Goncharov (1973)

Hello and welcome back to Clear and Present Dudes, the podcast where the knives smile before they cut. I am Mike Dunbar. I'm joined as always by Rory James O'Toole. Hello and Sonia Bjorkson. Hello everyone. Tonight we are diving deep into our beloved Jello adjacent cinema, an Italian film with a rare Hollywood pedigree, 1973's Goncharov. Yes, tonight we are going to Gaslight, Gatekeeper, Gilbos and Goncharov. First let me remind you to like and subscribe on on YouTube. If you are on Spotify and it appears on your home feed anyway and you feel like you don't need to follow it, please just do it anyway and make it official.

Really helps us out on the the old algorithm. Also spoiler warning spoiler for for 1973's Contrara. If you haven't seen it, you know, wait a little bit. We'll we'll be we'll be right here. Come back in a couple of hours. Cool. Right, guys, before I get into the plot stops, like what's your first impressions in this film? What's not the love? Well, we're we're obviously still all waiting for Ghansharov to I have to use the sentence. Definitely one of the movies of all time, at least initially. Also great form for for someone not like me who has a tendency to sometimes be a bit of a menswear guy.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Oh, sure. It's tremendously, totally right there. This is one of the horniest films imaginable yet also not because there is a massive amount of sexual tension between people that the kind of narrative would just. It would be, if you know what I mean, It's like Ginsharov and Katya, you know, there is no chemistry between them. Yeah. They are meant to be the romantic leads. Yeah. Yeah. But because they are off on the road, romantic side quests as Sunny said, costumes amazing, tensions just fantastic through the whole thing.

Literally I think civil shabbats one of our one of our top 2 or top three big screen rules. Honestly the tension between her and Sophia Loren is just mental. It's like. Yeah, this is. This is great for her, isn't it? Yeah, this is like quite early in her career. This is like around sort of was it 1973? So but she's just done the last picture show in 71, doesn't she? So she's come off the back of that obviously pre taxi driver. So yeah, she's on the rise. Really good time for her. Hey, Shall shall I put the trailer on and then we'll come back and we'll go through it properly?

You are a time bomb. Dig, dig. Digging.

And I have no intention of being. Around for the boom. And now you should know I could have killed you when I walked through the door.

Cool, right? So Goncharov 1973 is an Italian American Co produced art house crime filler written by maybe directed by Matteos Scheczy, stylized in the credits, really weird. Produced by Dominico Pocacci, an executive produced but also maybe directed by Martin Scorsese. And that was maybe an on de plume. I couldn't find a lot of detail about that. There's a lot of like conflicting information online. But either way, he was incredibly involved in the production. Starring Robert De Niro as the eponymous Celestroniero Koncharov and Co.

Starring A stacked cast including Cybil Shepherd, Al Pacino, Harvey Katel, Gene Hackman, John Kazale, Sofia Loren, an incredibly unaccredited Linda Carr. We'll get into that in a bit. Yeah, wow. Film follows the eponymous Koncharov, a crime boss from Moscow looking to expand his empire by coming back to maybe Naples with his wife, who is a Cybil Shepherd, and he intends to set up his own rival criminal empire against the Neapolitan mafia. As you mentioned, Rory, the film's pretty Derek. It's time for showing some queer love stories.

So there's a we'll get into it. But there's a there's a thing between Harvey Cattell and and Robert De Niro. There's a thing between Sapira Renn and Cybil Shepherd. There's a thing between John Kazali and everybody. John Kazali, but. Really. Really. Just there like, you know, Yeah, he wants. He's a very deeply lonely person and he's trying to collect with everybody here can. Yeah, Really, really, really random. The film's production was tumultuous for numerous issues that I'm sure we'll discuss in in due course regarding like distribution rights, conflicting filming projects for the other lead actors.

Yeah, just an absolute mess. Sensitive issues. The Soviet Union, like government got involved at one point. So yeah, like film was was more or less lost for a long time. Got a big resurgence in the 90s. Really weird. This is a really weird detail. George Lucas started distributing VHS bootlegs of it. Not like officially, but he was hosting like showings of it during the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, like in his hotel, which apparently really pissed off Quintero Tino really funny. But yeah, so anyway, this year it is getting a Criterion restoration.

And I think the four hour cuts I don't think is restored, but the four hour cut is on the disc as well. And Scorsese, he's been really massively involved in that because he's massively involved in film restoration generally. So we're doing that, but we're not, we haven't watched the four hour cut. We have watched the original two hour and 18 minute cut, which is enough. So, so yeah, that's that's my introduction to like what the film is. Dude, I thought this film barely made sense, Like, and I don't mean that like in a mean way.

I mean it in the same way that like mean streets doesn't really make a huge deal of sense to me when I watch it. There's a lot going on. Is it a character piece? Is it a thriller? Is it really about the crime? Is it about the passion? Like I just, I just, there's all those weird like occurring motifs that seem a bit heavy-handed now in like our modern view, but at the time we're probably standard business like the clocks and the cigarettes and like the music and stuff. The the clock ticking freaking shower off full kind of motif is something that it really bangs the drum about a lot.

I mean, it works, It works, but I don't think you could kind of slip it into a film that was made and like current, yeah, you cannot actually have you handed clock symbolism and certain characters wearing a watch and almost every scene but a pivotal one, that kind of thing and stuff like that, you know? Yeah, yeah, I took it at Ryan's Field and it's not the first time we're going to talk about this film in Serpico, which was being made at the same time. So the. So both films go out in 1973. Both films were produced in the summer of 72, right.

Albertina was filming both. That film starts anyway with like a really simple opening credit, like a black screen, just text on there and like the wailing of like a a police siren or like an ambulance siren. You don't know what it is. Turns out it's in an ambulance because it's it's it's the titular Cyprocal of being like rushed off spots of being shot in the face. This is a similar sort of thing where you get like, well, I'll just start. So Kotorov opens on a on a rain suit night in Naples and we get like a it's not like steady calm.

It's like handhelds Cam kind of walking through the narrow streets unlimited by dim St lights and we get like you get like a view that you got to view the docks. So that's a recurring movie for seeing the docks in this film as you like doc creams loom of the harbour, you get like silhouette against the dark sea. And then we get like it's all like street noise, not music. It's all like street noise. And then we get to like a bit of a montage of like tonnes of clocks, like the clock tower clock, like people's wristwatches clocks.

There's a clock in a bar and there's like tick. And sound in the tick from tick and Chorley sound isn't there, it's. Yeah, it's like, yeah.

And it's it's really like oppressive and train doors opening. And then we got like the feet stepping out onto the platform. You get like another shot of like the clock on the train platform. And then we get a shot of like a wristwatch, which we're going to see the same wristwatch. We're going to see it loads. It's fucking crazy and he's walking in a kind of like TikTok, TikTok rhythm as well and like like the the gains obviously right up on the boom magnet here is here his feet and it's like we get it, man clocks.

Blocks. Yeah. And like, yeah. And as that's going on, this is this is really confusing. So there's like, So what we're what we're seeing is control of getting off a train in Naples, right. Meanwhile, we're getting like a voice over. But it's not from control of, it's from, it's from, it's from Harvey Ketel's character, Andre Didano. Or you might get called the banker during the movie as well. And so he's saying like love, truth, power, three things men spend their whole lives chasing. Some men think if they catch one of them, the others will follow.

But Naples is a city that eats those kind of men. It doesn't matter where you came from, if you're rich or poor, doesn't matter if it came here as a Papa or a king, sooner or later the sooner reminds you of something. Time always wins since we can clocks right. The story is about a man who thought he could have runtime his name was Gunter of for a while he almost did. And that's, and then we got the camera like pan up and it's like Rob De Niro there with his moustache because he's got a moustache in this movie.

You look so fucking cool in this film, man. Yeah yeah he's like bro, like totally in like 2 of the birds yeah really, really, really stops you on and then it's like bumps Gunter of total card yeah, wild. And then it gets really confusing because then the next thing you see is like 20 years earlier and it's like 22 kids in like rags, basically like running around the streets of like, undisclosed Eastern European location. I think. I think it's obviously meant to be like Moscow, but it doesn't. It doesn't say like Moscow 1953.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like 2-2 teenage kids running for the the alley. One of them's sculpture of the other one is Andre. We are, I guess, expected to assume, but it's again, not not not totally clear. And I don't know if you caught this, but like the the kids who are playing like the young Gunter of an Andrea, like it's really it's really randomness. I had a double check, so I couldn't believe it. One of them is Stanley Tucci who's like 13 and the one is fuck. Off. And the other one mate, this is going to blew a fucking like the one is John Lucas Amo.

This was 13 and they look fuck all like because that which is why it was so confusing because like what the fuck are he's doing? How the fuck did they get cast in this film at that age? That's so weird. And they get out and I don't know where they filmed this. They probably filmed in New York, but it's obviously meant to look like Moscow or something. Yeah. But they just. Put like the Russian philtre over the camera. Yeah, just like it's a bit blue. It's a bit like. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a bit blue, the founded area, but there's like whether there's whether there's just some like a bit more like standing water on the asphalt and stuff and like, and like there's more broken windows and.

Shit, it was cool. And like, yeah, like I see. Breath and the fucking stop with the feet and that just to just to like lay down the whole cool thing. Yeah, it's just a little strum of a fucking Bala Laker in the background, but it's like Rush, I felt a replied. Ambient supplies, that's all. So you get that you don't seem up close here. It's not it wasn't like I saw them as like outstanding Tuchy. They're quite far out when I go and they're just like a kind of classic 70s pushing. And it's the two kids and like one of them.

I think it's like Rosambo is like running interference with like a a stall guy at a market. Meanwhile, like Tucci is like like shoplifting quietly. And then as soon as soon, as soon as the guy catches them, like they run away. And there's a whole like, there's no music here, by the way, which I thought was weird, like I took go so long. But anyway, yeah, they saw like a chase start. They like duck into an alleyway. And then we get like the two kids get stopped because of the guy stood in the alleyway.

And it's this big tall dude who is his name's Ilya. What's his name? And he laughs at their face because like, he's obviously like one of the local gang guys. He's like he's got like a suit on as well. He looks like together, but he's young as well. He's got like a like a what looks like a fresh scar on his face. And he tells the kids like, like, if you're going to steal, find your own turf, you little pigs, or, or join a gang. Find your own turf, you little pigs. I love them, but it's an absolute bar.

And he's like, I recommend, I recommend getting some employment. And then like that's it's assumes that they like join a gang and that's how their life of crime starts and organised crime anyway, because it would obviously just shoplifting. So it implies also that they're really close, like they've known each other a long time as well. It's still not really clear that like the guy overheard at the beginning of the voice is the guy who's not being picked like bizarre with 13 year olds. So I felt that really confusing in my first.

Yeah, right, absolutely. Yeah, it was like, but obviously I mean straight up it took me a couple of watches to to focus walkers watches because it takes it took me watching it a couple of times to fully I think get what was going on with it. Of course, of course for an autistic may stop it a few times like identify some guns and some of the kind of more like less less focused kind of scenes of face interest from the TV. But yeah I I think I worked it out after 2 watches. I think. Viewings. It's, I mean, it's not like Tenet or anything.

It's not like totally mental. Well, Tenet is that bad, but like there's a lot of interpretation. Good, odd. Definitely, definitely. That's the next scene, for example, really, really threw me. So it cuts back to the present day, but it's not like the present day. It's like 1919 years, 11 months, like 30 days and, and 23 hours because it's, because it's like, it's like, it's like what happened immediately before Gontarov got off the train because they're back on the train.

I will say that even that kind of like time timey wimey stuff doesn't fully disengage her from the film. It isn't too much for speed bump money watching it. It's still I think a well put together film, just it's the chronology of its storytelling. Right at the opening is a bit weird, but it's not too jarring, you know? Yeah, yeah, so you get So what it does it just the classic like cut forward to that presentation, see where they are now from those humble beginnings. Gun drops like in the train car.

He's he's all suited birds. He sat next to it like Iya, but you can tell the same guy because he's all the now, but he's still got the scar. And they are having like a really kind of perfunctory conversation about how they're going to set up their permanent foothold in Naples, particularly the harbours, lucrative smuggling routes, which is like their big thing is they're doing like smuggling of like booze and tobacco and maybe arms and stuff. Doesn't really say yet. Yeah, like it's kind of like, it's kind of like, like it's a generic crime set up, isn't it?

It's almost as effect in the storytelling. The actual crimes don't kind of matter. Yeah, exactly that. So you kind of get that. So he's like somebody already owns this town kind of thing. Yeah. And then as they say that it like cuts to like the other side of town and we get like our first scene of Al Pacino as crime boss Mario Ambrosini. Yeah. This is this is wild. So this is, as I mentioned earlier on, this is like Al Pacino. He's done The Godfather. Serbiko is is definitely 73. So he's shooting that at the same time as he's shooting this,

which is great. Does need some kind of weird continuity issues with a Pacino where they have to kind of cover the fact that he's got a beard. Yeah. So like, all right. So the day is during the shooting of Serpico. That film was filmed sequentially, like in the order it happened. Right. Yeah, got you. Because it starts with his career as a young New York Police cop and he's like clean shaven and he just like undercover work and he gets like a moustache. And then he goes like full. I don't know how you I was describe it.

He was like full pirate. He has like big flowy shirts, big beard like wears big hats, has has an earring, owns a bird like. He basically turns into that like a guy who's like chronically undercover from Brooklyn 99, right? The guy who's like just a total fucking psycho. The one. Who's going out with Diaz? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, it's just in Matsukas's Pimento. Yeah, yeah. It's fucking brilliant. Yeah, that's what he does. So you'd already sung us that movie. So this is a weird one. So the production here, I think in the in the US, there was some kind of weird deal where it was, it was distributed through like De Laurentiis and but Serbico was like actually produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

And he'd already signed up for that. It's a Sydney Glimet film, 1973. And he already signed up for that. And he was shooting that substantially on his contract. And then he had the opportunity to work on this kind of came in as a super sub because he already worked with some of the people in this before. Like, I think he really wanted to work with De Niro, hadn't had a chance to work with him yet. Obviously he's right high off like the Godfather coupler and all that kind of stuff. So he wanted to crime again.

Yeah. So he agrees to do this, but then he has to keep flying backwards, of course, between New York and then the location shoots in Naples. And there's some stuff he has to do in New York in a separate little set with a second director. Right. So we we meet Marion Bruschini. He, of course, is another like, you know, standard crime boss, smart, dressed in his club kind of thing. He's got an office. He's you just kind of see him running the place. And I think he's talking to someone off screen about like he's heard the word that like Russia's coming for his turf kind of thing.

And that's it. It's like it's really basic controls gets off the train. He's talking to Ilya and he talks about his wife. His wife had already come to Naples. She's been here for a little while. He was taking care of business back in like, I guess Moscow doesn't really say that Ilya. I think he knows Katya. So I think, I think the idea is a lot of people in the organisation like obviously know Gun Trove and Katya because like they're like kind of the royal family sort of thing. And I think Ilya's known Guntrov obviously since he was like a, a kid.

So he feels he feels emboldened enough to like give him the real picture, you know, So he says, like when you stayed behind, you left behind more than you know, she's too good a woman for you, Guntrov. I think you know this already. And Guntrov doesn't say anything. Yeah, I love his lack of reaction and and then not seeing it's like it's credible. It's a weird performance, isn't it? From, from Deniro? He's right. Very laconic. He doesn't say it very much. It's it's kind of not like him like he's he's got this dynamism about him even even in his for one of the better words later years.

Like I think he's fucking tremendous in the mini series 0 day that came out last year or the year before. He plays like an ex president of the United States who gets pulled in to run this like run this like kind of counterterrorism operation against this like massive cyber attack thing. And he's fucking brilliant. It's so good, man. And it's like this is energy. There's dynamism. Like he's like he's like threatening a water board some guy. And it's like he's a legitimately scary man even as currently age.

And he's dynamic, he's energetic and he's really just laconic in this film. Like you said, he's that's a down back performance that that works in an uncanny valley kind of way because it's like that's De Niro, but it's not. Our it's a bit like, well, you know what we want to, we want to of Travis, Travis Bickle, right? Yeah. Resources is going to come a few years later. Yeah, yeah. Travis Bickle, though, gets to, like, explode it into the front, doesn't he? Yeah, Yeah. And and I don't know if Contra truly gets to, like, cast off his shackles.

He kind of stays. I don't think he's the same guy always at the end. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really flat arc, which is weird because he's a particular character when actually really, for me, the the the the real focus of the film is either either Catcher, right, or either your boy Andre. Yeah. Yeah, the ones who get the most kind of fluctuation. I think in the story you only get a couple of scenes, but I speak, Joe gets more to do I speak. Joe the fan favourite as well. Yeah, yeah. Man. Meeting you from the train station is Andrea Adidano, who is like obviously they were like street that's together.

Now he's like this refined financial opera. He's known for the criminal world as the banker US elegant suit. He's kind of he's he's a mob accountant who I think the Russian will be already installed in in the area to kind of get a little land and now he's and now he's they're going to meet up and stuff. Obviously that's like the top level story. What what hasn't kind of been explained yet is that Andre's already LinkedIn with the Nepalitan mafia and he's already kind of like, this all happened like before this the film started.

He's already portrayed. He's already portrayed control like the first time. Yeah, here, this flips. I mean, I again, I don't like watching several times to figure out what's going on. This film like flips and flops several times and Andre basically betrays everybody at some point. Really the character. Absolutely mental, man. It's like this film, kind of. It almost seems like the film expects you to know a lot about backgrounds of characters and stuff more than just there was St rats together kind of thing.

The the film kind of expects the viewer to almost confabulate what's going on and and it's crazy. It's like it could have done more storytelling. Yeah. Or it could have just gone in with none, but instead it almost comes out like, hey, why don't you make up what you think happened in the past? Why don't you confabulate it within your head? Man, what was? Really going on? What's up with you? Yeah, all that stuff. It's it's wild. There aren't any. Yeah. And it's not like forthcoming with the clues.

So like when Gun Trove and Andre meet, it's really warm. Like he puts him on the arm. Yeah. Again, like for for like a it's really warm for like a such a state performance, you know, puts him on the arm and he's like Andre, my brother kind of thing. Like, how is the city shooting you? And he goes like Naples. He says it's a city that eats the week. Gun Trove and Andre talk about their like their operation. They walk around like a a warehouse. Some of the minor workers are there and kind of spot him.

And there's a little bit of like, ADR off screen of like, he's the man who survived the fires of Moscow. Survived the fires of Moscow. That's crazy in itself because I almost took that line. And being there like you survive like both the like, political suppression of the crime gangs and also like the literal like, combat between various factions of the Bratzo or whatever, or the Vodiff Zagonya, if that's what you're going to call them. That kind of thing. You know, Like it's like he survived double.

He survived the brutality of the Moscow regime and he survived his peers coming after. Him not sure when this film was set like like is this film set for the present day? So they they shoot in 72 it's going to be set in 72 or is it set like fucking 61? There's a set in like 53 is Stalin just died like. It's interesting. I mean even if it was set at that point, he would have he the main card himself would have be. I mean, how old do you think he is in the film? How? How old was was De Niro when he made this movie?

So he's 3030 years old when this one comes out. So yeah, he's assuming the film is set when it's shot. Yeah, as far as dating it with like the weaponry and stuff involved, I can't fully place a date on it. But there's nothing that's like a future weapon brought out in 1872 or whatever. Like I mean it's like because iconically carries Thompson gun, Katya uses Nagant, I think. I mean in 97 revolver I should see in Holden one-on-one scene, Brett, a model, I want to say 934 or something, the little 22 long rifle one because it's a 22 bounce around death round.

So there's nothing there that's like newer than like I would say the 50s, but it doesn't. But it doesn't feel like the film set then because the cars and stuff so. It's yeah, it's tricky, isn't it? I was thinking like what cars is everything I was going to look at. So like I, I don't know what cars. What I was going to say is what we really did is like in Marisa Tomei from like My Cousin Vinny to come and say here like like identify the cars or as based on like tyre tracks and stuff. Oh man, the defence is wrong.

So good, Ricardo. Maybe it's too equal. Left tie marks that pause attraction. You can't be close to marks without pause attraction. So good my. God. Yeah, you might be hot, but you miss a Tomei hot. In in the words of George Costanza, Marissa Tomei, that's. So good, man. OK. So we've had a bunch of scenes and then we go to it's a casino scene. Yes. Yeah, it's OCK worker. It's OCK worker. Sorry. Before that, so I skipped a bit. I was to this. Yeah. So before that we also got like the inspection of the warehouse from Inspector Valeri Mikhailov.

Yeah, by who was inexplicably Russian. It's so wild, right? He's wearing his fucking ushanka in Italy. It's it's fucking. Battle. Doesn't make any sense. Like is he an Italian policeman? Is he like a Russian soldier? Like, I have no idea who he is, but I do know he said he's Hollywood's holiest man. Gene Hackman, right? God, God, God, rest his soul. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is wild. That baffled me. It's like there is no way that the police forces of the Soviet Union would send the the fucking cop over in like a red heat.

Kind of such a witch. I mean, that's a whole different movie. If this was like a fucking action buddy comedy in which an Italian competent and a Soviet cop tried to take down gunshot off, you know, it's like that wouldn't have been a good film. Like, I don't understand, like his remit and I don't think it's right. Here's the thing. The there's obviously the four hour cut, which we haven't watched. Yeah. Yeah. There's also rumours online of like a nine hour cut which is which is which is insane. Directed by the ghost of Sergey Aisles style.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and and whenever, whenever, like a plot T So this comes up. I just think it must be in the four hour cut or it must be in an hour cut. Like there's there's so like, what the fuck is going on anyway? Mikhilov is is like at the warehouse. He's like he's obviously on the case. Like he knows this is the beginning of the smoking operation and he knows that he like, you know, it's a classic thing where the cop knows the bad guys are are guilty. He just needs to prove it. So he needs to like find a smoking gun to a raid or that kind of thing.

But he's there all the time. This seems like very much like business as usual. They pretty much have to fuck off. And he gets like, has a bit of like a rude back and forwards with like one of the dock workers. And then and then he's basically sent pack it after he punches a guy. He punches a guy in the face. Yeah. And he's like, I'm the fucking law in this town. And then they all laugh at him. And then he like walks away and they're all like, I think he put down. I think he put down like like. It's fucking amazing man.

Like it's inventioned. Yeah, he is totally inventioned and then he gets into his little Italian police car, which makes not making sense. No sense at all. It's like it should be a beat ass fucking larder with like Moscow number plates or something and he just drives away listening to like the fucking red. I'll be choir on it's eight track player. Yeah. So he's kind of he's actually like the the, the Frank Zipper of the film because he's like the one I thought it makes no sense. He's Russian. He's like, he's like the one honest cop of the movie.

So like he refuses the bribe. So they try and bribe him, but they do it like as if they've done it 1000 times before and they like they'll know he'll reject it. So he like he basically takes the envelope and like just throws it like into the into into the water and then punches the guy in the face. I mean, it's a slamming indictment of like the Italian police force that the only, only good cop in Italy is some fucking Russian guy who's there because reasons, because that narrative needs would be there.

Yeah, yeah. It's ridiculous. Yeah. So he gets into his car, he's he's driving away. He's got, he's a little assistant. He was an Italian actor. I don't know what his name is or he was kind of his predator. He is. I forget this guy's name but I checked and he hasn't been in any Jello films. So yeah, no interest in monitoring his career further. Well. It doesn't matter because we barely see him again. We see him in this. We see him in this scene and we see him. I think there's a scene where like a body is discovered later on and he's back there again with like, the forensics.

But like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's here at ABC says, like, have you heard that the the Kardashians have arrived? You must have known that kind of thing. And he's like our visitor from the east didn't come here for the weather. And then then he'd be like laughs. He was like, never the Jew because he points at the Shanker. But yeah. And that's, that's it. So we've met Gene Hackman. Yeah. Right now we're in Mario's casino club. So again, like, really confusing storytelling here. So we haven't seen Katya yet.

So this is how we are introduced to Katya. And she's like a major character in the film. But like, we see her for the first time just like inexplicably, like on Gunter of his arm. They've talked about it, but we haven't seen her. So yeah, she's she's literally just there. They walk inside this club. The club is like dark, like dini lit like it's all like drenched in red that there's like some sort of like Italian jazz, little like. Jello Jazz. Yeah, like it's like like 4 piece, like on the stage, Yeah.

And expected believe there's like a couple of dancers, one which is fucking Lynda Carter. I know that's mental. What the fuck did you did? You owe someone a favour. I mean, you know, man, safeguard. I'm not going, I'm not going to, you know, be be upset and then I can't be on the screen because, you know, but. So she's like in a sequin dress. There's another woman next door who's in a really similar sequin dress, except she's also got like the Chiquisa banana kind of headdress with like fruit and veg.

It's almost as if this is like written, it's like some kind of like fever dream of what the fucking 11 year old Kinsharov thinks capitalism looks like. Like, like he's living in, he's living in just some horrible part of like Soviet Russia. And he's like thinking, yeah, what does the capitalist scum doing with the banana headdresses and the Lynda Carter and the beautiful bottom, you know? So we walk in and it's like the classic kind of thing, like you've got to be out in society. You go if you're showing.

So she's like dressed to the nines. He's like in a sharp suit as always. He walks in and he's kind of scooping the place out. The first thing we see this is like Mario Ambrosini and him meeting. So like he's like at a table like in like a bufferio, like a little VIP type section. And he's got like, you know, all these two of these around him and stuff. And he's got like a girl on his arm who'd be doing even like, I'm not sure we see again. Yeah. And there's a bit where like they look at each other, they look at each other kind of thing.

What happens a control of like finds a table, 1 of Ambrosini's guys comes over and it's like Mr Ambrosin, you would like to have a word. He's taking care of your drinks kind of thing, you know, like points towards like Al Pacino and he's there. You know that guy, like Ambrosino's guy, and that's an actual Italian actor as well. I forget as the amount, but I looked him in. He was in one of our film, which was a jello film. 10 years later, he was in this incredibly fucking violent Jello film called Las Trotsino and it's horrific.

I've heard like it literally had like a theatre release in in Italy and that was this. And I've, I've heard it's just insanely violent. So I want to hunt it down one day. But yeah, that's the only Jello link really this film has. I'm sorry, but you know, I'm the Jello mentioned guy. Yeah. That's not seen though. Yeah, that's cool. It's the blackmailer, I think. In Italian, Yeah. Yeah, but it that's cool. Yeah. So I didn't, I didn't recognise him at all. Maybe there I was just exactly Googling who is this guy and then like I went down a fucking rabbit hole on this man.

I drunk like 3 tonnes a monster and became 1/4. You know, so as this develops, what will happens? Guntrove gets up and use the table. He apologises to catch you. Like I'll just be a minute ago. I've got to talk to business. She looks bored as fuck anyway. He has, She really does. Something she's stunning. She looks amazing, but she looks bored as fuck, right? So she kind of like does this sort of like, uh huh, and pouts and like kind of looks around and like swigs takes a big swig from her drink, which has arrived and it's.

Well, what is she drinking? What is she drinking? It's got like, it's in a, it's in a martini glass. Yeah. It's a cocktail of some kind, right? Yeah, Yeah. It seems like hard liquor is in there. Yeah. Like but but she drinks it in such a casual manner. Yeah. Like I like it's implied that she's got like a well advanced alcohol problem. Yeah, I mean, like, it's so say get up. Well, she's Russian as a source, assume she was drinking vodka before she was drinking water, that kind of thing. It's like I grew up on mother's milk and vodka, you know?

Stoli straight up. Stoli straight up. Yeah. OK, Gal. Yeah. Like, and yeah, she's she's it is really like, kind of believable because some, some actors don't look good pretending to drink alcohol. Tom Cruise. Oh yeah. You you put a fucking tight in Tom Cruise's hand and and it's like this. Katya looks in in in some like a good hang. She looks like should be fun to hang out with on a night out, you know? Well, I think it would go like. Either way, it looks like it would start fun and then, you know, she'd I think she'd probably like hit the mascara thinner a bit a bit too hard.

Yeah, and probably then and then like and then like straight up have sex with your wife, so. This song This song is. All about me, It's all about me. She fucking smokes a cigarette backwards then destroys your marriage by taking your wife to whatever it'd be. Fucking girl boss. I love her, that she's amazing. Scrubs, scrubs like I won't get no love from me he. Scrubs me up. Oh yeah, so the band strikes up her another song and it's a tango. Yeah, it's a tango of. Music. Yeah, like it's this. Isn't this isn't this isn't the tango scene, but it's like the first tango scene.

It is a film that has so many kind of moments. It's a tango scene, but it's not the tango scene. It's a scene where they play a chess, but it's not the. Chess the scene. Yeah, yeah. It's not that one. No, it's like. It's a scene at the docks, but it's not the scene at the docks. It's honestly. It feels like rewrites, but I can't quite fully agree with myself for that. I feel like I didn't, right. Whenever you whenever you talk to people like night in the 70s cinema, people always go like the 70s were a great like New Hollywood.

You know, that's what they call it, New Hollywood because it's like the people like Coppola coming in, Spielberg coming in, you know, like the likes of that George Lucas coming in, like Anthony J Pakula, you know, like all these great names, they're always great moves, like like Clete, you know. Yeah, great movie watched it last night and it's like all these brave films are like not afraid to look at like the grimy side of life or to be like slow and developed like these complex stories will be like character pieces in the frame of a of a of a different genre movie.

What do you think? Like New Hollywood, you think of that. So you don't think of like executive meddling. But I think because this movie was like a Co produced in Italy, it was going to be distributed in America. But like has a very like at a height of the Cold War, the Cold War be cold. And you know, I think there's a lot of executive meddling and people were like, not sure how they're going to sell it. And I think, yeah, there was probably a lot of rewrites brought in. That's probably part of the reason why like iceberg Jew is just like appears without any set up.

And you get like you get you get this tango scene, you get the violin, the violin scene, which is kind of a tango scene in the sense that he's playing like the same kind of music. And then literally right after that you get another tango scene. So what the fuck is going on, man? Anyway. The town going, apparently. They they run out of ways to like go like right, so spoilers for like like 20 minutes, but like to get like catcher and Sophia to have chemistry. They're like right, just have them dance again.

Just make them do another dance, make them listen to some more music, just more dancing just like what the fuck guys? Why do they why can't they go curling? Why can't they like go for a walk? Why can't they go? We could have had a coffee. We.

Exactly, they could have done literally anything. It's Italy. It's not like there's nothing to do there. They could have they could have gone in a museum, got gone the day trip of Venice, got on a gondola, joined the carabinieri, bought a had a had a pizza driven. They could have driven around homoerotically like those two cops and that it's your Tashi film, Live like a man, died like a cop, I think it's called. But it's just these two good looking dudes, including the bargain basement, Robert Redford, just driving around Rome, embracing each other, run like a little motorbike, violently executing criminals, running trains on witnesses and sleeping in the same bed in a very heterosexual way.

And they could have done that. They could have done that man. And and that was made at a similar time too. So they could have just borrowed the motorbike of those two roommates and roommated around Naples. Yeah, yeah. But they didn't. That's what they should have done. In fact, that's what their character should have done. Like instead of the rest of the film. I mean the world. Fucking come on. That's Katya coded, right? That's it. Get motorbike. We could drive now, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I was watching.

So I guess I was watching. I was clued last night yeah, and Jane Fondas character and that pre Daniels give me big capture energy, like really similar characters. Like she's a she's like a high class prostitute who does it because she's an aspiring actress and model. And it's almost like she's addicted. Like she can't quit. Like she stopped hooking like full time and just takes on really like, but whenever she's like feels the need to perform and wants to disappear from herself, she like calls up and gets a gets a client and then she like acts basically for the client.

And she's like, she's just she's doing therapy in the movie and she like talks to a therapist about how like for that one hour, I'm the best actress in Hollywood. And that's kind of like her whole deal. I feel like catch is really the same. Like catch is like not she's a constantly play acting as somebody else. She's not being her own true self. I mean, but you only see her true self for like sadly about 30 seconds at the end of the war and obviously the couple of scenes that she has was for fear, even though it's a bit coded.

I mean, it's kind of like a comment really on the kind of trope like like the mob wife, isn't it? Because like you're a mob wife, you in general and for storytelling films and stuff goes, you don't have much going other than you being like the wife of a gangster, right. It's it's, you know, I mean, I, I guess it kind of gets hit by its head with, with the Linda Laplan novel and the and later film Widows, which is about mob widows doing, doing mob things. But in general a mob White's character isn't fleshed out and stuff.

So, yeah, kind of very much like that. Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? Because this has obviously come out after The Godfather. Yeah. Like the the two that mob could women that you think of from that film are Talia Shire from Rocky. And, and sorry, this this film shares a producer with Rocky, by the way, fucking what's his name? Irvin Winkler. Yeah. Nice. Sorry, that was a bit of trivia, but Diane Keaton, right? Sorry, sorry, stupid. I bet Irvin Winkler got a lot of investment and provided little kind of input on the film.

I think he was, he was. He was a money trained for this film. Yeah, I I love, I actually generally really love the first Rocky film. I mean as fuck, I love them all. I love them all. But the first place is like a safeguard. Brilliant film. Yeah, so, right, So God fucking up. We're still in the casino nightclub scene, right? So what's happened is Gontrop's gone over to Mario's table, right? This is their first time meeting or Meanwhile, the last thing we see of catchers is she gets like bored, she gets up and she walks her from the table.

We don't know where she's walking towards, but I think there's people dancing on a dance floor. So she's going towards the dance floor, right? But over at Mario's table, it's Mario's. It's relaxed fingers resting on a chess piece from 1/2 finished game on the table. First of many chess games we're going to see and. I was just like, straight up fucking just like fucking casually playing chess at the nightclub, by the way. In the nightclub, it's. It's like, and that's like Kramer level behaviour. That's ridiculous.

It's like, it's like just as we understand you what Kramer was. Because I think I might make more references to it later mate. Do you want to give us a bit about Kramer? Yeah, I can't remember. I don't know who made it, but there was about 15 years ago, there was a Twitter account calls Kramer. And what it was is it was like a fake 1970s style. A crime detective show that was tweeted out in bits and it starred, and it was all full of, like, hilarious misspellings. Crimer is the hero, and he's a criminal, a criminal mastermind.

But he doesn't work for the mastermind. He's just a criminal. He's like a chaotic, like a true what? What would you say? Chaotic Neutral. Neutral, Yeah. Definitely, whereas whereas or as brainiest as more chaotic evil, right? Exactly. Brainy brainiest is the real bad guy. He was like the, the, the, the real, the real kind of like, yeah, exactly as you say, like kind of either either like true, true evil or lawful evil or or curse evil. And then you've got on the other side of the police side, you've got detective.

He was the the policeman who's trying to take down Crimea. He has he has a dog called Puppet and puppet puppet and and the whole the whole show was I was just like tweets, tweets up where Lucy stood together to form some kind of plot about about that. Fucking spelled as well. And then occasionally they would put out like like TV Guide style pages saying like what what tonight's episode was about kind of thing. And there was a very occasionally bits of like title card art, but there was never any like people drawn.

But I loved it. We got we were obsessed with it in 2012. So fucking good it was all we talked about by the Saudi of made by for fucking insufferable. Yeah. We were really fucking fucking bad. I'm just pulling up some some fucking crime stuff now on, on Twitter. I'm I'm I'm I'm kind of cut to 1, like the bump of like the kind of brainiest arc that like just kind of took it away from it's like to the streets gritty cop drama. Yeah, because it started off as like a gritty cop drama to to dangerous so.

Right, so Crimea, the amount of muni input into this place, brackets puts on sunglasses and no red carpet bracket tuts. Unlucky then welcome Matt the following tweet, Detective wife. I'm get it you got to go, but be car fool. You're a daddy now the tetkaif I am promise brackets open doors bracket or who? I'm on call me doors full of flu hours.

Sadia is brilliant. I. Am going to go on. I was going to say it's like basically all the tropes from like any any 70s cop drama, but like with a bit a bit extra silly. So like that vibe there is very much like the the the untouchables, Elliott Ness and his wife and. Come on Elliott, put another fucking baby in me. Please man, I'm a God damn tried wife. I need to be barefoot and fucking pregnant all times. Elliott, you can load that Thompson. Good. Why can't you load me? Wow. Yeah, so I'll, I'll get back to the movie.

So, so, so Gontro finally, after 25 minutes, arrives at Mario's table. Yes, officer, there. It's. Arresting now. Come on, I'm just saying, man. So Mario's like welcome to Naples. And then Gontrol sits and goes like nice city. Mario smiles. Yes, we're very proud of it. A waitress comes and puts some like wine stuff on the table. Mario like paws like a massive like a ridiculously huge glass of like red wine for them both takes ages and then goes Mario, Mario. Mario's like Naples is delicate, a beautiful machine.

Every piece has its place and drinks And then Gunter of like big long paws and goes machines break ha ha ha. Which which? Which is actually a bar. It is. It is a big cry about, but it's actually a bar as well. Machines break. 2 words Perfect. No, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is it. So we talked in like about two words stints for the whole movie. Yeah, it's Mario again, performance like sometimes, but usually only when someone new arrives and starts pulling levers they do not understand. And then then we got like a Dolly around the table.

So it's like each guy's in in profile and then right in the middle of the frame for fucking no reason is the is the like the Chiquita banana lady dancing? Oh, great. And she's and she's like spinning. It's spinning, it's spinning. And then, like, the jazz music's playing and someone goes like as she's spinning. The corner back on she's. A little cut to edit to Mario's face again. He's like, tell me Gunter of do you enjoy Naples? And Gunter was like, I just arrived and he's like of. Of course, but life does not make sense.

Did you enjoy Naples? I just arrived. Yeah, And then he's like, yes, of course you must understand something. This city belongs to Neapolitans. We speak the language, we know the tides, we know when the storms are coming and then gone. To our shrugs goes. Storms come anyway, ha. Ha ha, ha. And I said, yeah, he's he's the guy. The guy, right? He talks like Steven Seagal movie titles, these like 2-2 or three word sentences at times. Hard to kill a good man. Pink don't hurt. It's like, yeah, he's like, he's like Patrick Swayze in the start of Roadhouse.

Just like pink don't hurt like. Pink don't hurt. Yeah. So then the camera kind of does like a game, steady, calm. It's like handheld shaky Cam, but kind of like walks away from them and kind of does like a big like what would become like the Scorsese wanna like all the way through like the restaurant bit of the where the tables are in the club and then onto the dance floor. Scorsese, it takes ages. It's like not good here. It's not like the sort of good fillets where it's like brilliant. It's just a bit like, why has he done that on the middle of a scene anyway?

Does this and then eventually like into frame steps. I do like this catcher steps into frame and it's like, ah, we're following catcher rugby and catcher stands in the dance floor and they're like couples dancing around her, but she's got nobody. And then she sees Sofia Loren dancing with like an ancient, ancient man. An ancient man, but.

Take about to get back in time with me. It'll be humans never existed, no technology. I hope that Lady is doing well. Yeah, so do I. And then like Sophia is dancing this guy, he. Looks super fucking into it by the way. He looks super he's like I am 3000 years old. This is my I have lived 3 millennia to put my hands on Sofia Lorenz bare shoulders. That's why I will die. Basically, he probably went home, but he gooned himself to death that night. Yeah, there's a Clute mentioned. There's a, there's a, there's a guy in Clute who's like he's like one of the regular customers for Jane Fonda.

And he's like, he's like in his late 70s and he's like, and there's a whole scene where like Donald Sutherland's like stood in the shadows, like, like watching her and recording her as she has this meeting with this John to like build up, like compromise on her so that you will help her, that she will help him even. And the whole thing is that she's telling a story that didn't happen, but how she's just come back from an incredible party from a from a trip to Canada with, with a theatre troupe because she's, she's like her, her kind of stories that she's this great actress kind of thing.

And this old dude is just there like watching it. And she strips and the whole dude's watching and like, Oh my God, amazing. He like pulls like wine for her and stuff. And then like, and then and then, and then it cuts to like Jane Fonda kicking off at Donald Sutherland because she found out he's been recording it. He's like this. And it's like this old bad. It's like in his 70s and like his wife died and like I see him like once a month. He pays me $200. He never links a finger on me and I'm all he's got.

Wow. Anyway, this old fuck is who's dancing with to feel around is very similar. Yeah. Yeah, right. So wild. If you could feel anything below the belt it'd be fucking sickle. But. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the whole point of the scene is that for Sofia and Catcher to make eye contact, which they do for a second, and then classic, classic, like chase me, chase me Sofia kind of like looks at her, doesn't really give an expression, but you can see this like some underneath. Then she just turns her attention away again and continues dunting with the old guy.

And then the dance ends and then she walks away. Dancing with the fucking Crypt keeper after like eye bag and cut. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, well, we are. We are picking up what this film is putting down. Yeah, And before we get to enjoy any more of that, even come back to the table with Mario and Guntrov. Mario's like your ambitious Guntrov Gutrose. Like, yes, ambition is admirable, but Naples is not a lot of you climb is he goes. It is a throne. And this is like the first opportunity to like freak out.

This is like proper like Vincent Hannah level stuff. But like obviously he's still young. But like Attica, Attica, it's like you're around water. He's like he's like Naples is not a lot of you climb. It's a throne and there's already a king sitting on it. And then and then Gonzo is like. He's really over egging the performance as well in like the the nightclub and you can tell like the extras were told don't, don't react and don't bounce at him, but a couple of them do. That was like straight up fucking look over him.

And one of them, it looks like the film's edited at this point, because I think one of those extras look like straight down the barrel and it didn't realise until they were doing like kind of like recuts and stuff. There's at least, there's at least one more time, I think later on where somebody spikes the lens and looks the way into it. Yeah, big time. So that happens. He does that. He spills his drink a little bit and then Contra just like cold as fuck as like kings fall. Again, it's just talking two word line as well, two or two or three words.

Kings 4. It's like fucking half the things he says sound like strap lines for film. Film like posters and trailers. Machines break kings. Four, Yeah, yeah, yeah, soon as that and then and then he's like, yes, yes, they do. But when kings fall, Gunter of when kings fall, they take the whole king do with them and then yeah, yeah, yeah, and then like even and then this is like the she keep another woman. Stop spinning. Yeah. And it's like, what's going on? Everyone's like, what the fuck? Like I think the guy sit next to the like Mario, like stand up, like shit's gotta kick off.

And then he does that kind of like everyone sits back down again. And he goes, So I ask you politely, Gunter off, wouldn't you perhaps be happier somewhere else? And then Gunter off just goes no, I like nipples. And then he walks away. It's like what the? Fuck is the scene it's. Meant man, it's like hashtag our guy like, no, I like it here. I've just come all the way here. I'm, I'm, I'm going to go away now. Come. On and then yeah, exactly that happens. And then the last thing to end the scene is there's like a booth behind like the table that Mario and that are all that which we don't even notice because it's just like like maroon velvet.

It's all lit red anyway. You can barely see it. Yeah. And then and but then, like around the side of it just steps out. Well, getting up, shuffling out. Is Harvey Cattell, Andre. Yeah, that's when we see him. And then just before, and then just before, like he looks at Mario. Mario looks at him. And then it looks like they're about to say something. And then it cuts and they're like, oh, what the fuck was that? Yeah. So that's that fucked up, man. That was that's so mental. How far are we through now?

We're barely into it. We're barely into the film. Like the fucking nightclub scenes early in the film, right? And like. Why is he? We've just met him and this guy's freaked the fuck out straight away. We barely know him. This is like the second time we've seen Mario and he's done like a full freak out. So weird. Italians be crazy, am I right? Yeah, I think we get like a bit of a montage now of like the crime organisation being set up from like gun troves. And part of what's happening here is also getting like voiceover from Harvey Hotel talking about how like fuck they was he say some bullshit about like how they're not eating pastor at the docks anymore, they're eating borscht or something.

Something really stupid like that. Yeah. It's like it's, it's, it's well. They're drinking. The sip involves girls stupid like that. It's like some food. Fashion drinking vodka and spiced tea or something yeah double check it, but it's like. Russian caravan Fucking yeah, whatever. Fucking Russian caravan ass tea drinking and. Then we get the pig farm scene and it's gone through himself as the pig farm, and then they explain how whenever they have to kill people, they go out into like the countryside and it's an old pig farm there.

It's about fucking Snatch. Actually. I think Snatch nicked this. I think nicked this big time. Yeah, big time, Dennis Farina. Millennium nicked it as well. The bit with the judge and he's got the pigs. Right. Yeah, There you go. So it's exactly that. So right. That's later on the point then. Basically they take the bodies to a pig farm. The pigs eat the bodies, and the farmer is this old big fat guy, Yeah, called Yevgeny, who's, you know, I think they're meant to be like, he's one of the pigs because he's got like little small glasses and the lies.

And it's so weird. It's like it's in Italy, but the farmers are Russian, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I mean, like, I mean like, they're not going back to Russia to utilise a Russian pig farm. It's clearly in Italy, the way it's shot, the fucking like montage of like driving past olive Groves and shit on the way there. Like it's still Italy and it's like fucking what it's like. The dust of the mezzo Giorno, all that stuff. Yeah, fucking fucked up. So yeah, again, he's like, laughing. And he says, oh, and this is a bit weird.

It's in Russian language as well. Yeah. So he says in Russian to control he's speaking English about maybe one of these days I'll be feeding new to these pigs as a joke. Yeah. And it's in it's in subtitles. Yeah. Yeah. And then like, and then gun Trump doesn't laugh because he doesn't laugh at anything. And he just gets just gets back into his car and is driven away. He. Should have given like one of us like looking two line responses like maybe so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, probably yeah, baby.

So yeah. Pigsy, everyone. Dies. Things are happening now. I'm going to just do a quick position. Guntarov and Andrea have a meeting. Not not a meeting, but they meet up in a, in a, in a market. So it's like, it's like a mirror image of when there were kids in the market stealing. Now they're grown-ups in the market, but they're like buying apples and shit. We have God, yeah, we haven't ever seen, but this is our first proper chess match between a Guntarov and Mario. So they're like in a, it's like a club, like a gentlemen's club.

So I guess they're both members of the same fucking club. Who the fuck is playing all this chess and nightclubs? This shit's bizarrely Andrew Tate coded at this point. Yeah, Yeah. So this is like a daytime meets, but is the nightclub where I think, yeah, so there. So it's like, you know, it's like the classic like go to the nightclub during the day when no one's there and it's like just the bad guys talking to you, that kind of thing. So it's like it's empty. But them two are there like having like a little Chianti and like playing a game of chess.

And they have the exact same fucking conversation again about how like, you know, would you be happy somewhere else? No, I like Naples. Do you like Moscow? No, I like Naples. Like your wife catches really beautiful. Thanks. Like like he. Literally says thanks. So he says thanks or thank you. And it's like, I mean, we, we, we all have you all have significant others at this point. If, if, if I don't want to meet Rory or white street are beautiful. I would say more fucking thanks. You know what? I'm saying, well, he says, he says thanks and then he and then he goes beauty is who erases and it's like, what the fuck does that mean?

Yeah, exactly. It's like he, he, he, he, he, he says thanks, but then he just kind of dunks on her a bit. I mean Jesus. It's clear that they're not happy, right? And they have problems. And whilst he's not comfortable to, I don't know why he opens up about this to to Mario like it's just fucked up. It's one of the many homoerotic relationships developing for the film. Well, yeah, I mean, he's just, he's, he's like feeling things out, isn't he? Like he's feeling things out. He's like, what if? What if I actually didn't find my hot wife attractive?

What if then what? What if you know? Is there a is? Is there a Mr? Cool. So we have that catcher, right. OK, so then the final thing that I think ends this bit is Catcher finally meets Sofia. But it's a bit so. So Catcher is going to like, she's like in a cafe and it's at night time. Yeah, Yeah. And it looks really as she walks into a cafe like normal, there's like normal ordinary people there. She walks like through to the back and goes into like a backroom. And it turns out there's like like a meeting going on.

And I think it's like, I think it's like, I think it's the Russian population in Naples are having some kind of like political activist PC that is poorly describes. Sophia is like mysterious, unknowable. It seems a little bit aloof, but she does like she's clearly returning whatever cat she's picking up, whatever cat she's putting down kind of thing. The meeting ends. So right, we've got Catcher. She's been to that meeting. She goes to the catfish. She's met the political activist, she's met Sofia, who's a charismatic, an independent woman who's been organising protests against corruption in the city.

That's what it says in the synopsis. I didn't catch that. No, she's she's, she's investigating all the government and political and financial corruption. Yeah, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, all this national and international corruption she knows is going on and she says Sofia challenges can't. Yeah, men like your husband think power makes them safe. And then Catcher studies of her moment and she goes power makes men careless. And that is like our hints that an emotional bond has been formed between Katya and Sofia.

Yeah, have to say now, Katya and Sofia walked. So those two lesbian revolutionaries and and OR could run. Yes, that's such a good pull. Yeah, totally. Oh my God. Yeah yeah. Oh, bless them. Some interpretations. This is from from the Wikipedia. Consider catcher's relationship with Sofia is central to the film. She may be the protagonist. Wins you 2 queer readings. Sofia, A1 legged Jewish refugee. I didn't catch on to her having one leg during the dancing season. Still not at all I I think that's something that might exist only in the script.

Not a single thing about. I suggest she was one legged. A1 Legged a Jewish refugee hiding from fascists that becomes a catcher's confidante and lover. Fans highlight again. When is this film set? Yeah, what the fuck Ish ish hiding? From. Current day Italian fascists because what it's like this, This was written by it just seems like it was lost words. It feels like it was written by someone who had only the vaguest idea of European politics in 1973 or whatever. It's like she's spin the wheel and one leg spin the wheel.

Jewish woman who was hiding from spin, spin, spin, spin, spin and spin. And it clicks on from like communists, libertarians, trade unionists, fascists, hiding from fascists. It's like, OK, cool, wild. It's obviously insane, so Catcher confesses that she envies Sofia's fearlessness and imagines flowers growing through her bones. Bars. That's an. Absolute fucking bar actually. It's like what's online saying if you die flowers will grow through your bones. It's. Like, yeah. It's it's an absolute fucking.

It's also disturbingly redolent of the IRL put put sunflower seeds in your pockets lying from that old lady. Ture of the full skilled vision of your print, which is fucking also bars from that old lady by the way. The homoerotic subtext of their relationship has become a major focus of Phantom Analysis, but not the only one. The ACT ends with a pants hit, so again, very little set up to this. I love some of these songs for this stuff. Just happens they attempt to hit. I think it's Mario's men attempt to hit on Gunter of when he's at the train station under the transition clock and on the platform.

And Mario's men, it's our first time we see, I speak Joe, but he's not the focus of the camera. Yeah. He's just like one of the guys that's there still has the ice pick. He's a sort of gun. And they ambush Gunter of the Naples Central Air Station. A chaotic shootout takes place that some people have since referred to as maybe the inspiration for the Untouchables train station shootout. But it's not. It's not as good as that. It's just like literally opposite sides of a platform of the trains line between them and it's going.

And it's not shot very well. A. Lot of a lot of like night and 70s ass fucking shooting from the hip as well. Yeah. Yeah, like it's like. That noise. Yeah, just like squibs, squibs popping off and like, it's it's cool, but it's it's not the Untouchables. There's no random Matlow's on leave getting shot in snow Bush and with a try. My gosh. Yeah, what does happen though is the clock on the platform gets shot and it's and the glass slashes and it lands at gun droves feet as he's like a bit shaken up for having survived that assassination attempt.

The police comes like whistles and everyone flees the scene. And this time it's actual Italian police and not a random fucking Russian guy running them for whatever reason. Yeah, and so the first act of Gontrov is about arrival and ambition, then the second act is a erosion and instability. Alliances begin to crack, personal loyalty's become uncertain and the characters slowly realise that the game they have entered may not have a winning outcome. This is my notes I made during the week the the apps opens several weeks after Gontrov's attempted assassination.

In this time his influences are expanded even more rapidly and Andre is very much painted as like his sort of two IC like right hand man kind of thing. Ever kind of run to the joint kind of vibe. The Russian syndicate has secured smoking route through the harbour and new connections with corrupt officials. We get like a bit where like some local functionaries are getting like glad handed, that kind of thing. Mario Ambrosini is going skits. Yeah, Al Pacino is unhappy. He's he's, he's knocking over Crystal where he's he's knocking up, tabling his chess sets and he's throwing his fine.

Leather goes chess sets flying in a row. You see that he's like 3 chess sets on different tables and he's and he's fucking sweeping them off and it's like each one of them has a game on it and like a different like kind of like level of completion. And it's like what story says Frank tell us is he is he playing chess by post with several dying millionaires worldwide? Because if so, he says fuck those games up. Come on dude, Gather. What they should have done this is having like run out of his of his house, like into the park into sort of like like swapping all those games that everyone's playing in the park as well.

Or just or just like beating everyone at it runs up with some old guys who's playing as you get out of the way. I'm going to take this just like fucking fucking like Blitz Chestnut, you know, like. Bad. It's so good. Yeah. We love, we love Opportune. Having a freak out. Very, very good. I guess that's often defining a character movement for him is that he has a short fuse. He at the same time now is a meeting with allies and rival gang leaders. And I think they're trying to get like all the other gangs in Naples to kind of band together to get rid of Gun Troll.

Because nobody, as much as they all don't like each other, the one thing they all really really hate is a Russian guy instead of of Italians, right? The idea that they can like kind of build alliances with this one enemies in order to in order to go after this this intruder lost Raniero, you know, the foreigner outside that kind of thing and it's like. Yeah, we go back to Gene Hackman as Valeri Mikhilov. The fucking improbable Russian police officer, right? Who's working for the Italian police? So there was a body.

A body has been found at the docks. I don't know why this boy is important because we've seen those people get killed already and sent to a pig farm. Nevertheless, someone has carelessly left this body in situ and Inspector Mikhilov is now doing an investigation on it and he wants to try and pin the murder on Guntarov, who it's not, it's not explained. And again, I think this is like a four hour cut thing. But but Mikhilov knows Guntarov and hates Guntarov. And I then, I don't know, there's like a few lines like a bit throw away where it implies that maybe like it's like an old family feud or it's like stuff that happened in the old country or something.

If. You were to be super generous. You could like perhaps kind of head Canada is maybe one of them is from like an aristocratic background, like pre pre like the revolution and stuff. And maybe there's like old kind of like maybe like Mikhailov's kind of like he's got like kind of like heritage that's of like the White Russian kind of side, you know, like from Bourgeois. But he's. Finally lost everything in the revolution. Lost everything you know and like, but then again that's was head cannon and a lot of this film doesn't make fucking sense man.

He's investigating the harbour murder. We literally literally get the whole thing where like they turn their body over on the harbour. Like the crime scene photographer was right in his face with his little camera. Like, Gee, what a story. It's metal. He's like right in the guy's fucking face. It's like. And there's the press. The photographer capture the scene there's. A little fucking Jimmy Austin, like my press guy hanging around as well. Yeah. He's like, he's obviously, he's like speaking and like he's dubbed over.

It's ADR, but because it's obviously like an Italian local, but he's like, he's like what? A school, what's going on kind of thing He's like. The Fox thing, the fact he literally says what a scoop as well. The fact it's literally what a scoop is mental to me. Yeah, yeah. And then and then we get another brilliant bit of of Mikhilov punching a guy in the face. No due process where Mikhilov comes from. He is the law smacks that guy plumbing the face. Like what the fuck? Italy, Russia, we are not so alike.

You and I imagine a monologue. It's like we both are very aggressive police forces. Yeah, that happens. And then we cut back to like the police station, like storms into his own office. And he's got like one of those naughty rooms. He's got like a big map on the wall. And it's like loads of like yarn and like people's pictures up against it and stuff. And it's, and he's trying and it's clear that he's like, trying to like wipe out corruption in Naples. And he's he's never going to get anywhere near it.

But but he's obviously like a hopeless guy on a hopeless mission. Times against him take tick. The clock's ticking, man. Clock's to give a control of and Mikhailov. And there's a clock randomly in the corner of the room on a table, like just quite relatively low on the ground, not in a good kind of dominant position. There's just a fucking clock just in shot. And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can barely see it. Like, it's like an alarm clock. It's one of those like, like radio alarms. And it's like, what?

We get it. The clock is ticking. Fucking shot off. It's ticking. It's ticking, man, you know? Yeah, it's fucking ridiculous. Yeah. So he, he's basically saying like the Russian syndicate arrived and is going to lead to a violent confrontation with Mario's organisation and he wants to try and prevent the city from coming to battlefield. That's his whole big thing. But Mikhilova also understands that something the other characters don't, like crime in Naples, it's not simply about power. It's all about relationships, loyalties, fragile balances that can collapse very quickly, all that kind of stuff.

And hence he's like fucking yarn thing if everyone's connected and if you take this one piece out all the. Piece of yeah. Yeah, Pepe. Yeah, Pepe Sylvia, I think. Pepe, Sylvia. When I when I when I watch it with them on the first time, surely Pepe Sylvia. Pepe Sylvia, which is a reference. Is it the same fucking angle as well? Yeah, it's like the same angle, yes. It is. I mean, I wonder if that scene from All Was Sunny in Philadelphia was maybe kind of. Oblique reference to control. There's only so many ways you can like shoot that particular scene.

Like there's so many angles you can shoot at us. But still the blocking and the whole thing of I need to go back and review that episode like because. Yeah, that's wild. We're. Making a lot of connections. Yeah, much like a fucking Pepe Sylvia board. Too deep maybe? Perhaps. I mean, yeah, so. So the next thing we've got is, is to dub the cigarettes in the rain scene. So it's it's pissing down in Naples. Gunter of IS stood under a street light watching a shipment come in. Yeah. Andrea's with him and Andrea asks Guntrell if he has a light for a cigarette.

So they both put their cigarettes together and Guntrell tries to light with a single flame, both of them at the same time. Both of them light up. They have a single puff and then the rain puts out both cigarettes and they look at each other, longing in the in their eyes, but they don't see anything and it's like the spark has been thwarted by the world they inhabit. No writers who use subtext. And they're all cowards. They're all cowards. Yeah, They might as well swap cigarettes for a second, Do you know what I mean?

Jesus Christ. But while we're here, we're on to the actual tango. Well, there's another casino scene, right? Where we get a lay of the land. Everyone's in the casino again. The. There's like the fucking mare, I think. And like a trade Union Leader or something. Kind of. Oh. Yeah, that guy. The really fucking greasy dude. Yes, yeah. The guy looks like like, like the like the sweaty Papa John video, but he's like I, I've, I've had like, was it fucking like 35 pizzas in the last 31 days and trying to push out my company.

He's he's that level of like moist, intense. Yeah, yeah. So. Weird you guys caught that right? How fucking just sweaty this dude is? All I can think of you was like directly under one of like the lights maybe? Yeah, yeah, I gotta find his. I'm gonna find him on the IMDb, his Hector Limonez. Hector Limonez. Fucking gal. And the rest of his credits were Italian. I guess he was like an Italian, like film or TV guy. Like a version of like, like he's one of their that guys, right? There's probably loads of people in Italy.

I don't know if you have any Italian listeners among like the 22 or that countries that listen to this show. Thank you very much, guys. By the way, we'll keep adding more and more, more and more overseas listeners to our show every every week or so, which is really cool. So if you recognise this guy, shout up. If you know us contact details, keep me yourself. We don't want to show we stop that. Indeed. So we get about that and it's like this reminds me a bit of of Tafin. It's like lower level functionaries in the area talking about like a particular fucking bit of land deal or something like that.

It's just like, OK, whatever, this is boring, but I get it. Like there's property development in Naples and and the Russians own the territory and blah blah blah blah blah. You will not do the rezoning of our territory. And then right, this is what gets confusing because then we then we cut to the dance floor again that we saw earlier on, obviously the same location and everything. I swear to God, it looks like it's exactly the same scene, but like Sophia is like is dancing with that same old dude, but instead of like it cutting when she like looks away from catcher, it's like the dance finishes and she walks up to catcher.

And then they have like like what is called like the famous tango scene. So the jazz band has given away to a small tango ensembler. Banda neon violin, upright bass. This is this is on the screenplay. Smoke curls towards the ceiling. Glasses clink. Laughter erupts at scattered tables. The banana headdress dancer, which is in the fucking screenplay has moved off stage. That's what we call it as well. Banana headdress dancer like other had dancers. Other dancers are available. Not the Chiquita banana that sits on a nearby table like an absurd crown.

Politicians and gangsters crowd the room at the bar. So yeah, they move over to the bar. I guess Cat just stands alone with the glass of wine she hasn't touched. Her eyes drift back towards the dust floor. I think that's changed that that's different in the movie and then Sophia still dancing with the LDL estre here. It's where it picks up in the in the movie. Man moves safely. Sophia moves like water, guiding magnificently. Catcher watches. Something about Sophia's movement seems to quiet the noise of the room.

Blah blah blah blah blah. Dance ends. Guy shuffles off music shifts, opening bars of another tango. Sophia walks towards Katya, stops just in front of her. Neither woman speaks. Sophia tilts her head slightly. You dance Katya? Not often. Fuck me. It's like a fucking Gunter off family trait. It's these fucking two word sentences. While it's wild, you say This is why, This is why Gulsharov and Kathy Koncharova don't have much relationship. Do you speak in two word fucking sentences? How can you? How?

How can you, how can you build a marriage? But all you do was like say fridge empty, no shop today. Boing Boing head hurts. So Sophia puts a hand out tonight seems like a good exception. And then they she puts a hand in hers. They step into like the light on the dance floor. We get like it's it's the same bit of tango music that I think was used in the scent of a woman when he's like Al Pacino again. So I thought it was like, and again, another like cinema reference to Gunter of where like that same music from the sense of women where he's like blind and dancing in the tango.

It's a piece of music. You don't have a film that's in that. I also want us to do at some point, maybe for an episode of Enrol in the Kitchen Drink and be a talking about with True Lies. Oh yeah. That's in True Lies, baby. It's in the tango scene at the start. Oh, we. Should do that because you talked about doing that last year. We should do that. I did, yeah.

At first, at first their movements are cautious. This is this is again from this is the stage direction. At first their movements are cautious, testing each other's rhythm. Does that mean they begin to move more fluidly? The tango becomes intimate. Catcher follows Sophia's lead, quickly matches her step to step. The camera circles them slowly, not like in carried where it's like spinning and spinning and spinning in terrible. Around them, the club continues it's chaotic life. Mario's men whisper over the cars, a politician drinkingly arguing with a bartender.

Your husband watches everything. Katya glances towards the balcony. Guntherov stands there, speaking quietly with a group of men. His eyes scan the room constantly. Katya, he trusts nothing. Sofia, that must be exhausting. Katya almost smiles. They turn again. The dancer was more intense. Sofia, what about you? Katya, what about me? Sofia, do you trust anything? Katya considers. I trust gravity. It's the only thing that hasn't let me down yet. Fucking hell, fucking hell. I can't decide if it's a bar, if it's funny, if it's accidentally funny.

What the hell? I'm putting the fork. Do you guys think that was put in there as a joke? It must have been like, how did she keep a straight face during that? Like that's ridiculous. And obviously like, you know, they have the whole thing in Taxi where it goes to like watch a movie and it's a fucking porn movie. Like she must know, like there's jokes in this movie. I just remember the fucking porn movie date from OH. Fucking Sophia that's a lonely way to live. CATCHER You seem less lonely. Sophia Appearances are persuasive liars.

And then Sophia well, that's absolute. Appearances are persuasive liars. Sophia what brought you to Naples? Catcher A train.

It's like everyone in this film is gay and autistic. It is the most 2026 film we've done. It really is. And then Sofia, what? What will keep you here? Catcher does not answer. I really hope she would say something like that'll. Keep me here. ScotRail The dance ends up replays. Music stops. The pause scatters throughout the club. Obviously some people are whispering because it's like it's two women, two women. Lesbianas in my doubt club. Indeed. And then across the room, Guntarov watches from the balcony, his expression unreadable because he's unreadable for the whole movie.

And behind him, Andre leans casually against the railing. She dances well. Guntarov says nothing. Andre. So does the city. So does the city. Guntarov yet again, with his fucking favourite saying. Cities fall, empires crumble, clocks stop ticking, Andre eventually. It's like Andreas Andreas inner monologue is like don't shout off I am hard gay for you. Everyone's. So everyone's an edge Lord. Everyone in this whole movie is an edge Lord. Like no one can talk normal, just talk normal. It's a city's fall.

Empires crumble, go back to the club.

Come give me a hug, I can really get rubs.

My job sucks. Oh God, cities fall. My back is killing me. I'm very busy. Cities fall man. Sorry, witness. Oh man, fucking Christ. Sofia, there are quieter places. She writes an address on a napkin hanser to catch her. If you ever want to see the city without all the noise, find me in Libri Effimethi on via Alessio Mccuttsey between PM and three PMI SEL who made copies of Italian Spider Man comics. I fucking love it and give. Some like a fucking time slot as well. Yeah, yeah. This, this was actually being a bit of a fucking card watching the film and Nelly got a fucking slap on the back of the head, but I was like ever.

I bet she was just written like my pussy on the napkin. Yeah, that's literally, that's literally it. So she's like, yeah, she says that and then like she walks out catch she watches ago. And I feel like this was meant to happen like the first time they met because they've already met up and she's obviously she's obviously gone to this place and they've met each other already and they've had the political meeting and stuff. So they've kind of sorted it later in the film to probably make more sense, more intimate later.

But it's also like still frames like a first thing. It's really fucked up. Anyway, stupid, stupid film. Anyway, I love it. Stupid film. Let me get a really weird scene. And it's only short and it's a bit like experimental cinema, I guess. We get a scene, it cuts to them like there's no establishing shot or anything. It's literally Katya and Sofia sitting at a table outside, like our fresh cook kind of thing, outside a Cafe, sipping like a drink. And then Andre is there, but Andre is playing the violin.

It's so weird. And it goes on for like a minute and I and I don't like, what did you think when you saw that? Like what the fuck? I actually said out loud, this is the world's worst Polly duel. Could you imagine? It's like we have, we have successfully collectivised the relationship. It's so weird. Like is, is it fucking symbolic that he's doing the it's like symbolic, is he really there? Is is is him? Is is him playing the violin just a symbol of Howard doing this on that like everyone's nose kind of thing.

It was so weird. Yeah, it reminds me makes. Sense, right? It remind me of that bit in in The Simpsons where like Homer's watching Twin Peaks, but it's but it's like a White Horse dancing with somebody under a tree next to a street lamp and he's like brilliant. I have no idea what's going on. I honestly think maybe the correct outcome is they probably had an extra setup to play the violin who couldn't make it that day. And he's just like, put me in coach. To me, Harvey Katel, what are the lead actors in the film?

I'll do it. Yeah, I'll do it and just tell, tell people or not question it. And then fucking 40 odd years down the line, fucking hell, 50 years top cheer. I'm old. 50 years down the line, a bunch of film dirt. So good. Do you think he's really there in the scene or, or is he just a symbol? And we will, Harvey Kate, tell us for sake. I'm just trying to not do the usual Harvey Keitel thing of getting my Dick out for my role. That's what I was going to say. I was going to watch the piano. So there's two scenes in quick succession.

So there's one where we see Ice Pick Drew being an enforcer. So like we introduced to his Ice pick basically. And then the next scene I think is really weird. So it's Ice Pick Drew's famous monologue. It's not really a monologue. It's a it's a 2 hander, but it's they call it monologue because he does the most of the talking, because he's the only person in this film that can string a sentence together. He's he's the only one of the actors who didn't that fucking carbon monoxide exposure during the during the film and basically.

Is alone in her, like I guess they live in like a large apartment or a townhouse or something. See bunch of works all the time. He's never home. That's part of the reason why they have such a terrible marriage. She's there on her own. Sophia is implied as to have just left because there's like like an ashtray on a table and it's like a cigarette still burning. That's obviously not catches. Catches Smokey as well. Everyone in the film smokes all the time. It's great. You can almost smell this film.

Yes, yeah, honking. Did you know what kind of person off for like the whole like nature of control of the control of as marriage, right? When you're a crime boss, you can make your own hours, right? You've got shit on the go, but you haven't like a manager. You've got like constantly checking in with peas, with deer. It's not like a fucking Rd I stick to you're literally there is no one above you. You know you can, you can you can bitch things off to your minions and stuff. Go do this. Go kill Jimmy the heart.

I'm just gonna chill here with my wife, otherwise I am going to get cooked big time by Sophia Loren. Makes you wonder like why, why you get into, I mean, I'm not a crime boss. Why would you get why did you get into it if you're not going to like have some fun, you know, have a nice he's working anti social hours here. You should be like, if I was a crime boss, I'd be finished by like half three every day. Yeah, yeah, I'd be finished with half three. My wet works guys were doing the night shift. I would just fucking chill.

Watch the money coming in, show the flag in meetings, you know, speak, speak my underlings and stuff. Have a good time. Have sex with Civil Shepherd a lot, you know. You know, you know I do. I always be like Vito Corleone at the end of The Godfather. I'd be just sitting in Sicily with my house and my orange grooves in front of me, whatever. And I'd be in orange and I'd do the thing where I put the peel in my mouth to use my, my, my child nephew. And then I would dive a heart attack. That's what I'd do.

Yeah, I mean, anyway, the best end of crime Boston willpower is to dive a heart attack while entertain your nephew, right? And me. And let's say you're not getting like whacked in Somali way, you know, because it's like at that point you don't cry, boss. You can chill. You don't need to be hands on. Pay attention to your woman, dude. City's fallen sort of marriages. Sort of marriages, man. Yeah, go bars Gunture off Gunture. Fucking lunar. I speak Joe infiltrates the apartment. Catcher is not afraid of it.

And I think that implies but, and it's probably a four hour cut thing like Catcher and I speak Joe already knew each other and maybe he's like a guy for hire and maybe she's worked for maybe for both. But I think they have a bit of a, a bond because she's a bit of a, you know, a bird with a broken wing, bit of a loss. So. And he is very much the same because he's like John Cazale. Yeah, Joe has been sent by Mario to deliver a warning to Gontrov. Guntrov's not in. He's never fucking in. All right?

So instead he finds Katya alone in the drawing room with her apartment. He places his ice pick down on the table. He's there's. Have you seen like the the the commentary online about how the ice pick is a reference to like the mood? Like how Trotsky was assassinated? I didn't say discourse about it, but half with him. I sat in the watch. I thought, well, actually the ice pick, Trotsky. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. This this whole film gives itself eagerly to over analysis, But I mean, come on.

Yeah, there's got there's got to be a reason why it's an ice pick. I mean, he could have been hatchet jewel. He could have been could have been stocking full of sand jewel. He could have been he could have been 2 golf balls and a sock jewel. But he's ice pick jewel for a reason. And it's like, because that was indeed the fall of a, of a authoritative, powerful Russian who fled Russia, right? So back to the movie. So catch completely unfazed by Isaac Jew's appearance, says you're early. Joe sits down, puts the puts aspect down and she finally looks up, studies him and goes I wounded when Mario would send you.

Joe doesn't say anything and Joe goes out of nowhere. And this is pretty. Judy says you remember the hospital and it's like what it's like I I don't as a viewer of the movie, don't remember the hospital. The fuck are you talking about? I remember the man who would not stop screaming, and Joe nods a little bit. They said I was sick, said my head was wrong. Joe picks up the ice pick again and taps, taps it against the desk. Tick, tick. They had tools for that. Catcher glances at the ice pick. And did it work?

Joe smiles faintly. I left before they could try. I love how he should just assume as he's being lobotomized like many of the characters and actors in this film clearly were. And you told me something once. You said a man isn't what was done to him. Do you remember saying that? It's just like I, I said a lot of things. Most people lie when they say it. Joe picks up the ice pick, turns it slowly in his fingers. You believed it? Catcher leans forward. If I believe it while you're here working for Mario.

Joe shrugs. Because believing something and living it. He types the He types the ice pick against the decks again are two different things. The catcher. Did Mario send you to kill Gunter of? Joe shakes his head. Not tonight. He puts the pick down, but the clock is moving. Catcher for whom? Joe moves towards the door. He stops without turning around. Everyone. Joe exits. A ticking clock fills the room. Cut to black chills. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone. So. So we've just met ice picture for the first time.

Turns out he was in an asylum. Catcher was in the asylum? Yeah. That's. It doesn't make any sense. The four hour cut. You know what? I bet the four hour cut also fails to shed light on any of this. Like like the the four hour cuts, there's a second extra 2 two hours of Kathy and Sofia just dancing and it doesn't answer any fucking questions at all. Because drunk as all does an American accent, I've got no idea if I speak Jew is Russian or if he's a Neapolitan and at what point they met anybody. It's a very cosmopolitan city is Napoli right?

I mean, it's got like a Russian chief of police cutting around in his fucking fucking Bosco militia uniform has got an American mental patient as as like the chief works for hire guy.

There's there's a big fat Russian but a pig farm just outside tower. The next vaccine is this is where I start to feel Martin Kasuzi's hand as as because big Catholic energy. The next thing we get is the the chime of a cathedral bell. And then Gontarov himself begins to experience doubts about the world he's created. And then he goes into the cathedral late at night and sits alone into a in a church confessional booth. He begins speaking quietly to an unseen priest on the other side of the screen.

And I don't know why. I don't know why there's a confession scene in the movie, but there is. So the first he's like, you know, routine crime, confession of a criminal. He's like, you know, forgive me, Father I've for I've sinned. It has been three weeks since my last confession. Oh, go on, my son. And he's like, Father I've I've committed violent deeds against my fellow man. As it continues, it gets a bit darker. And don't Rob isn't like seeking forgiveness. He's kind of like having his long dark tea Time of the soul.

And he asks the priest like whether the life he has built has any meaning at all. And the priest? He offers no easy answers. And also I don't want to fucking assume things don't shut off. Would be Russian Orthodox right? He wouldn't be a Catholic. I think so, yeah. So, yeah, so he's gone to Catholic Church. He's like, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he just leaves and that was the confession scene for like some reason. And if you like didn't make any sense, guess what happens next. Mario and Guntrov play chess again because like fucking why not, right?

God, it's only been like fucking 15 minutes since I last saw someone play chess. Oh my God. So yeah, back in the backroom like scenic club. I'm sure it was on the fucking same day shooting. I think we may be like swapped out fucking Guntrovs cravat for a different cravat or something. Probably little car I walked in the background that has to walk off. Can you imagine if you did the other groups but actually walks on? I forget to wonder what would cost you by accident. So good this time, the kind of like through gritted teeth diplomacy of the first one is kind of shifted.

The next move will not be on the chess board. It will be on the streets and then we get an emotional scene now between this is really unearned, right? So we get like, this is the big scene between Catcher and Guntrove on the bridge, right? This is so fucking stupid. So we learn a bit about their background, but we it's so an end, right? It's going to be a Catcher conference. Guntrove, on a bridge overlooking the harbour and the clock tower, is visible in the distance. As always, she pulls a gun.

Catcher pulls a gun. With a proper flourish as well, it's like. Yeah, pulls a gun. It's like I'm going to shoot that. Damn. Car full of holes. Neil Green is fucking a gun on us, man. Yeah, she pulls a gun and she points it directly and he's like, no, no, no, Jesus Christ. She lowers the weapon slightly because we're they're like kind of stir each other's eyes for a bit. Deniro does that amazing thing he does where he has that kind of smoke, so satisfied kind of weird smile that he does when he's kind of angry, like, yes, does that face.

So she he's doing that face. She's kind of like there with a gun. And then eventually she kind of loses her nerve a little bit and lowers the gun a little bit and then and then like gotten drum is like, what is this? What is this? Don't you love me? And and she's like, of course we're in love. That's why I tried to shoot you. It's. Like. A fucking scene, yeah. Just like I'm. Like what was that? Incredible. Cut scene. Incredible stuff plan. Yeah, if I was to be charitable about this scene, I would say this is the emotional core of the film.

Unfortunately, this is so clumsy, this film that is like at some points really, really brilliant and some points really, really fucking all over the place. A bit like my opinion of the film Mean Streets, which I know people really, really love, but I think that film is a fucking mess sometimes. And and I know like I haven't. Whereas your fucking several fucking Oscar winning films, obviously I haven't got any. So, you know, like Stolmadits. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Jesus Christ, you know, but yeah, gone to Rob is definitely like where he's learning his craft.

So I think yeah, and I think he hasn't he hasn't quite compiled all his LFE from from mean streets yet. I'm going to just list out a number of the scenes. So first of all, the, the tit for tat kind of like occasional, you know, put one in the hospital, the youth one in the morgue kind of stuff is given away to like a full attack. Mario does a big ambush on one of Guntrove's warehouses, smashes up a load of like crates and stuff, sets fire to some crates, kills a bunch of guys. Smoke rises over the city.

Guntrove gets informed by a phone call. He slams down the receiver. He's really pissed off. Says more than 4 words. Says well yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I want him dead. I want him dead. I want his family dead. I want I want to burn down his house and piss on his ashes. I want to protect my gay wife off my hands. Jesus Christ, same thing. So yeah, get that. So Marizanne Bush on the, on the harbour, all those functionaries that they're getting bribed, stop getting bribed. And like police start like arresting like bad members of gun trobs gang without any fucking evidence or anything because they can, because they're the fucking police.

And, and everyone's like, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? And they're just like fucking bundling people in the backs of vans and gun robbers. Like, oh shit, I've failed to do that thing that you're meant to do when you sort of a crime network, which is to like secure the establishment so that you, you become like a thing that they have to live with rather than like something they're trying to actively destroy. I think that like the this, the bullshit, I've seen that like 3 or 4 of the extras in that scene, but like play outs from the Italian National Football team, I think that's bullshit.

Yeah, that's it, right. Whoa. I mean, I don't know what I don't know about like 1970s fucking. Yeah, yeah, you put media about that, but I've had a deep dive and there's some people who will fucking fight in the streets to say that like three or four of those guys were actually as the fucking Italian national team who did like fucking unclear cabbios. So we get like another montage now, but it's like the net is closing on on Guntroff. So like not Andre obviously, but like his over lieutenants start getting like assassinated like 1 by 1.

So we got that guy who gets like he's in his bathtub. He just gets like, killed to kill in his bathtub. It's so wild. It's so wild because like, obviously they can't have like kind of squibs going off on his bare skin. So it kind of like cuts away for a moment to that shot of just the mirror with like no one behind it or in it. And that it's like, and he's lying like just like, just like, just like all, all full of holes and follow, follow holes. Jesus. Oh, it's a real shame. There's a guy who's riding the pony.

Yeah, the pony is fucking mental, dude. Like what the hell man? And that guy just gets someone like a hunt and rifle from like like at least a mile away, right? What the hell? It's like absolutely in the cinema and he falls off his fucking pony and the pony just stands there. My favourite 1 is the the guy in the boat. So there's the yeah, yeah, sorry, the horse just stands there. It reminds me of the car bombing bit in Michael Clayton where he's just there looking at the three horses and the car bomb goes from the background and the, and the course has all run away totally.

But the boat, right. So there's the guy who's the guy who's on the lake. Is it the lake or is it like The Hobbit Inlet? It might be like at sea actually, but he's like he's in a little rowboat anyway and he's fishing, but he's fishing with like dynamite. So the but he's like there with like one of his, I guess he's like mates or he's got like a bodyguard or something. But but then the bodyguard just like punches in the face, lights a bunch of the dynamite and then like jumps off the boat and starts swimming away.

And it's like, dude, you're going to get fucked by that as well. You're in the boat, you push him off, you throw him in the fucking water, and then you drive away in the boat while while the dynamite does its work, it's like going back, like fight choreography and stuff. The scene and like the montage from that Russian guy just runs up with those two dudes who got off the Vespa, braised them, and then just like runs away super fast. Like he could have done a big nut straight away from the camera look cool.

It's like whoever's right in these fight scenes doesn't know how to finish them sometimes. Yeah, this is like classic thing of when the when the explosion happens with the the dynamite as well. Like they've clearly like filmed that separately and cut it in. So it's like the boats like for like a split second. It's obviously there's no boat there. So like it's, it's like the boat, this guy on the boat and the next thing you see it's just the the water cleaning up. But there's no boat there and there's no wreckage.

It's just like a water explosion and then it cuts back and there's like wreckage and a guy like floating head, like face down in the water kind of thing, which is probably from the pool somewhere else. Yeah. But yeah, that was wild. God, it's a good 10. There's a fuck, sorry. There's the guy. There's a guy playing darts. There's a guy like like in what? Like what? Must be like the Nepalese version, like Neapolitan version of like a fucking English pub. Yeah. Like pipe. And that in itself is fucking weird.

Like we had like the musics like Dead Jazzy and Dad like, like cool and upbeat. And then this guy just goes in. You get like the cut to like he's got like brass knuckles on each hand and it's something we had like close up and like he flexes his knuckles and then just it cuts to the guy like dad. But it's like it'll be like really bloody and stuff, but it's like we don't even got to see him get punched, man. And but but but there's like all the dots lying around his feet. You only get 3 right to throw and it's like 17.

I counted them absolutely. I wonder, you know, how like, when people see the room in the cinema and, and because there's all those photo frames with pictures of spoons and then people, like, throw plastic spoons at the screen, darts at the screen. Yeah, That's so nuts, man. Yeah, So those assassinations take place. It's a bit like weird Jackie version of the end of, like, the Godfather, right? Gun Trover's received news of all his lieutenants being killed. And then he gets a phone call from Mario Ambrosini himself.

And he says you might want to go down to the docks to your boathouse because I've got I've got your friend Andre. And he's like, what the fuck? And it's like really foggy and it's really like closely shot. And there's the whole thing was like driving there and he's like skidding around the road and he's like, he's like speeding past the police and stuff. It's actually a good fucking driving scene as well. It's actually really well put together seeing this and it's and it's good because it gives because it gives the scene the depth that it needs because that's be honest.

He is totally in love with him and he's, he's like, don't like find the man that he wants to take down, you know? Yeah. So he gets there. And as he arrives, like a whole bunch of Ambushini's men are, like, raising one of his, like, warehouses. And there's like a big gunfight going on. And his guys are, like, like, putting in a fight. It's like overrun with, like, Ambushini's guys. And noticeably and very sadly, in the fight, Ice Pick Jew gets shot on the face. And we have a whole thing where he drops his Ice pick, which has been inexplicably carrying around the whole movie.

So all people get really upset about that, the depth of Ice Pick Jew. Yeah, I know, right. Really sad. So, you know, if I can pull one out for I speak Joe, He's he's he's he's he's gone. And in the in the chaos of it all, we see like Andre, like yell out to, to, to to Guntrov. He's like, he's like Guntrov and he's like. And then they they, they kind of run off out the back of one of the White Houses across like through the valley way and into into like where the boathouse is on a jetty. They bust into the boathouse.

And then Andre says, like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Guntarov. And then shuts the door of the boathouse, locking him inside. And then and you think, oh, fuck me, I can't believe it. He's actually finally betrayed him. But then like a bunch of Ambrosini's guys all lined up outside the boathouse with that guns and stuff. And then and then Ambrosini's there and he says, no, Andre, it's me who is sorry. And then he and then he points his own gun at Andre and he says like, join your friend. And then he makes him go into the boat house as well.

So Andre's just betrayed gun trip. This has been a fucking awkward moment. About that, you know, I get sick. About what happened just a second ago, you. Know some things fucking needs most things happen stuff stuff goes down, you know, it's not anything can happen day it's anything can. Happen. Absolutely wild. So yes, we get into the harbour boathouse. What was that go up? That wasn't me. Five years ago. It's just just that didn't happen. That was some other guy that. Was. You're just confused.

Good, shut off. You're just confused. This is so horny for me. It's fine. I'm Andrea, old man. Love me. So funny. So yeah, they get inside and there's like now a lot of a lot of sexual tension inside the Boa house already is Katya who's been like tied up and Sophia, who has also been tied up and I don't know what the fuck she's doing there. Really unclear. Like what's what else is going on as well as I should have mentioned earlier in the in the in the warehouse fight, the police are there also shooting as well.

And like also a bunch of gangs. So like it's just absolute pandemonium. It's like a fucking like it's like fucking the end of bugs in the loan with the fucking pie shooting guns. It's just like, absolutely fucking. Chaos. It's just like. Really, really hard to pass. They just threw a lot of extras at the situation really didn't they? Like like I said this, this scene needs at least 20 more extras with various like rattle submachine guns just to just to make things even noisier. Books and building came out after this as well.

Yes. I'm just thinking, yeah, because it was the same year as Taxi Driver in 1970. 6 Is there another maybe bit of influence? Probably not. Probably, yeah. I love what you said. Probably, probably not there, but I mean, hey, you know. I'm think like all I'm saying is Judy Foster is Tallulah. Maybe you've taken a few things from from catcher. Holy shit, man. In the boathouse, continuous. The interior is cramped. Fishing Nets, crates, fuel drums, a motor boot bobbing in the water beneath a hatch in the the deck.

Gontrov, Andrei and Catcher are in there. There's rain started. Rain starts hitting the roof and catches listening catches like I'm sorry Koncharov, they found me and and I look how. Katya calls him by his surname by. The way you know. Right, Mrs Katya Koncharova calls Koncharov his fucking surname. All the way through the movie as well. Like, nobody calls him by his first name. And just like, yes, no, they have thumbed us. And then as that happens, a bunch of like, gunfire rips through the wooden walls.

The lamps swing around everyone like jumps on the floor. People are trying to untie like Catcher and Sofia. There's like a there's like another guy in there, like another random dude who I think his entire point for being in the scene is just so we can get shot here. Really funny. There's like some cans and like and like barrels and stuff in there as well. Right as that happens, the last remnants of Goncharov's loyal gang arrive. They're on another boat and the boats coming into the boathouse to pick him up.

The bullets in there for some reason isn't getting used. Don't quite understand why it's there, really. It's fucking mental stuff. Like why couldn't just move that? Anyway, that happens. Yeah, Andrea's going look the back exit and Guntrov is like, I go nowhere with you and punches him in the face and and flies him out and he's like Catcher, come with me. And and and Sophia Catcher's like, no, I can't take the boat. And Guntrov's like, no, he's like catcher, you came here to rule a city. And she like gestures and goes.

Cities require survivors. Cities require survivors. And then Andrea, who's like on the floor sparked. I was like, she's right. And then then Sophia is like, what are you saying, Catcher? And she's like getting into the boat. She's like straight away I'm getting the fuck out of here.

And then Catcher is like she starts kicking over like these leaking fuel cans that have been shot up. Like he's hate these cans. He hates these cats. Stay away from the cans, the liquids like so like obviously like fuels, like pouring out over the floor inside this little wooden boat. And what she's going to do is she's going to like create a diversion, I guess. So like everyone else piles into the boat and she's like Gunter of I never told you about my father. And it's like, what the fuck is she talking about?

Doesn't fucking matter because we're going to find out. And she goes and she kisses on the face and goes go. But there's no tenderness in the kiss only only a bleak finality. Gunter of decides to pull Andre free from the boathouse and puts his unconscious body or Vale his body into the boat and the boat sort of backs away. The door opens to the boathouse. Catcher kicks it open, holding a lighter in her hand, and she goes, What'd she say? She goes. I want to speak with Mario Ambrosini. And then for the gunman, A henchman who probably should have been.

I speak Joe, but I speak Joe's dead. It goes. Mario isn't here. And it's like, well, there's no report between these people, so it's just a random guy. It's a bit like the end of the room where that random guy is like, wait, like, what's this going to do to the friend group? And it's like, dude, you, you just arrived. I feel like, I feel like I'm sitting on an atomic bomb. Behind her, she's already set fire to it. There's it was. It was all a fake outholding of the lights, because flames just lick up behind her.

Kind of cool, I think. It's very cool. And she goes, tell Mario something for me. Tell him, Gunture. I've never wanted Naples. He just wanted to win. And then this guy's like, this guy's like, you should step away from that building. Please, Madam. Please Madam, this is a Wendy's and she's like, I've spent my spent my entire life stepping away. Not tonight. And then she throws the Lysa into the and that's already burning and for some reason that causes it to explode in like a massive conflagration and we get like a split second of like what must have been like a Sybil shepherd shaped mannequin explodes a bit like when you put in like 1 of the cheats incorrectly in two really 2 like just let us go everywhere and we sit for a split second really bad and that is catcher dead real bad.

But it continues. Andrea's boat we see speeding away. Andre control everybody in the boat. Jontrov looks back, the harbour burning behind them, reflections rippling across the water. He says nothing, only looking at the unconscious body of of Andre Fund to know. At this point, Sofia's driving the boat, which is fun. This polycule's out of control, man. Yeah. And then we come back to the henchman who, again, should have been Iceberg Joe, but it's not Iceberg Joe. And he just looks at the wreckage and the chaos around him and goes, well, that's inconvenient.

It's what a fucking lane. Like. What the fuck is this for? Like where? Where did they get this guy from? He's not from the Italian National Football team, that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely nuts. So all that's left now is this is right near the end of film. So as you say, Poliquel is in disarray. The. Poliquel is in disarray. Mr. President, the second bombers hit the Poliquel, you know, like we got a final, we do get a little denouement sorry of of Gene Hackerman. So Gene Hackerman, Gene Hackman's police car pulls up to the harbour, which is completely on fire, along with like the fire service and stuff.

He gets out of his car seems like the, the, the strews bodies, the bricks, everything going, the smoke just pulls off his ushanka, throws up on the ground and stamps on it. And that's the last time we see him. It's crazy, it's crazy. What even, what even part of the force organisation chart of the local police does he take up because he's got? Because he's got. Like such like chief of police energy and sub scenes. He's got such like detective energy and some of us. And it's something just like he he seems like an average patrolman, you know, except he's in his fucking Moscow militia uniform or whatever it's meant to be.

So the final scene after that, so we are left unclear as to the face of Andre. Is he is he we don't see him again. For the final thing we get is under the clock tower. There is a little chest table set up and Mario. And I don't know if this is like fucking like the 7th seal kind of vibes or something, or like like it's meant to be happening in the in the theatre of the mind or something, or it's like metaphorical or something. But but both Pacino's and Nero long before he'd sit down at this this chess table to have like their their big scene together.

And yeah, they're playing chess. They're basically both saying like, and now we are finally here. Our rebels have ended. We are, we are both kings without kingdoms and and like, you know, gun trolls like kingdoms fall. But I am a king without my queen, but I still have my Prince and this kind of bullshit. And it's like, well I'm happy for you, but now I have nothing. And then we pull out and we see both of them are whilst they are playing chess with their like right hands, they are both pulling pistols with their left hands and they both point them at each other.

And then we hear a bang. But as the bang happens, the camera pulls up to like the clock tower as it strikes like fucking like 6:00 in the morning or something as the bang happens. And then it just says contour of and then, and then as the credits come up and it's like 1970s and like fucking 30 seconds of credits. The final thing we see is Sofia her like her feet walking up to like through the through the the wreckage of the of the harbour. And then she kneels down and we see her like approach what must be the disembodies arm of catcher.

But but frankly, we don't see it. We just see her wrist and it's wearing like a little feminine watch and then she and she turns over the wrist to see the watch and the watch the wrist is like is still ticking. It's like and then that's it. Fucking Finn Finito at the end. Incredible film. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. Insane, by the way. I don't. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but like, what do you think? I mean like Jesus. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. It set out what it wanted to do. It also made loads of really fucking weird decisions along the way.

In 2026. Hindsight, it is definitely an incredibly gay film in which, like like I said, everyone's gay for each other in the film. And maybe that wasn't so noticeable in 1970 whatever when it came out. I mean, obviously Katya and and and Sophia very much, but it's like, I think pretty much every male character that gone shut off and count off and shut off like I gotta fuck this guy, you know, he's like good fucking God. So. Oh shit, sorry, I forgot. Like I've got one thing. Sorry. So it it pans up to the clock, gone shut off comes up as like the title card pans back down again.

And it's like a bit ambiguity about like who shot who and who's alive and stuff. And like, if they survive a lot because the last thing we see is gone, shut off, still alive. He's lying on the on the on like a cobbled streets. Then he then he fucking he spikes his camera and looks directly into the lens, breaks the 4th floor and says would anyone save me? And then it cuts, Yeah, what the fuck is that man? It's so fucked up. Fever dream fever dream is is it cutting back to his in a monologue? Is that as a glass?

Thoughts. As he's dying, he's really saying that it's abstract as hell. Like the last the last like few minutes of the film at at MR's art house territory in the last few few minutes of the film, which is fucking cool. It's bold.

I. OK. We're back with the categories. Mike will lead us in on this one or or would like me to. All right, we'll do the standard. So casting obviously this is a stacked cast nowadays. This would be like an incredibly psyched cast in the 70s. It was like I guess up and counters people who were like making the scene, people who didn't just their first big moves. So obviously De Niro is lost Toniero. He has Gunter of we've got Al Pacino as, as Marian Bruschini. Obviously he's got a very story background as well.

We know a lot about him. Harvey Ketel. People will know, again, like we mentioned earlier, like for like lots of films, Piano, The Bad Lieutenant, all that kind of stuff. On top of that, we've got a Gene Hackman, who we've talked about a lot on this podcast, obviously would be like Crimson Tide and No Way Out already, but also like the conversation. This is our third Hackman film and this might be the most a character and and and act as a PR in episodes of clear and present dudes so far. So Tom Cruise is on 4 at the minute.

Fuck. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did the math on that the other day. Yeah, he's up there, though. John Casale, who died tragically young, of course, was in The Godfather and the Godfather of Hot 2. He's also in dogged the afternoon with with Al Pacino, so he's watching him a few Times Now. Sybil Shepherd as Catcha Goncharova. She, like I mentioned earlier, The Last Picture Show based on the Larry Mcmurtry novel, of course, moonlighting with with Bruce Willis. And well, so she do. She obviously had her own eponymous sitcom.

Sybil, which is a character called Sybil Sheridan, who was basically just her, right? It was. Her, yeah, nice work if you can get it. If you get it, won't you tell me how? How? Yeah, with Christine Baranski. What a great show. Yeah, that that's literally Sophia's in a monologue when she says that's like, if you get it, won't you tell me how she's like Mother? May I? Sophia Loren probably doesn't need any introduction, of course. Yeah, yeah, big, big title of American and Italian cinema. Yeah, against against whom?

Cybill Shop out holds up really well in terms of acting chops. Like I said, I mean, it's like it's fucking excellent. The film deserves more aplomb from people. You know that the both dominate the scene. The both dominate the screen and a lot of the especially the tango scene. I've got some trivia. Have you got some trivia? Yes, so it's this film has very little use of the Russian language, despite the fact that Scott Russian Russian coward has in it and some of the only Russian dialogue used in it is actually used wrong.

The pig farmer briefly speaks to his wife off camera and says what is subtitled as the men out here about the pigs. But what he actually says is the sheep out here about the pigs. And I mean, like, like I said, this is this is possible. I'm picking up things feel upon Reddit, You know, Miles Riveri, I don't you know, comprehend, but shouldn't be of Russian. But that's that's a pretty fucking weird one. What kind of trivia have you guys dug up? I've got a few, that's class. Nero De Niro allegedly stayed in character as Gunter Off for the entire shoot, refusing to respond to his real name.

Crew members reports that he would only answer if he was addressed as Comrade Gunter Off. Incredible. That's fucking amazing. That's so good man, I love it. The chess game between Mario and Gunter of the second one I think uses a real historical opening. This is the Sicilian defence. Film scores have pointed out that the sequence of moves shows in the scene actually foreshadows the order of betrayals later in the film. Yeah, very fun. Speaking of chess games, when when when Al Pacino has his flip out and he like knocks over those three chess tables in his house, he's actually he's actually winning all of those games.

If like you look at it's been intersected pretty hard and looks like he's in like a winning position in all of those games. Yet he's like flip out of anger. And it's like, guess it's symbolic to show these people are destroying themselves mate. Very good, of course, right? The boathouse explosion used a real wooden structure that the production had permission to demolish. However, the explosion ended up being much larger than planned, destroying 2 nearby camera rigs and forcing the crew to stop filming for three whole days.

Yeah, the clock tower scene in the final scene is the real Alberto di Poverty clock in Naples with the production altered its face to exaggerate the ticking sound I. Love that, it's incredible. That feels a weird way of saying they've put some food on it. Yeah, there's some. There's some, there's some continuously stuff regarding cigarette lens blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah, obviously the final line Would Anyone Save Me was controversial at the time because it breaks the 4th wall blah blah blah blah.

A lot of the music was recorded live on set which caused issues on the centre thing, which is why there's a lot of ADR dialogue. Fucking shows as well, like the the fact that the recorder live, especially the nightclub scenes with the Charles band and that which is a really cool thing, but it could have been recorded better. You know, they could have gone the whole like Michael Mann, fucking real veracity kind of thing and just. Yeah, the film's production schedule ran almost two weeks behind due to frequent arguments between director and cinematographer.

Cinematographer This film, by the way, is Michael Chapman, director of photography, who also went on to do Taxi Driver. So depends why it's a funny looking film. Yeah. Yeah, so sorry. And then, and then I mentioned it early on. So Albertino was obviously shooting specifically at the same time as this. So he was flying backwards forwards to New York and Naples, which is obviously a very big undertaking into the 1970s. So one of the bits that they had to do was they had to reshoot one of the chess scenes by filming his takes and coverage in New York, while De Niro's coverage was all filmed in Naples.

Really random. Yeah, excellent stuff.

And then finally, we didn't even talk about this. So Inspector Michelov's habit of drinking terrible vending machine coffee was invented by Gene Hackman. Hackman during rehearsals and became a running gag for the film. I don't know if it's a running gag. We seem to do it like maybe twice. It happens three times. There's once at the train station. There's once, bizarrely, just down the street from a cafe when he goes to a vending machine. It's just there and it's like there's a cafe in Italy right there.

And, and, and the third one, the third one, it's when it's, it's when he's in the police station, right? And, and, and again, that's a stupid fucking scene because he goes to the vending machine and he gets the coffee out and he's just like, and there's always like cops hanging around who, who just look like they don't even like the man. And it's like, oh man, I think that again, he sticks up the soul film. He's wearing fucking Shankar indoors. It's like, what even is this film? Very, very silly.

Well, it seems like we've filmed without permits. So you know what I mentioned the train station shootout. Yeah, that was that was done gonzo style. But then one of the extras is, I think it's like an old lady carrying a dog. Like she spikes the camera doing it and they have to leave it in because that's the only the only opportunity I had to film it. Definitely get another rewatch tonight and to see if that's the case. Bloody. Yeah, about wild. Would you like to hear camera? Would would you like to hear some of the the conspiracy theories about this film?

Yes, please, more than anything. So so some of the conspiracy theories about what it means I should say so one the clock theory, the film is actually about the Soviet collapse. Some theories argue that Ghuntrov is secretly about the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union repeats his clock imagery. The fact that Ghuntrov is a Russian criminal trying to build power at a foreign land, and that every alliance in the film eventually collapses all indicate this. The argument is that the film predicts that systems built on fear and loyalty eventually collapse into the and weight, which means control of a metaphor for the Soviet system.

Obviously, the big problem with this the film that came out in 1973. When the Soviets were still looking like they were arguing from a place of fucking relative authority and relative power. And yeah, yeah, I'm not sure actually abide with that theory. Yeah, I've mentioned the ice pick as a Trotsky reference theory. Yeah, the chess games reveal the ending. I mentioned that already kind of in the trivia, but there's an idea of the setups of the chess games indicate like where the story is going, both kings are doomed, need excite, can escape defeat, blah blah blah blah blah.

Chat is the real protagonist. This one I think holds a little bit away. So 1 theory claims that the film is secretly told from catcher's perspective, even though Gunter of appears to be the lead. So she appears in a lot of scenes where key decisions are made. She obviously has that scene with I, I speak Joe, which is obviously like a big movement for her. She has the whole story with Sofia. She has a bit of agency. Basically her sacrifice resolves the emotional arc of the film because like otherwise, there's just two blokes doing stuff and Gunter of his story collapses immediately after her death.

She dies and then he pretty much gets shot straight away. So. So the movies what catch you realising she cannot escape the world that she helped to create is what some people say online. Yeah. What do you think? I would agree with that. Definitely open interpretation. But she can't escape. But just trying to escape the world should create, consume, consume. Really interesting stuff. Yeah, really interesting. So they're the so they're the normal ones. Do you want to hear the fucking bonkers ones?

God, yes. Right, Mario and Gontrov are the same person. Whoa. The the The Fight Club conspiracy. Theory. No way, man. A particularly strange theory suggests that Mario and Gunture will represent two sides of the same character. The evidence, they say, is that they rarely appear together early in the film, apart from like in the the casino nightclub and when they're playing chess. So they say that the the chess playing doesn't count because it's him talking to himself and it's happening on a different, like, mental plane.

That's what they positive. Mind palace it all. It all comes down the Neil Breen fucking black bin bag Goon cave again. Yeah. Oh, that's, yeah, that's what this is. So like they they both dialogue style. They both kind of talk. Yeah. Basically, yeah. So this is interpretation of the film is that the the is a psychological allegory about how power destroys itself is basically what they're saying. So like, it's yeah, it's a fight. It's Fight Club. Fight Club in those 70s. Yeah. So that was weird. And then here's some crazy ones, right.

One the Manhattan Project theory. So there's a claim that Gancharov is secretly about the birth of the atomic bomb. So the boat, the boathouse explosion explosion is is meant to be representative of the Trinity test. Jesus fucking Christ. Throughout the the film, characters are repeatedly referenced time running out, which is meant to be like a new on the fact that they had a ticking time to to to achieve obviously building atomic bomb in order to end the Second World War and Gancharov's empire collapses after a single Castro event, which is meant to be like this is a treaty test here for the for the boathouse is also kind of meant to be like the I guess for Russian.

So it's really random, but it took 2. Catastrophic, catastrophic events to stop the Japanese Empire. Not one. Obviously, obviously I guess like as well. Yeah. So under this reading, gunshot is meant to be Oppenheimer, Mario is meant to be like representative of the US military establishment. And then and then Catcher is meant to be like the moral sort of stakes of the scientists. So if you like put this into Oppenheimer, the movie terms like Catcher is a bit like Oppenheimer after he dropped the bomb and he's he's being wingy about it.

And Mario's meant to be like Harry Truman, just laughing off and calling. Him pussy. Pussy a pussy ass bitch, Yeah. Get get this bitch ass mowed out of my office. There is another theory, which is that this film is referencing the moon landing. So, so I didn't mention it earlier, but in the violin scene, the the cafe that they're at has a sign inside the cafe but visible through the window, like a neon sign that partially spells a polo bar. But you can only see like the Apollo could be like a full word, could be Apolonia could be anything.

But they even get to a polo bar, right? The final duel takes place in an empty harbour which is meant to and after it's destroyed is meant to represent the noodle landscape. Because there's lots of like broken concrete everywhere. I don't really agree with that. Stretch. Reach. Oh, it's a big reach. I've got a bigger. I've got a bigger 1. So Guncharov's grey overcoat that he wears in several pivotal scenes of the film is supposed to resemble an astronaut's suit Fucking. But it's just fucking it's.

Yeah, those those guys around for wearing overcoats over fuck off. Too much, too much. But I will say respect. The big gum sheds out there too much, too much. Stop them. The only, the only thing that the only thing that I kind of half take on this is that they say the clock motif is meant to represent the space race. Yeah, I can. I mean, it was quite heated. So it was quite heated between the US and Soviet Union at that point. You know, I've got my usual bit on weapons free, weapons free, my friend.

When I talk about the film's weapons handling, it's it's armoring, all those other things that I can be brief for this one because it's not an especially gun heavy film, but didn't do much to piss me off. It gets significant amount of a right actually, which I think speaks to having a good kind of global logistical, like kind of support for armaments and stuff. The primary weapon of Kinsharov, funny enough, is a is, as I said, it's the Beretta 948. It's the ethical to do long rifle calibre semi automatic, which I think is pretty fucking cool.

Katya is more traditional to to, to Russian standards and has a Nagant revolver, the 1897. Is that right? I'm just double checking the notes here. Yeah. So she's packing the Nagant 1895. But the submachine guns used by the guys who might or may not be part of the Italian National Football team are the Beretta M12, which was sort of a kind of recently designed weapon at the time. And that was, well, night, like late, late, late 50s. So that's like the closest to a future weapon you've got. There are a few scenes in which Good Sharov holds the iconic Thompson gun that he has in the poster.

In every scene is holding the Thompson gun, including scenes when he's just immediately being firing at safety selector is unsafe. And that's a reference to the fact that I'm a fucking artist and pause films constantly attract details.

There we go. Does this film pass the VHS in the mess test? What this film do good on constant rotation on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray or laser disc player in the mess, wardroom or whatever of a military vessel or base. I've got to say, in my humble opinion, no, basically it's a good movie. Don't be wrong. It's in the same way that like Taxi Driver wouldn't work on repeating the mess. Like nobody wants to see that stuff. Like it's, it's a bit messy. It's a bit like oh, and difficult to get into. It's confusing as fuck to watch.

Obviously we've just talked about some of the mental things that come out of it. People aren't going to enjoy that. It's not like a simple thing you can put on and like they're joke too after you've after. You've come out. For a long day, you've got to like, you've got like meet on its level and its level is pretty hard to get to. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Sonia, if someone put this on on a ship that you were on, what would your reaction be? If this gets put on in your wardroom or whatever, your mess?

Oh God, please no. Probably.

Stop it. Stop it basically. The last thing I want to do after a particularly on fun watch is go to the through the wardroom and and see a film that has Harvard screen time dedicated to clicking top and ticking. Clocks as like. No fucking mental, yeah. Man, but yeah, also also like that bike set and and you've we, we've compared it to two art host films before and that's not something you do to to chill out and relax. Yeah, I I would agree. I think the only bit of it is going to get regular play is sorry, but the tango scene might get repeated a bit because it is like a but let's face it, it's through US.

It is an entrancing scene. Quotes, quotes from the film. There's so many that Meg's already gone over. I think let's just recap the amazing ones. Cities fall as a bar. Yeah, man. Oh, let me find my quotes. Hang on. Gotta get on the old I am Dubber. So we've got the bridge scene. Catch a confronting Gunter off. Of course we're in love. That's why I tried to shoot you and then Gunter off Replies. If we were really in love, you wouldn't have missed. Highly nonsensical.

It's what else we've got. We've got a. Giving Mr and Missus Smith. That actually. Is Mr Mrs. Smith. It actually is. That's fucking brilliant. I love it. You've got a God from Mario. Sacrifices is queen in the first chess match. Control says you play recklessly and Mario says no. I play for the ending OK. Absolute bar. Doesn't make much sense. Catch it to Sofia. Yeah, catch it to Sofia. When they find your body, Sofia, there will be flowers growing through your bones. Very cool. Yeah, that's that's like that.

That for me is the line of the film. That's the MVP. That's the fucking go at that. That was like, legitimately, that was legitimately a beautiful line in a film that's often really confusing, very stupid and occasionally brilliant, which is why I think it's so compelling that people in such a cult classic, and it's why Criterion, thankfully, is finally picking up and putting it out there, you know? Indeed, got I speak Joe and his final scene. The past cannot be unfrozen. You can only chip away at it.

Frozen chip. Yeah. Subtext. Yeah, I know, right? And then finally we've got Gunter of, during this confession scene, the priest. I've killed men who have trusted me. And the priest says then you know what must happen next. Fucking threatening. Threatening priest. Threatening priest man, Italy, everyone. Very frightening man with the cloth. Everyone's got a fucking Beretta in the back pocket, even the even. Even the priests, man. Indeed, we talked about some of the critical reception of this film.

Yeah, I've got some. So I've got some Pinnacle. We know it's you've got, you've got some pretty good reviews as well, don't you? Yeah, so I want to I want to talk about. So obviously this is like peak Rodger Ebert and Siskel and Pauline Kael era sort of stuff. The Rodger Ebert's review, I'm going to read Rodriguez, the basin. It's not all of it, just a section. I attended the screening with two peers. One thought Gunter of to be much like his unwindable pocket watch, temporarily suspended by the pain of exile in all matters and especially sex.

The other believes, more simply that Gunter Off was asexual. My own view in the matter is that a man who can conduct a business meeting with a full faculty of mind and indeed even faint boredom, while Sophia Loren places a cigarette in his wife's mouth but contrives a half dozen reasons to meet with a man who's obviously been assigned to kill him, cooks that man Pastor, pass that man to sing for him, and then permits that man to stab him as a committed, if a successful, homosexual. So they were talking about the pastor.

Yeah, I know, right. Yeah, that's all. And obviously the stabbing in the in the boathouse, which would be like skirts past. In any case, Gunture of sexual ambiguity is the point is one of the many clockwork gears sitting beneath the movie's face, all working in a concert to cast doubt upon the viewers. Evidence. Who is Gunture of? What does he believe? What does he really desire? One has a sense that Gunture of was almost glad to die rather than learn the answer. And that's from his four-star review in the Chicago Tribune.

Fucking amazing. Incredible great. That's so good. But he's he's a big fan of mean streets as well. So then that kind of. Tracks, yeah. Does track, yeah. Anyway, hit me up with these dudes from the peanut gallery. OK, right half of three star review from someone called horoscopes Gumtrov 1973 directed Martin Scorsese might be a mafia movie The Sigma male film Bros. But to me she is like if a traumatised Russian mercenary who dreams of a quiet house on a hill but cannot escape the blood on his hands.

Was my girl mutual number one baby. This makes up for all of the night in 74 Oscar snobs says says Crash Course 201. I think the reason so many film Bros hate Ganshirov is because Katya actually got fleshed out was a character as opposed to like both of the Scorsese women. I mean it wasn't perfect and there was select the infamous beer bottle scene but like Cybil Shepherd lived, gave cunt and then faked her death but nobody ever talks about it. It has five days at the end of it. I did not pick up the idea that she faked the death.

It looks like it looks pretty final. It does look, look, look final, but I mean, that's open for reinterpretation, I guess. We've got some heads, kind of. Yeah, we have that. Seaman Gonstrov went to Milan to set up bank accounts and Scorsese daringly put in a 20 minute long take of the Nero's character setting up savings accounts in his three daughters name, specifying the interest rate and the authorised people who could withdraw money to be the camera work just made that whole scene the most memorable.

5 stars from Comcast Cablevision. I don't think it's 20 minutes. I think it's like 7 1/2 or so, but still, it is wild. It's long enough, yeah. 2 1/2 stars from Tatzler worming. After I saw Gansher off I walked out of the theatre normally and without incident. Someone then responds in a comment liar and they respond fine. I did the Gansher off walk. I hate this fucking website anyway. Cannibality. People like control of existence left completely intact. It's propaganda and you're all too stupid to notice because of the gay subtext.

I've. Got I've got a couple here as well. Pepper these in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're throwing in through and it's having a great.

I've got This movie has three separate love triangles and none of them are heterosexual. Yeah. Guntarov and and Andrea look at each other like divorced parents at a school play. My God fucking do as well. It's like what a cool parent. And Spain. Then we'll literally start a mafia war instead of going to therapy. Katya and Sofia should have run away together and opened a bookstore. And Guntarov? I trust you, Andrea. You shouldn't. Guntarov. Understandable. Have a nice day. Yeah, four-star view. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Sorry. Fake news. 4 1/2 star from She already killed. When he thinks we're going to fuck. When? Really. I'm about to explain the clock symbolism. And Martin Scorsese, he's going to shower. Off to him for three hours.

Ivan Ghansharov this, Nikolai Ghansharov that. Why? Will you guys realise there's a reason we don't know his first name? The point all caps is that we don't know Ghansharov is a family name and whether Ghansharov used to be told he went up and being the head of the family. He doesn't have a personal name to denote who he is outside of his mafia persona. I did not understand that review at all. And one star from someone called Satan worship. I had Ghansharov once, but a shot cleared that right up and a great 1 he had to finish on from Fantastic fables broke.

The fact that Consharov lights Andrew's cigarette for him with his own cigarette with a hint of great affection in a scene under the rainfall symbolises his longing for the entirely fictional life he believes Andre may offer him, and the fact that both of their cigarettes go out in a few seconds foreshadows how his destructive desire will ruin them both. Woke. The cigarettes go out because they're standing in the rain with no umbrellas. Symbolises the fact that they're both really fucking stupid.

Scene perfect. No notes. Wow, great, Ryan. What what Catterick is healthy remaining? I think we're going to. Spend the wheel of directors. Have we got all this? So as we've done our previous episodes, we're going to spin little wheel of names I've got here that lists directors and films that have been done previously on clear and present Dudes. We'll just do it with the once this one time and it has come up on John TNN Hunt for. Metal. It should be, but yeah, from of of Die of Die Hard and Hunt wrote to the female and latterly, as I discovered a bit of a week, the remake of Thomas Cronifer.

But yeah, go on. I think this film would have lost a lot of its second of Scorsese Lane Caleb kind of panache, to be honest thing. I don't think the film would have gone quite as hard under a #10 and I mean, I will. Say that. The action sequences would probably have been like better. Do you think that could have? Do you? Do you think you would have handled the incredibly gay subtext? You think we've handled them well? I do it. Definitely would have there. Would have been there still, yeah, I think.

He wouldn't have told them or anything. Neil Breen would have. Everyone in the film would have wanted to fuck Neil Breen. Just wait until it explained me. Jesus, right? If you'd asked me a couple of weeks ago what I think John Mcteon and Gunter would have been like, I would have said like, Oh yeah, Like, the action seems to be better the store, the story would be more comprehensible, and it would have been like a tightly scripted thriller rather than like, whatever the fuck this is then. Since then, though, I watched The Thomas Crown Affair, and now I'm convinced that this film would have been just fucking sex scenes the entire way through.

It's been fucking and fucking and fucking and fucking and fucking with a really light story which is designed purely to put you into reasons where you can can see Pierce Brosnan fucking and fucking and fucking and fucking I. Like that actually. Yeah, wild movie, absolutely insane film. Hard recommend. Should should we give up one more spin guys? Yeah, dude. Well, say you didn't get a chance to. Answer but shit sorry man but the next one is going to. Be there you go. Sonia, how would how would this film be done under the adept hand of Neil Breen?

Well, you you've taken the the the big bit that everyone would have wanted to to or or. It it it. Probably would have gotten renamed to to to getting off. It'd be gun gun contour of in a colon. They'd be Gunture of the the Tortured Poet or something. Kings fall, cities fall. I came from Russia to move in on the Neapolitan mafia. She is. Taking away my wife, I can't believe she's doing it. She can't be getting away. With that, I am going to just shoot this stupid. Shit. Yeah, so, so your point, Preen, right, is like is obviously like a bit of a megalomaniac.

And whenever he puts himself in a film, his character is like, is like pure as the driven suit, right. Yeah. So there's no way that gunshot is still a crime boss. Guntrov is just is. Guntrov is just a guy who happens to be in Naples as the rest of the story is happening. Either that or it's like half alien half Angel fucking psychic. 3000 Rule of God, Emperor of Mankind. You know, yeah, that. All right. So Gontrov. Yeah. Gontrov is like the the Godda brew of mankind. He's 3000 years old. He has a second hand underneath his actual head that will get revealed once in an awkward green screen scene.

And he never had a beard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Beard and it'll be like, and then you'll see like Mario and Brasini, like like, like backhanded slap his girlfriend or something. And he'd be like, that's not nice. And then you'll like touch. Like he'll touch like Mario's with his hand And then like he'll immediately develop like palsy. Yeah, yes, he touches hands. Like I've given you cancer now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, like, the entire, like, last five minutes of the film is like, everybody killing themselves.

Yes.

My God. Of ticking clocks would just be stock images that aren't moving. Get amazing. Yeah, about the same three clocks, yes. Yeah, or it would be the same shitty clock green screened on different buildings. And he wouldn't have managed to get any of the Italian National Football team in OR, that's for fucking sure, guys. And that explosion of the boathouse would just be like a composited that would. Be so fucking bad. Explosion. Yeah, like a PowerPoint style sound effect. Yeah, cool. It would suck.

What are we at now for categories? I think think all we've got left is the CIA thing, which doesn't really. Yeah, this this film is film is CIA neutral, I suppose it doesn't operate in any kind of space in which they say you are involved. A massive massive massive stretch would be maybe that revolutionary group is like ACIA front like for a for a colour revolution thing, but no. No. This is just another CIA neutral film. Be so, yeah. So I think we are at the end of our podcasts. So all that is remains to say is that we have been.

Clear and clear as in April. Fools get dunked on. There was 2. Wasted your valuable time. This one doesn't exist.

We have we have wasted your time. As Mike said, this film does not exist, and neither does its purported sequel, Gunshot 2. A Guncha. A Gunsha Oh, thank you so much for giving us your time. We've gone too far. Gone, gone. Gone too soon, yeah. We've gone stickers to the sun. We did. That was, that was utter chaos. If you're listening to this on April Fools Day, then then, then you, you are the fool. If you're not, we are the fools. We are the fool. We are the fool. In the words of Tommy wasso everyone betrayed me and I am the fool.

The. Fool, should we do a real one? We really have been actual clear and present. Dudes, dudes. OK, there we go.

Goncharov (1973)

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