Family Enforcer (1976)

Successful underworld project, film and sountrack great

Family Enforcer (1976), stills holds its own 30 years later, incredibly,
as an underworld thriller, and is reminiscent slightly of PULP FICTION.

The music is crafted superbly, in shaping the mood of the underlying action.
The filming (on the DVD release) is better than one would expect, (and doesn't stem
from shooting on video, which is a plus).The acting is charismatic, and carries
a very vivid "live" feel, well edited.

Although the success of this project, cannot be credited to a single
individual, the actors deserve a lot here, namely, Joseph Cortese playing
the irresponsible, cocky, teenagerish, irreligious, hot-head semi-serious
collector of bad debts, combined with Joe Pesci as the man who's mature,
and intelligent enough to do a reality-check from A to Z on what's going on,
yet showing a tendency towards finding the comical in somes situations, and
Frank Vincent as the business man, whose operations turned sour, and went bankrupt.

Although it's slightly a cliche', to have a movie run full circle at the beginning
and ending (like Uno Bianca, for example) the momentum, tension doesn't let up
over the 85 mins.

Those partaking in this underworld, are clearly psychotic, and live in their own
reality, considering what is seen... rubouts, point blank murders, actual breaking
of legs with a baseball bat, shotguns, eye-for-an-eye revenge, contracts put out,
bad debtors, collectors, key contacts in assigning work having an identical role as
a recruiting agency (only this time, for the underworld), burials, traps laid out,
stripper bars, underground gambling rooms, horse bets, bookies, car thefts, stake
outs, gunsmiths destroying murder weapons/ evidence, the stooling, etc.

There is also a lot of calculated behavior throughout as strategy plays a part
in what is and isn't done, and in an awareness of the implications of dishonoring
prominent individuals in the tight-knit community.

A lot of street jargon is used, effectively conveying the mentality and education
of those involved, such as "he's on the wheel" (training), "piece", " score " ,
"strong-arm", "mechanic", "playing the Don", etc.

It also realistically demonstrates that effective collectors may exceed the threshold
at which a bad debtor changes his mind, (the pain of not paying greater than
the comfort of resisting), by intimidation with a lethan weapon, or ripping
off the doors of a home with tow-truck. There's also the reverse ... the risks taken,
from the ease in taking out a collector may be greater than teh struggle of paying him back.

The comical moments, are present occasionally such as the peanut incident with a
pianist in a club and some other ones.

The weak spot is the lack of any law enforcement and there being no subtitles.

The entertainment definitely takes the viewer to another time, place and dimension
and is well worth a release in theatres again, for those on a slow day. December 20, 2008

Pure Dreck but the Fashions are a Hoot

I can't believe some here loved this laughably inept, sub-Scorsese dreck. Badly written, directed, and acted, its only value is to remind you how good the classics of the mob genre are in comparison. The final shootout, which someone here raves over, is especially hilarious. The gunmen who whack the wedge cut-wearing guido "hero" really are the gang that couldn't shoot straight. It's fun to check out the 70s hairdos (Frank Vincent's poodle cut is a hoot) but that's about the only redeeming feature about this C-grade flick. March 21, 2008

family enforcer...no!!! it's death collector.

if u like "B" movies, you'll like this. but this movie was boring and the acting sucked! September 26, 2007

I grew up with guys like these.

This is the way it is. It's a way of life that these guys only know.
It's not the slick smooth Godfather-Soprano Bull S--t it's a way of survival. You do what you do to get by, and don't know anything else.
If you're lucky by mistake you'll find out there is a world outside of your neighborhood. January 12, 2007

Bene bene

This movie reminds me of the old neighborhood. The acting was really good. The plot was good too. It's called a B-movie, but, c'mon, the garbage they call movies today, blockbuster hits and all, pale in comparison. My only disapointment is not seeing Spinoza end up in a body bag. October 18, 2006

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