The Salamander (1983)

Very Cool!!!

Expected more

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

one of films of my childhood. maybe, the most fascinating, because all was new, strange, bizarre, cruel out of words and... confuse. after decades, the perspective was different. but not profound different. because , after its end, the questions are about a bizarre,silly ,full of clichés, superficial, confuse film, guided by good intentions, with an impressive cast, a not so bad story , excellent premises but who remains only one of commercial films from the many others , predictable, with few good scenes, but nothing more. and this seems be its only sin.

Peter Zinner won an Oscar for editing THE DEER HUNTER (1978); for his only directorial effort, he chose this adaptation of the Morris West best-seller which was shown on local TV back in the day (actually, that is how I first heard of it). He did manage to assemble an impressive all-star cast: Franco Nero plays the hero carabiniere in a throwback to some of the political thrillers he had made in his native country – such as DAY OF THE OWL (1968), in which he co-starred with Claudia Cardinale, and CONFESSIONS OF A POLICE CAPTAIN (1971), also featuring Martin Balsam; both actors also appear here, the latter as Nero's closest collaborator who eventually falls in the line of duty. Anthony Quinn is the titular figure (a wealthy industrialist and ex-legendary WWII partisan), Sybil Danning the mistress of a dead army officer (whose apparent suicide sets events in motion) but also serving as Nero's unconvincing love interest, Eli Wallach the General leading a proposed coup d'etat, Christopher Lee as Nero's superior (actually a prince[!] who is unsurprisingly inextricably related with the Government takeover plot – interestingly, his on-screen wife was played by Lee's own real-life spouse in an infrequent appearance), Cleavon Little as a Black American ex-colleague of Nero's (whom the latter calls upon when he is in a fix) and Paul Smith (as a sadistic "surgeon"). There are, however, also a number of Euro-Cult regulars: John Steiner in the role of Wallach's aide as well as lover of his neglected wife Cardinale, Renzo Palmer, Marino Mase' – unenviably playing a corpse! – and Nello Pazzafini. While tolerable as entertainment (though there is less action than I had anticipated) and featuring a decent score by the great Ennio Morricone, the film is ultimately too superficial and uneven to make a ripple in the circles it professes to denounce; nevertheless, the clever climax is surprisingly (but effectively) handled in the style of the "Thin Man" movies! Besides, one particular scene nearly turns this into a camp classic i.e. when the hero, caught and about to be tortured by Smith, attacks the latter clad only in a harness along his waist (which gives unwarranted prominence to Nero's groin while leaving his buttocks completely exposed!) but ends up slammed against the wall hanging upside-down instead!!

How did it go so wrong? How can a film with such an impressive cast (Franco Nero, Christopher Lee, Eli Wallach, Sybil Danning, Claudia Cardinale, Martin Balsam, Paul Smith - the torturer in "Midnight Express" - as, you guessed it, a torturer, etc.) and such colorful location filming around Italy (Rome, Milan, Venice, etc.) be such a bore? Probably because the story is slow-moving and unengaging, and has no real climax. Another obstacle for the viewer is the difficulty to buy people like Lee and Balsam as Italians. Nero is always likable, and Danning is stunning (even if she's in completely "unrevealing" mode here), but these two are barely enough to keep you focused on what was excellently described by another reviewer as "a political thriller without thrills". (*1/2)

The ingredients are here for a passable political-thriller but the approach used to tell the story is numbingly routine. Investigator Franco Nero pursues his case simply through a series of interviews, thus allowing the movie to present its roster of marquee-names -- Christopher Lee, Eli Wallach, Claudia Cardinale, etc. -- in a succession of talky, static scenes that lack interest and vitality. (Though these interviews provide an opportunity to show off a series of impressively furnished and decorated rooms.) And then, when it comes time for Nero to present his solution to the case, he does so by showing to a group of people a movie which simply re-caps information gleaned from his interviews!Attempts to liven up the proceedings with spurts of action merely serve to emphasize the overall dullness of the movie. For example, when Nero falls into the clutches of a villain known as "the Surgeon" who is determined to torture information from him, we only see Nero -- stripped to a jockstrap and strapped to a chair -- being given an injection with a hypodermic needle. Surely this is one of the most boring forms of torture ever shown on the screen.