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Street People AKA Gli Esecutori (1976)
R2 - Germany - Koch Media Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (5th September 2007). |
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The Film
 English actor Sir Roger Moore is best known for playing Simon Templar in “The Saint (1962-1969)” TV-series and of course James Bond 007 in seven films - starting from “Live and Let Die (1973)”. Now Moore is mainly promoting the work of “Unicef”, where he became a “Goodwill Ambassador” in 1991. In the middle of his Bond-duties Moore also found the time to act (probably it was mainly due to the pay check) in the Italian crime film “Street People AKA Gli Esecutori (1976)” (I´m not sure what English title is the best known, since the film is AKA “The Executioner” and “The Sicilian Cross”) by director/co-writer Maurizio Lucidi (e.g. “The Greatest Robbery in the West AKA La Più grande rapina nel west (1967)”). Based on the IMDb, some scenes were also directed by executive producer/car scenes choreographer Guglielmo Garroni (as William Garroni). In “Street People”, Moore plays the half American, half Sicilian lawyer Ulysses, who´s working for his uncle, Mafioso Salvatore Francesco (Ivo Garrani - e.g. “Hercules AKA Le Fatiche di Ercole (1958)” and “Black Sunday AKA La Maschera Del Demonio (1960)”) in San Francisco. Francesco has imported the huge crucifix from his mother land Sicily to repair the broken relationship to his church and his childhood friend, Bishop Lopetri (Ettore Manni - e.g. “The Valdez Horses AKA Valdez, il mezzosangue (1973)”). Bishop hasn´t talked to Francesco for years, despite the fact that they both come from the same village. “Good hearted Francesco”-image won´t last for long, since three hoodlums steal the crucifix and take the drugs that are hidden inside. Someone has used the crucifix to smuggle some heroin to the US. Bishop is of course blaming Francesco, calling him a murderer and doomed in front of God. Bishop will never forget him now. Furious Francesco calls the meeting with “the organisation” and wants the guilty ones dead. The Capo di tutti capi (“boss of bosses”) Continenza (Ennio Balbo - e.g. “How to Kill a Judge AKA Perché si uccide un magistrato? (1974)”) agrees. For Francesco, Ulysses is just his trusted lawyer and nephew, but for “the organisation” Ulysses is more than that. In secrecy, Ulysses and his aid Charlie Hanson (Stacy Keach - e.g. “Prison Break (2005-)” TV-series) are starting to track down the thugs that stole the heroin and ruined the reputation of Francesco. This will take Ulysses to Sicily and Charlie to the dark streets of San Francisco. Plenty of action will follow. “Street People” can be a fun and entertaining crime film, but the good premises of the story is partly ruined when it progresses. The weakest link is the “three thugs”. Loan sharks are after them, Ulysses is after them, Charlie is after them, “Organisation” is after them and eventually you´re a bit confused as to what is going on when people shoot each other and fight. This trio of criminals is simply not interesting enough story wise. It´s also no secret that Moore has pretty much nothing that would make him at least “half Sicilian”, so he looks and feels like “Roger Moore” more than anything else. His charisma is still visible in many scenes and pretty much carries the film in the end. The chemistry between Moore and Keach is surprisingly good and also humourous. Charlie is a “street smart” joker and “in it for the money”, while Ulysses does all the planning. He still also provides some dry jokes (some resembles to Bond, perhaps?) to Charlie, which brings some good verbal scenes. The film is clearly influenced by many American crime and action films, so you´ve car chases, fights in the pool rooms and shoot-outs. Some connections to the mafia-films are also pretty evident (man with the shotgun in Sicily, anyone?). The film still provides a few original and great looking car chases (the one involving two big trucks is the true highlight of the film) and the feel of “San Francisco” is captured quite nicely (it has to be noted, that while these guys crash their cars, run, shoot and fight often in broad daylight, cops don´t really mind!). I also found it intriguing that the story eventually tracks back to the childhood of Ulysses in Sicily and is “family business” like he puts it. “Street People” is a flawed and a bit of a forgettable crime-film, but in the end it´s more an entertaining than dull effort. Moore and Keach also saves plenty for the film, since they add the much needed combination of humour and action.
Video
The film is presented in Anamorphic 1.85:1 (OAR). The transfer is relatively clean, but the colours strike as slightly faded and the blacks are not always consistent. There are also some compression and edge enhancement issues. The transfer can be still considered as quite decent; no major issues. The film is using German opening credits (including the title). The last shot (which freezes) of the film is probably from another source. During the last shot, there´s no credits at all (only music), but after it fades to black, we have English end credits. I compared this German disc to the Finnish/Swedish –release by “Future Film/Atlantic Film” and both of the transfers looked very similar, all down to the English end credits. Scandinavian-release is missing the German opening credits (it doesn´t have opening credits at all), though, and is 10 seconds shorter in running time (due to the fact that it doesn´t have the brief “Digim”-logo at the end like the German disc). German “single layer” disc runs 98:55 min (PAL) and is coded “R2”. There are 12 chapters.
Audio
The disc includes two Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono -tracks: English and German. There are no subtitles, but some scenes in the German-track are in English (with optional German subtitles). Minor hiss can be heard in the background and there´s some “ambient noise” also (which I started to notice at some point during the film), but the English track is still far from being “bad”. Dialogue is a bit low and muffled, at least compared to the German dub. A few scenes had some cracks and pops. English track is still clearly the way to go with this film, since both Moore and Keach have dubbed their own voices (Moore´s voice is quite distinctive) and many of the mafiosos seems to be talking English. All the newspaper headlines and such are also in English. Still, alternate Italian-track still would´ve been nice.
Extras
Two theatrical trailers are included (no subtitles); German (1:24 min) and the US (3:44 min). English trailer doesn´t have title. Photo gallery includes 72 stills; posters, lobby cards (German and the US), stills and German press material. Along with “Abrechnung in San Franzisko”, the German-version is also called “Opium Road”. DVD credits are also included. Keep case houses a 4-page booklet including liner notes (in German) from Oliver Bayan. Disc can be found under its German title: “Abrechnung in San Franzisko”.
Overall
Quite average crime-film from Italy, which still offers some good action and laid-back attitude. And of course Sir Roger Moore himself. German-release doesn´t offer anything that special this time, but a decent transfer is probably enough for the fans. For more info, please visit the homepage of Koch Media.
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