I'll be honest and say I love Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, so I definitely wanted to see The Sicilian Clan, which also stars another great, Lino Ventura. Unfortunately for me, dubbing detaches me from some foreign movies and for some reason, they seem slower. This film was no exception. I'll also add that this film was dubbed in three languages, and Gabin did his own English dubbing.
Directed by Henri Verneuil, Gabin is the head of a crime family that plans to hijack a plane with $50 million in jewels on board.
Delon is an assassin being chased by the French police and is getting in the way of the robbery plans.
My favorite by far was Lino Ventura as the police inspector who sucks lollipops while trying to quit smoking. He's wonderful.
Irina Demick, a Zanuck protégée, is absolutely beautiful as one of the Sicilian clan wives. She's very Suzy Parker-like, sexy, and does a good job, though I don't imagine doing a love scene with Alain Delon was all that difficult.
Gabin is terrific -- I'd seen so many of his old films it was a shock to see him older. Quiet, belying his hard, sinister attitude underneath, he is grandfather, father, and villain. Delon is Mr. Cool (isn't he always), one step ahead of the police, hiding behind a pair of sunglasses, as deadly as Gabin but with no capacity for human relationships.
For me, this was a little slow getting to the point, but the dubbing really took me out of the plot. Ventura's performance transcended that, though. That could have been because the character was more fleshed out than some of the others.
Definitely worth seeing. It's amazing that Gabin, Delon, and Ventura enjoyed such fame yet aren't well known to U.S. audiences for the most part.
Directed by Henri Verneuil, Gabin is the head of a crime family that plans to hijack a plane with $50 million in jewels on board.
Delon is an assassin being chased by the French police and is getting in the way of the robbery plans.
My favorite by far was Lino Ventura as the police inspector who sucks lollipops while trying to quit smoking. He's wonderful.
Irina Demick, a Zanuck protégée, is absolutely beautiful as one of the Sicilian clan wives. She's very Suzy Parker-like, sexy, and does a good job, though I don't imagine doing a love scene with Alain Delon was all that difficult.
Gabin is terrific -- I'd seen so many of his old films it was a shock to see him older. Quiet, belying his hard, sinister attitude underneath, he is grandfather, father, and villain. Delon is Mr. Cool (isn't he always), one step ahead of the police, hiding behind a pair of sunglasses, as deadly as Gabin but with no capacity for human relationships.
For me, this was a little slow getting to the point, but the dubbing really took me out of the plot. Ventura's performance transcended that, though. That could have been because the character was more fleshed out than some of the others.
Definitely worth seeing. It's amazing that Gabin, Delon, and Ventura enjoyed such fame yet aren't well known to U.S. audiences for the most part.