.
Our story begins in Italy, where aspiring young Sicilian hoodlum Salvatore Giordano (THE Henry Silva) is rescued from the police by former American Mafia bigwig Johnny Colini (Marc Lawrence himself). Like the real-life gangster boss Lucky Luciano, Colini was arrested and deported to Sicily after getting sold out by his organized crime rivals and allies back in the States.
Colini mentors the violent diamond-in-the-rough Giordano and grooms him into an instrument of revenge for himself against his enemies in America. When the homicidal prodigy is polished and ready, Colini rechristens him Johnny Cool and sends him to the U.S. to settle accounts. Continue reading
PRIME CUT (1972) – Directed by Michael Ritchie. Prime Cut was released less than 4 months after The Godfather but it’s difficult to think of two more different gangster films. And I say that as a good thing. Prime Cut is not trying for the epic, operatic scope of The Godfather, it’s just a fairly solid street-level gangster flick with a few admittedly silly action sequences. 
The Windy City mob sent a tough-guy “negotiator” to try leaning on the Kansas rebel only to have that Jayhawk State gangster take things to the next level by having the tough-guy killed, then literally ground into hot dog meat. Adding insult to injury the Kansas boss sent the hot dogs/ bodily remains of the negotiator back to Chicago in the package they were supposed to use to send their tribute money.
SUPERFLY (1972) – While unfairly pigeonholed as a blaxploitation movie Superfly is in reality a monumentally overlooked classic of American gangster films.
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