Battle of the Godfathers (1973) User Reviews

Heil Silva!

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 13 January 2018]

Henry Silva kicks down Hamburg's brown door and paints it white on the way out in this German-based gangster film. Silva plays Luca Messina, an American/Sicilian mob boss who has picked Hamburg as his new territory, much to the annoyance of German mob boss Otto Westermann,

Silva arrives in town with his gangsters, his mistress, his daughter and his overbearing Sicilian mother and gets right on everyone's case by muscling in on all the whorehouses, gambling dens, and mob-run Greggs. He also just brazenly walks into one of Otto's meetings and declares himself boss of all, which for some reason doesn't go down too well with the German lot, many of whom are literally waving sausages about when they speak.

Complicating matters further is the burgeoning romance between Henry's daughter and Otto's son, which is fuelled by their kid's hatred for the life their father's having chosen. This is the only part of the film that slips a bit but I guess they had to inject some sort of sub plot into things instead of just having mobsters blow each other way for an hour and a half. Also, any hopes you might have of this romance uniting the two families should be dashed when Henry murders Otto's other son - via two Kung Fu masters, this being 1973 and all...

I love the way that almost the entire plot is thrown out of the window when Henry does something completely stupid near the end of the film and we go into a car chase followed by a speed boat chase. In fact, I don't know why but I get the feeling the whole film was a bit of a rush job, as quite a lot of the cast are dispensed with rapidly, and I wasn't even too sure of the sub plot with Henry's mistress and one of his mobster friends, but then by that point things were snowballing so I didn't dwell on it.

For those looking for a quick fix, this one will do - there's plenty of sauce for those interested in naked women who are now drawing a pension if they are still alive at all, and it makes a change to see a bunch of German mobsters smoking and drinking beer instead of Italian gangster smoking and slapping women around.

Exciting mob war in Hamburg

[rundbauchdodo · 7/10 · 2 June 2004]

This violent crime film from Jürgen Roland is the definitive German mafia thriller - and together with Rolf Olsen's breathtaking and even more thrilling BLUTIGER FREITAG the best German crime movie of the Seventies (note that both films are in fact German-Italian co-productions, which I think explains a lot).

Herbert Fleischmann leads the cast as Hamburg business man Otto Westermann, who is also the boss of the organized crime in the city. His reign as godfather is in danger, though, as ambitious Sicilian mafioso Luca Messina enters the North German metropolis, coming directly from New York. Messina's goal is clear and simple: He wants to take over Hamburg. But Westermann isn't as easy to defeat as the Sicilian expects. And soon Hamburg is on the verge of a bloody mob war.

The ace of this movie is without a doubt Henry Silva in the role of Messina, who once more gives a frenetic performance as in most genre films of that time (two of many other examples are IL BOSS and QUELLI CHE CONTANO). But Herbert Fleischmann is also perfect in his role, and the two actors fight a great battle throughout the movie.

There are also some great action scenes, mainly the climactic speed boat chase sequence, preceding the similar chase in the fine Dutch thriller AMSTERDAMNED for 15 years. The final twist is magnificent, even though slightly predictable. The only negative point to make about the film is the unnecessary love story between Westermann's son and Messina's daughter, which diminishes the flow of the story considerably. Otherwise, ZINKSÄRGE FÜR DIE GOLDJUNGEN is an exciting crime movie and definitely not to be missed by aficionados of the genre.

"He who waits always wins in the end"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 10 March 2018]

Luca Messina, his mother, his daughter and his entourage (including two Kung Fu fighters!) arrive in Hamburg. Messina wants to muscle in on the territory of Otto Westermann so there follows intimidation and murder as Messina tries to supplant Westerman as the crime kingpin of the city. So the titular Godfathers battle until the unsurprising ending but it's not a patch on Coppola's Godfather films. There is a Romeo and Juliet element between the children of the Godfathers but it's not a patch on Shakespeare either. It's not that exciting or original.

It does however have Henry Silva and Herbert Fleischmann as the main protagonists and they make the best of their cliched roles. The rest of the cast are forgettable. The best thing is the motorboat chase near the end around the docklands area of the city. And the sang-froid of Messina's Mother who carries on eating even after a bomb explodes in the swimming pool. That was funny.

The German Godfather?

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 9 July 2016]

"Zinksärge für die Goldjungen" or "Battle of the Godfathers" is in the German version a very specific title and, in the English version, already gives away the direction this 85-minute film is going to take. Back in the 1970s, world cinema was all about Coppola's Godfather films and of course filmmakers from other countries than the United States would be inspired and may feel the necessity to give us their take on organized crime. Here we see Jürgen Roland's approach to the matter. First of all, I would like to say that Germany and mafia film is a connection that is almost non-existent, so I applaud Roland and his two writers Lüddecke and Rieger for their courage here. And the outcome is actually not bad. It was good that they kept the film fairly short, so it basically never drags. The characters (especially the main antagonist played by Henry Silva) are interesting to watch for the most part and the story is easy to follow. There are even some bold and really entertaining moments in here and I was a bit surprised. It's not a flawless or really memorable film by any means, but I must say I got more than I expected here in terms of quality. The title has a bit of a comedic touch to it in my opinion, but comedy is almost non-existent. It's all about the crime and drama, even if there was occasionally a scene when I had to smile due to probably unintentional comedy. One example would be the scene with the good guy on the motor boat near the end. I enjoyed the watch. The film takes up some of the good from "The Godfather", but also brings in some creativity on his own and it's worth checking out. Thumbs up.

Battle Royal.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 11 February 2014]

With being very keen on taking a look at a German Crime film after recently re-watching the ruthless 1972 title Bloody Friday,I was thrilled to recently see a fellow IMDb'er mention a wonderfully tough sounding German Crime movie,which led to me getting ready to see Henry Silva in action for the first time.

The plot:

Arriving to Hamburg from New York with his family and his 'other' family,leading gangster Luca Messina discovers that the city's underworld is controlled by a man called Otto Westermann.Desperate to knock Westermann's empire down,Messina orders his gang to show Westermann that there is a new mob in town.

Feeling that there is a serious risk to him losing his empire,Westermann tells his gang that they must 'play nice',so that Messina and his gang let there guard down.Arranging a meeting between each other,Messina and Westermann begin discussing methods which will allow them to run an underground 'coalition' empire.Unknown to both of them,Westermann's son and Messina's daughter begin to have a secret relationship,which will lead to Westermann and Messina fighting it out to become the ultimate godfather of Hamburg's underworld.

View on the film:

Despite my DVD player doing its best to take the charms of the film away, (thanks to it 'pausing' every 2 minutes!)the screenplay by August Rieger and Werner Jorg Luddecke, (who in 1959,wrote what would become Fritz Lang's 'Indian epic')keeps away from making this a brutally hard- nosed German Crime title,by giving the movie a wonderfully refreshing wry sense of Black Comedy,with Luddecke and Rieger making Messina and Westermann's feud be one that goes from sending an 'explosive' weeding reef,to accidentally placing a bomb in their son and daughter's car.

Keeping up with the writer's sense of style,director Jurgen Roland takes a wonderfully wild,fast-paced approach with the film,thanks to Roland making the gangs battles to be far from normal by including everything from Kung-Fu fighters to a terrific,action-filled final chase which leads to the film ending on a surprisingly cynical Film Noir note.

Barking orders to his gang the moment he sets foot in Hamburg,Henry Silva gives a great brittle performance as Luca Messina,with Silva showing Luca to be someone who always aims to work fast & furious in his attacks,and is also not afraid of giving people a false sense of security.Facing off against Silva,Herbet Fleischmann gives a strong stern performance as Otto Westermann,with Fleischmann showing that whilst Luca may have speed and age on his side,Westermann still has his razor sharp wits,which he will use to win the match,in the battle of the godfathers.