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Zinksarge Fur Die Goldjungen (Battle Of The Godfathers)

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    Ian Jane
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  • Zinksarge Fur Die Goldjungen (Battle Of The Godfathers)



    Released on: April 13th, 2012.
    Released by: Subkultur Entertainment
    Director: Jurgen Roland
    Cast: Henry Silva, Herbert Fleischmann
    Year: 1973
    Purchase From Diabolik DVD

    The Movie:

    Better known in North America as Battle Of The Godfathers, Zinksarge Fur Die Goldjungen is a 1973 German/Italian co-production directed by Jurgen Roland set in Hamburg, Germany. Here, a man named Otto Westerman (Herbert Fleischmann, who some may recognize from Jess Franco's The Girl From Rio) does very well for himself. His business? Vice. He runs the underworld in the city and has amassed a pretty decent criminal empire for himself.

    All of this comes into jeopardy when a mobster named Luca Messina (Henry Silva) arrives from New York City with his again mother and foxy daughter Sylvia (Patrizia Gori from Elsa Fraulein SS and Hallucination Strip) in tow. Luca is as tough as nails and he's moving in on Otto's trade: he wants a cut. Forty percent, in fact. He's so confident that he'll get it that he announces this right in the middle of a meeting that Otto conducts with his partners in crime. Of course, Otto isn't having any of it and before you know it, Luca has assembled a small army of his own to take on Otto for control of Hamburg's criminal empire. If this weren't complicated enough, Sylvia falls head over heels in love with Otto's son, Erik (Horst Janson, probably best known for playing the lead in Hammer's Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter). Their Romeo And Juliet romance would seem to be doomed as Luca's tactics become increasingly aggressive over time, but Otto isn't going to go down without a fight.

    Essentially a poliziotteschi film made on German soil with a primarily German cast and crew, Battle Of The Godfather's isn't the most original crime film ever made but it is a fast paced and violent picture ripe with the kind of tension and tough talking dialogue that fans of the genre know and love. The romantic subplot seems forced and it's a little hammy in the way that it's executed but the gang war that serves as the core of the story is a blast to watch unfurl. The locations help to make this one interesting as Hamburg's streets start to run red with the blood of this gang war, particularly in the film's big finish where we get a tense and enjoyably ridiculous boat chase through the waterways surrounding and weaving through the city. The flashy cinematography and delirious seventies fashions and furnishings add plenty of quirky color and period detail to the film too - the movie looks great.

    What makes the picture, more than anything else, however, are the two leads. Supporting efforts from Horst Janson and Patrizia Gori are decent enough, he's fine in the role and she's plenty easy on the eyes, but it more or less goes without saying that Fleischmann and Silva are going to steal the show. As Otto, Fleischmann is a tough, seasoned veteran of the German underworld. He's accustomed to being treated as such and he plays the part well. He's tough when he needs to be but so too does he care for his family. On the flip side is Silva as Luca, the tough, cocky Sicilian from New York City who has seemingly sprung up out of nowhere to take from Otto much of what he's worked so hard to accomplish. Silva brings his trademark intensity to this role in heaping doses and delivers a very memorable turn in the picture. It's hard to say which man is hero of villain, they both have their strengths and weaknesses and the movie doesn't really ask us to choose.

    As the film intensifies and builds to its fitting, if slightly predictable conclusion it's hard not to want to go along for the ride. Some great action set pieces, over the top dialogue and tense chase scenes and action set pieces (including a completely unexpected martial arts battle!?) keep things violent and exciting. Jurgen Roland paces the film nicely and the score from Coriolano Gori compliments things nicely. This one doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is a whole lot of fun.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The film arrives on DVD framed at 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen and for the most part looks quite nice on this release. Sometimes contrast looks a little warm and sometimes colors look a little faded but by and large, the image is solid. Black levels are good, detail is pretty decent and for a standard definition transfer of a fairly obscure picture, things shape up nicely here. Expect a fair amount of natural film grain but not a whole lot of actual print damage, which really just keeps the whole thing looking nice and film-like.

    Dolby Digital Mono options are provided in German and English, though there are a few scenes that were never dubbed into English and for these scenes English subtitles will appear on screen if the English track is enabled. Some scenes sound a little bit flat but that's hardly a deal breaker. Dialogue is always easy to understand and the levels are properly balanced, though some background hiss/hum is present here and there. The German track is actually quite a bit cleaner sounding, but if you don't speak German, the English option is the way to go.

    Disc one features the German language cut of the movie as well as a few featurettes, the first of which is a quick introduction from Horst Janson where he welcomes us to the special edition release of one of his early films. The disc also includes an interview with Janson in which he speaks about the legacy of some of the films he made in the seventies, his role as Erik in the feature and his relationship with the film's director, his thoughts on the story that the movie tells, what it was like on set, working with Silva ('I can say that he was a pleasant person who did a great job!'), and the work of producer Wolf C. Hartwig. He also talks about the lack of catering on the shoot, and the film's infamous boat chase scene (which he saw for the first time in the dailies). Janson comes across as a really amiable guy and this interview, presented in German with English subtitles and running about thirteen minutes in length, is quite interesting - don't miss it.

    Also on the first disc is an interview with the mighty Henry Silva that will look familiar to those who own Mike Malloy's Eurocrime! DVD. Here he talks (in English with optional German subtitles) about meeting Frank Sinatra, meeting him on set, and how he wound up in a movie with him. He then talks about the time he spent working on films in Italy and how he enjoyed working on the Gangster films. He then talks about working on Battle Of The Godfathers and how he got chewed up by the director after showing up late because of problems with his flight! He also talks about the strange circumstances after that turned them into the best of friends! Don't mess with Silva. This interview runs roughly four minutes in length.

    The third and final interview on the disc is a lengthy fifty-minute long audio only interview with director Jurgen Roland, who passed away in 2007, but it's in German with no English subtitles.

    On the second disc we get the Italian theatrical version of the film, which is unfortunately presented in Italian language with German subtitles only. This is framed in 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen and while it doesn't look as good as the German version on Disc One, it's an interesting alternate version. It runs 1:17:02 compared to the German version which runs 1:23:04. Not only is the running time different, and the credits sequence, but this cut of the movie uses different music as well. The narration that plays over the final scene is also missing.

    Rounding out the extras on the second disc is a trailer for the feature, a trailer for the Eurocrime! documentary, and a nice sized still gallery. Both discs include menus and chapter selection. The packaging for this release is also quite slick. Both discs fit inside a fold-open package that in turn fits inside a nice cardboard slip case featuring some great vintage poster art. A booklet is also included with the two discs that contains an essay on the film (in German) as well as some cool archival images.

    The Final Word:

    Battle Of The Godfathers is a film entirely worthy of the special edition treatment that it has received with this two disc special limited edition release (1500 copies were made). It's a tense, fast-paced, and insanely entertaining crime picture that fans of Eurocult styled crime pictures will no doubt appreciate. Solid transfer and some nice extras make this one worth hunting down!

































































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