Hail, Mafia (1965) User Reviews

A Hidden Masterpiece

[kuciak · 8/10 · 10 February 2008]

If this film had been directed by Jean Pierre Melville, Criterion or someone else would have already have made a DVD special edition. It concerns two men, played by Henry Silva and Jack Klugman who travel to France to kill a man, a former gangster played by Eddie Constantine. They are sent to kill this man because they fear that he may testify and bring some underworld figures down. What happens on this journey is a story of fate, and some ironic twists.

While the beginning of the film starts out kind of chessie, (the shots of New York) so we are to get the feeling that the scenes with the actors were filmed in New York. When the two men get to France, that is when the film really takes off. It is almost like a road picture, as they travel from Paris to Marseille, two Americans, who don't speak French traveling in a strange land, Country much more foreign then, than it would be today.

Klugmans character has personal reasons why he wants to kill the character played by Constantine, while Silva, playing a guy called SHAFT, is only doing this job because it is his job. This film was based I believe on an American novel, and what is different here is that while usually in stories such as this the older man acts more the professional, while the younger is more carefree, HAIL MAFIA defies these conventions. Though Silva I believe is only 8 years younger than Klugman, he the younger man seems to live by codes, (he doesn't even smoke) and is the boss of the two, while Klugman seems to have the more easy going attitude, and not as careful. Their relationship is a very interesting on this road to a murder.

I think that this film paved the way for Silva to get starting roles in Europe, and while it did not do that for Klugman, the film should be famous for his line regarding 'what would make a man quit smoking, Which he would have to do some 30 years latter due to throat cancer. The photography on the French scenes is first rate, filmed by the famous cinematographer of the New Wave, Raoul Coutard. Their are some other interesting touches, such as when Constantine's girl friend (I think his wife at the time) looks at a picture of John F Kennedy, and when she offers him a glass of Orange Juice, he says yes but with some Scotch (Constantine had a drinking problem).

If this film were ever remade, and took place in the 21'st Century, one problem would be technology is a bit different than in 1965. I hope more people get to see this buried treasure.

Two "B" actors give grade "A" performances is an excellent little film that is completely under the radar

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 26 January 2009]

Very very good mob movie with Eddie Constantine the target of his former mob brothers. They want the retired gangster silenced so that there is no chance that he will come back from France to talk to the Senate committee on organized crime. To that end the mob sends two hit men (Henry Silva and Jack Klugman) to Europe to hunt down Constantine.

More a drama then a "crime" film (with the action that implies) the movie really is about the relationship between the two hit men as they inter act on the hunt for their target. The performances of both Silva and Klugmen are excellent and its clear that Silva was a much better actor then his later supporting roles suggested. Equally good, and a revelation to people who only know him from the Odd Couple or Quincy, is Jack Klugman. Its a shame that Klugman kind of got lost in the TV series rut since he is clearly capable of a performances that are more complex than what a TV series require. The pairing of the two vastly under rated actors make for a superior drama that has been unfairly lost over the years. Hopefully a somewhere down the road someone will rescue this film and give it some sort of revival.

This is one to search out.

A classic Eddie Constantine

[riggsy · 7/10 · 23 November 2001]

At the time in Paris, Eddie Constantine was much bigger than Jack Klugman. I haven't seen the film since its release, but I recall it as a fast-paced hard-bitten policier. My Dad was in there as the Mafia boss Hyman, and he calmly dispatched his enemies with one word from the putting green. Great fun.

riveting French crime film with great performances from Henry Silva and Jack Klugman

[django-1 · 10/10 · 13 August 2003]

Writer-director-producer Raoul Levy hit a home run with this moody, intelligent, very-well acted crime film. On the surface, the plot seems simple--mafia soldiers Henry Silva and Jack Klugman are on an assignment to kill a former mafia guy played by Eddie Constantine. But the story--and most of the film--is really about the relationship between Henry Silva's and Jack Klugman's characters, and both give brilliant performances. I would never have thought of this pair of actors together, but as well as I know each of their works, I saw only the two characters, real people, not the actors. Eddie Constantine is not in the film all that much--it's Klugman and Silva's movie. Raoul Levy is probably best known here in the US as the producer of five Bridget Bardot films and of the underrated THE DEFECTOR, the last movie of Montgomery Clift. The washed-out monochrome photography by Raoul Coutard, the brilliant jazz score by Hubert Rostaing, and Levy's intelligent, literate script all come together in a powerful film that will pack an unexpected wallop for those expecting just another euro-crime film. No wonder Henry Silva's european career took off right after this film. The existential plot could easily have been from a spaghetti western or a samurai film, and anyone who has ever considered those genres (and the euro-crime film) as metaphors for life and society should find a copy of this film as soon as possible. For me, one of the five best European-made crime films of the 1960's, and I've seen hundreds of them.

Henry Silva Eurocrime career goes back forever

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 31 July 2018]

Interesting jazz-fuelled crime film telling the tale of two hitman on their way to kill a fella in France. The man has to die because he could testify against a Mafioso who has been indicted, but one of the hitmen has a personal reason for whacking the guy too.

This hitman is played by Quincy MD himself, Jack Klugman (I had to look that up),whose sister was knocked up and left alone by the victim, but the other hitman is played by Henry Silva, and his character is a no nonsense, pragmatic individual who likes to play everything 'clean'. Both men travel through France, discussing the business they find themselves in, discovering France, and complaining about the food.

There's two separate sub-plots going on too, as we learn about the victim and his women troubles, and then there's guy sent to stop the hit as the Mafioso is released from prison and doesn't want linked to the forthcoming murder. I can quite happily report here that although this film lacks the car chases, chin-socking and violence of later Euro-crime films, the pay off is brilliant and the ending a classic.

The strong actors help, as Klugman comes across as the more humane of the too, while the young Silva has eyes that would melt cement. Look out for future Italian exploitation star Donald O'brien as a rather violent mob bosses secretary

Excellent jazzy b&w road movie

[vjetorix · 9/10 · 10 July 2002]

Henry Silva and Jack Klugman are hit men sent to France to kill Eddie Constantine. The two spend time on the road getting to know each other and their very different styles of life. Silva is a meticulous person with very definite ideas about his approach to his profession while Klugman is more easy going and less philosophical. This small movie boasts not only the talents of the principal actors but also high-contrast black and white photography that gives it a very new wave film noir look as the boys in their black suits and skinny ties wander around in the Paris night. The French countryside is captured in washed out tones that emphasize how far out of the water these two fish are at the moment. The jazz score for the film is excellent small combo stuff that perfectly matches the stark images. There's also a couple of nice twists in the plot and a dandy downbeat ending. This is a genuine undiscovered gem and you won't be sorry you took a chance on it.

Hail The Storyteller!

[davidbaldwin-11838 · 7/10 · 22 March 2020]

One of the most refreshing movie experiences I have had in recent years. This tale of two hitmen on a journey from New York to France to rub out a potential Grand Jury squealer is an absolute delight. So unpretentious and yet so involving as it moves along with a good rhythm and a cute jazz soundtrack. Klugman and Silva are fine in the awkwardness of their difficult killer team relationship. And Eddie Constantine as interesting and reliable as ever.

Eddie in deep trouble, and he is well aware of it

[clanciai · 8/10 · 2 March 2019]

Eddie is not the main actor in this film, although it is all about him. The mafia in New York sees him as a threat to their existence, and two professional killers are sent out to kill him off in the south of France, Marseilles and Camargue. The language here is English, Eddie is better and more at home in French films, and the two American killers are also not quite at ease in France, always denigratingly comparing it with California. The action is very slow to begin with, allowing the jazz music to dominate the greater part of the film, but eventually it towers into something of a very interesting drama, as the two killers are very different and there for very different motives, leading to arguments and some serious questioning. The audience is in for some interesting surprises.

The drama somewhat overshadows the interesting story, there is also the case of Eddie's lady, who can't understand Eddie's actions while he can't explain them to her, for reasons that will appear perhaps too late. It's a tense very noir drama, you have to wait for something to happen in this dark thriller, which actually is very plain, but it's the complications that make it interesting.

Where do you usually stay when you go on a job the Ritz!

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 7 January 2016]

****SPOILERS**** With on the lamb mobster Rudy Hamberg, Eddie Constantine, to be extradited to the US from Marseilles France to testify at the Congressional Crime Hearing against the mob it's decided to knock him off before he ever leaves the country. With top mob hit-man Schaft, Henry Silva, set to do the hit on Rudy all of a sudden retired mod hit-man now working as a counter man at the famed Katz's Delicatessen in the Lower East Side of Manhattan Phil, Jack Klugman, want's a shot at him too. And not just for the $50,000.00 he's to get for doing the job. It was, as he explained it, Phil's 16 year old sister Mandy whom Rudy knocked up which ended up her being institutionalized for life that Phil want's to avenge. In not just Rudy taking away her honor and virginity but her life,in having a normal one, as well.

At first friction develops between Schaft & Phil in how just to do Rudy in whit Phil wanting to do it slow and painful and with Schaft wanting to do it quick and painless with a bullet between the eyes. It soon comes out that Phil has other ideas in what he plans to do with Rudy that's not part of the job designation he's been given by his mob higher ups. Which Schaft who up until the very end is totally unaware of.

****SPOILERS**** Mind blowing surprise ending with the hit on Rudy not exactly as it was planned to be. That's with Phil doing his own thing at his partner Schaft's expense. Even though Phil planned it to perfection the job he was assigned and secretly planned to screw up didn't quit end up perfect. It was when Phil's emotions got in the way of his plan that it went haywire and fell apart. And the person he was out to save ended up dead together with his killer.

P.S Mostly unknown at the time the movie was to make both Henry Silva and Jack Klugman go on the bigger and better roles mostly on TV. But it was their work or acting in "Hail, Mafia" that showed the hidden talent, that was soon to be discovered, that made then as successful as they were to become.

French New Wave meets French Film Noir in this two person show.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 27 February 2017]

Some folks might watch "Hail, Mafia" and assume this is just a typical French gangster film. However, French film noir was quite different. This film, instead is much like if you started with French film noir and blended it with the New Wave...creating an odd sort of hybrid.

Like many productions of the era, although it's not an American film is stars American actors. This is because in post-war Europe (particularly Italy), folks thought having American stars in their movies would make them more marketable and even B-list actors like Henry Silva and Jack Klugman would make the pictures very international.

The plot to this story is very simple. Two gangsters have been contracted to kill a third gangster. But before they ultimately kill the guy, there is a build-up--with angry Phil (Klugman) and more business-like and cold Schaft (Silva). It's all accompanied by a lot of jazz music and is almost good...almost. The problem for me is twofold. First, there just isn't much in the way of plot. Second, this is a clearly a case of style over substance. Not a terrible film...but there are so many better French gangster films...such as any of the pictures of Jean-Pierre Melville.

It was not for the right director...

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9 October 2011]

This film is adapted from a Pierre Lesou's novel, the author of LE DOULOS, adapted by Jean-Pierre Melville in 62; one of his masterpieces. I read all Lesou's novels, I know them very well, and this novelist was the closest of them all to Melville's world. A world of cold, complex, and metaphysics friendship among gangsters. Cerebral atmospheres that most of Melville's fans - and there are many - know as well as I do. Yes, yes, yes, Melville SHOULD have done this film, HAIL MAFIA, it should have been a film for him. And certainly not for Raoul Levy. I won't say he is a lousy film maker. I think he did the best. But when I think of Melville when watching this film, I feel pain inside of me.

In his movie, Levy shows us a short sequence of Brigitte Bardot dancing in one of her films: ET DIEU CREA LA FEMME. Levy committed suicide several months after his feature - HAIL MAFIA - because of his love for Bardot.

A good film, as far as I can appreciate. It is very rare in France. I only got it from the USA.

Before Pulp Fiction, There Was Hail, Mafia!!!

[zardoz-13 · 10/10 · 23 May 2023]

Writer, producer, & director Raoul Levy's lean, mean, and gritty underworld yarn--lensed in black & white by the Raoul Coutard--focuses more on a mismatched pair of hard-boiled hitmen, Schaft (Henry Silva of "Ocean's 11") and Phil (Jack Klugman of "The Split") in suits & ties dispatched to liquidate a potential informer, Rudy Hamberg (Eddie Constantine of "Poison Ivy"), whose testimony could torpedo the mob's legal and illegal shenanigans. Levy serves up some interesting surprises and reversals throughout this straightforward saga. "Hail, Mafia" qualifies as a textbook example of a grim thriller. Levy has created two assassins with different reasons for wanting to ice Rudy after he exiled himself to France with no intention of turning state's evidence. Trouble is the New York mob fear him more alive than dead, so they hire Schaft, a loner obsessed with job efficiency and pair him up with Phil, who has a personal stake in Rudy's demise. Nothing sidetracks this suspenseful narrative, and the ending is genuinely provocative. Eddie's Rudy Hamberg lacks the usual charisma that Constantine's screen characters share. After some opening narration, Rudy fades into the background while Levy puts the two assassins in the foreground. Rudy takes the time to prepare for the men that he suspects will eventually visit him with the kind regards of the mob. The relationship between Schaft and Phil generates some of the suspense. At first, Schaft doesn't hold Phil in high regard, but things change during the final shootout. Rudy doesn't make it easy on these two natty gunsels and lures them out into the countryside at his remote estate for the finale. Surely, Quentin Tarantino has sung his praises for this tight-lipped, existential melodrama. The real crime here is this masterpiece slipped into the public domain, and nobody has seen fit to rescue it from it unjust obscurity.

New Wave assassins

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 20 March 2022]

An interesting French Eurocrime movie following the fortunes of Henry Silva and Jack Klugman playing a pair of mafia hitmen hunting for their latest target; the problem is that he's an old buddy of Klugman's. This reminded me of PULP FICTION in the way it depicts the friendship between the assassins and charts their meals and misadventures along the way, although it looks a lot different, shot in the French 'New Wave' style. The ending's a memorable one.

HENRI SILVA - JACK GLUCKMAN - EDDIE CONSTANTINE in a NEW WAVE gangster movie

[happytrigger-64-390517 · 5/10 · 8 April 2016]

Very Very strange film, far from exciting, just two killers on the road to kill discussing about their "profession" or about anything they meet in France comparing it to States or not ("it looks like California").

it's more a new wave gangster movie than traditional, and the cinematography by Raoul Coutard reminds me of Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard, with lot of ordinary conversation : for example, the two hit men discuss about the song they're listening on radio, "The House Of Rising Sun", saying "look what they've done about it" (I think I recognized Johnny Halliday singing).

At last, there is some action in the end with the final confrontation. So we have a movie with lot of conversation (and even lot of shots showing places around with no particular help for the fiction) ending on a slaughter. Well, I wouldn't be surprised that Quentin Tarentino loves Hail Mafia. And even Wenders and Jarmusch.

The main actors, Jack Klugman, Henri Silva and Eddie Constantine are perfect in tough guys, it's just a pity the movie do not show them more in action as tough guys. But it is a good surprise seeing Eddie Constantine as a looser, without any Lemmy Caution private joke. A great noir character for him. Eddie Constantine played the same year in Alphaville by Godard. 1965 was his new wave year.

Personally, I like jazz score but I found this one doesn't fit with the movie, the music being completely different from the story, but that's personal opinion.

So, if you like action packed gangster movies, don't jump on it. If you like Godard style, this one is for you.

Not every 60's film needed to be in color or wide-screen or expensive.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 23 February 2024]

You'd have to go to a museum or art house or special screening to see a film like this, obviously made cheaply, bit with taste and with a purpose. It's fuzzy, grainy, a bit shrill in sound, but surrounded by a jazz score so terrific and only a handful of characters, blending a sort of classic newsreel like feel as a few familiar actors and some not at all known draw out this dark story.

This is the first genuinely new wave film that I recall seeing, this particular print in English even though it's not an American or British film. Jack Klugman and Henry Silva have a single purpose, separately, a mob hit, on Eddie Constantine. The camera pans over blurily in the first scene over Manhattan, and then the film switches after that quickly to wherever Constantine happens to be and the various activities of the three (plus the alluring Elsa Martinelli and Micheline Presle), adding intrigue because the suspense builds.

I don't think this is going to appeal to a lot of people, but for those who get it and appreciate the stylistic approach will find it a masterpiece. For me, it's not a style I'd like over and over, slow much of the time, but increasing in emotions and having that element of mystery because of the negative elements in the photography making the setting seem like something inside a very odd rabbit hole. I can't praise this film based on my frustrations with it, but rate it appropriately for its uniqueness.