Aka I giudici, Falcone
1999
106 minutes
Italy
Based on the Book Excellent Cadavers by Alexander Stile
A David Nichols production for Home Box Office and Tidewater
Director: Ricky Tognazzi
Story: Alexander Stille
Screenplay: Peter Pruce
Cinematography: Alessio Gelsini Torresi
Music: Michael Tavera Joseph Vitarelli
Editor: Roberto Silvi
Art director: Andrea Crisanti
Cast: Chazz Palminteri (Giovanni Falcone), F. Murray Abraham (Tommaso Buscetta), Anna Galiena (Francesca Morvillo), Andy Luotto (Paolo Borsellino), Lina Sastri (Agnese Borsellino), Gian Marco Tognazzi (Ninni Cassara’), Victor Cavallo (Toto’ Riina), Arnoldo Foà (Antonino Caponnetto), Pierfrancesco Favino (Mario), Mattia Sbragia (Giudice Quinzi), Ivo Garrani (Gaetano Caponnetto), Antonio Manzini (Messina)
Not the Francesco Rosi film of the same name, but a TV movie directed by Ricky Tognazzi detailing Judge Giovanni Falcone’s battle against the Mafia in Sicily during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Falcone‘s story is undoubtedly a fascinating one which deserves telling, and it was also previously told in Giuseppe Ferrara’s 1993 film Giovanni Falcone, but this doesn’t really do it justice.
There’s nothing wrong with the story – which sees Falcone arrive in Palermo, battle against the endemic corruption of his own department, witness the successive murder of many of his friends and form a bizarre alliance with Mafia boss turned informer Tommaso Buscetta – but it’s all washed up in TV gloss which really detracts from the power of it all. There’s an unnecessary love story between Falcone and and old school friend (Anna Galiena) which is frankly tedious, the limited running time means that several important sub-narratives are dealt with in a cursory manner and it all feels like a project that was intended to be much longer but which was indescrimintaley whittled down to 100 minutes.
And worse of all it has a dreadfully dated look; if it was intentional that this should look as though it was filmed in as well as being set in the late 80s it succeeds, but as the late 80s represents a cinematic nadir it’s a success which doesn’t add up to much.
Tognazzi, of course, directed the superior La scorta in 1993, so it counts as something of a disappointment and there’s surely room for a really top class examination of the events it portrays (although it does come alive a bit during the frequent driving sequences, which were so effectively handled in La scorta as well). There’s a nice cast, though, with Chazz Palminteri coming across like a less intellectual Giancarlo Giannini, F. Murray Abraham in good form and numerous familiar characters actors from the golden age of the Italian crime film (Slavatore Billa, Sandro Dori, Bruno Scipioni, Giovanni Di Benedetto). The Assistant Director is Alberto de Martino – surely this isn’t THE Alberto De Martino who was responsible for so many b-movie classics during the 60s and 70s.
