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[The Hunchback]

Not a great Italian crime film but certainly a fun one.
The movie's tone veers from the brutally dark ( All the nasty violence is thanks to Mr. Van Cleef!) to the light hearted but it is never boring and the scenes of comedy aren't very intrusive.

I would give this film a 6 out of 10 but since it has LVC and a good score.... I give it a 7.

[Jonny]

Never got around to watching this one but it does feature the lovely Edwige so I might move it further up the 'to watch' pile.

[Mart85]

Make sure it's the uncut print then Jonny because her shower scene is trimmed in the ESCAPE FROM DEATH ROW print I had.

[Jonny]

Cheers for the heads up Martin! I'll dig out my copy and see which version it is.  :'(

[MikeMalloy]

Yeah, I think the comedy and violence mix works out pretty evenly on this one, as it's so well compartmentalized. The violence has its own lead character (badass Mafioso Van Cleef) and its own music (the somber, minor-key horn music by Riz Ortolani). Likewise, the comedy has its own lead character (Mafia wannabe Lo Bianco) and its own music (the bright, major-key horn music by Ortolani).

What's more, the movie has some good murder set-pieces, like when the guy gets stabbed in the photo booth, and then that little strip of pictures emerges from the slot, recording the victim's death face.

And yeah, there are SO MANY English-language releases for this movie. The ones that made it to home video are MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY and ESCAPE FROM DEATH ROW (the latter of which has a bunch of bogus credits and removes the drill-kill scene). My friend saw it back in the '70s in the U.S. as POWER KILL. And I've also seen posters for it as THE GUN and GANGSTER STORY.

[Jonny]

Just checked my copy briefly and it's from an Australian VHS and bears the on screen title 'The Gun'.

Drill scene at the start is intact and the print looks in pretty good shape. I'll give it a watch this week.

[MikeMalloy]

Okay, THE GUN may just be a video title. Maybe I saw a video by that title on eBay or something and misremembered it as a poster.

And btw, full disclosure: I'm rarely going to give a Van Cleef movie a bad review, as he was such an inextricable part of my adolescence. In fact, I even got a book deal to write his biography when I was a wee pup of 19:

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-2272-2

[Ben Cobb]

Just watched this. But it was the cut-to-shreds 76-minute Escape From Death Row version. The worst quality print of a film I have seen in a long time.

[Inspector Tanzi]

Just watched this. But it was the cut-to-shreds 76-minute Escape From Death Row version. The worst quality print of a film I have seen in a long time.

I picked up that god awful dvd.

I've got a U.S.tape somewhere that is apparently uncut. Comes in one of them big fuck off boxes on that Sybill Danning adventure video series.

[MarcMorris]

I've got the Australian video release on the Video Classics label as The Gun - it's longer than the American video I had as Mean Frank and Crazy Tony.

[MikeMalloy]

I've got the Australian video release on the Video Classics label as The Gun - it's longer than the American video I had as Mean Frank and Crazy Tony.

Very interesting, Marc. How does it look -- pretty decent for VHS? Or is it really soft?

[Jonny]

Very interesting, Marc. How does it look -- pretty decent for VHS? Or is it really soft?

I'd imagine it would look like the grabs I posted earlier in this thread, which are also from the Australian VHS.

 

[MikeMalloy]

I'd imagine it would look like the grabs I posted earlier in this thread, which are also from the Australian VHS.

 

 

"Ich bin ein idiot," as the Germans would say.

[bdc]

Just noticed there's a French dvd of this one...French language only though.
Seems the image is fullscreen but that seems to be OAR.
Anyone has seen it?

I think there's some screencaps (not 100% certain they are though) here:
http://wild-wild-western.over-blog.com/article-l-homme-aux-nerfs-d-acier-1973-51660097.html

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B003H7D4BA/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A1X6FK5RDHNB96

[Renato]

Recently it was aired by sat tv in a very good copy. Obviously in italian language.