What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Known in its English language version as DEFEAT OF THE MAFIA, this quirky Italian crime film is overly talky and inconsistent in tone, but has many distinctive touches about it, fine location photography, and an amazing performance by Victor Spinetti as the nervous, Milquetoast relative of an American girl who dies of a drug overdose in Italy...or so it seems. Actually, Spinetti's performance--as he evolves throughout the film and finally reveals his true identity--is a tour-de-force. Anthony Perkins is the only other actor I could imagine taking on a role like this in 1969. The "hero" of this film is a harried police inspector played by Pier Paolo Capponi (and voiced in English by someone who has voiced MANY Italo crime films and westerns), but Spinetti earns his top billing, and he makes what could have been a routine film a very interesting film. The film also uses multiple voiceovers by various characters, which is an odd technique that doesn't truly work (and is often the sign of an amateur screentwriter), but gives the film a far different feel most similar films which feature stoic, hard-boiled dialog. Overall, an interesting film...and a fine performance by Spinetti. Very difficult to find, however.