Machine Gun McCain (1969)

First, I got this blu ray for Britt Ekland. I have never seen a more beautiful model or actress. Believe me, I've looked. When I see the quality of this transfer on a 60 inch 1080p screen, it's hard to believe that this movie was made in the 1960s. The work met my highest hopes. If you have this movie on VHS, or standard def on your DVR, then expect to be impressed by the image quality. One complaint is that the extras are almost non-existant.

The movie is pretty good if you like that type of thing. I must warn some viewers that Britt Ekland is not treated the way any woman deserves. The sex scene is creepy because of this, but I don't want to give away any more of the movie. This is a must have for any Britt Ekland fan.

Short'n sweet; Film 5 Stars//BD 4.

What a fantastic find. Blue Underground is fastly becomming my fav studio for Blu-rays. I have been watching films for a long time, but still can find hidden gems like Giuliano Montaldo's: Machine Gun McCain thanks to them.

If you want the film's synopsis, please read Amazon's, cause it hits the mark. Be warned, though, this film comes with a tonne of style, an amazing score (Ennio Morricone!!!) and a BIG punch. Hank McCain is the main character played by John Cassavetes who is just brillient. Nobody F___s with McCain!

The Blu-ray itself is very high quality with great picture and sound (DTS HD mono) for a movie that is 41 years old. Be warned, there is some excess grain in the wide open shots (not so many), but for the most the picture is clear and colourful. Extras are tight with just the 23 min Interview with Director Giuliano Montaldo and 2 trailers.

Highly recommended.

Hanzo

Buy Machine Gun McCain (1969) Now

Blue Underground has done it again with this visually stunning transfer of Italian Director Giuliano Montaldo's crime epic 'MACHINE GUN MCCAIN'. I first saw this movie about 15 years ago on Cinemax with a pan and scan OK print which I taped. I loved the feel and grittiness of the subject matter and was really anticipating this release. It was worth the wait. The widescreen negative looks brand spanking new with bright colors showing off the technicolor image and the sound is aurally magnificent. Montaldo shot this film in the US with both Euro and American actors as he did his other great heist movie from 1967 'GRAND SLAM'. John Cassavetes is excellent as the title character lured into another job after being released from prison. The cast is awesome: Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Britt Ekland at her most beautiful, Euro stars Florinda Bolkan, Luigi Pistilli from 'THE GOOD, THE BAD ,& THE UGLY' ,Gabriele Ferzetti who also worked with Sergio Leone and played Diana Riggs father in the best of the non Connery Bonds 'ON HER MAJESTYS SECRET SERVICE' 'and Tony Kendall from countless Euro Spy movies just to name a few. The film is like a cross between the Mafia crime dramas and poliziotteschi films which cropped up in the early seventies. Montaldo weaves his story creating a work of mythic porportions around Mccain's character with an ethereal music score by maestro Ennio Morricone. It also harkens back to the gangster films of director Raoul Walsh such as 'HIGH SIERRA' and 'WHITE HEAT' with the anti hero moving through one crisis after another till his inevitable demise. It also contains a great interview with the director which makes Blue Underground one of the best companies in preserving these underrated Euro artists for future generations. Don't think about it, just press the add to cart button on this DVD which along with Olive Films flawless transfer of 'HANNIE CAULDER' emerges as the best and most important film archived from the sixties released this year. Bravo, Blue Underground.

Read Best Reviews of Machine Gun McCain (1969) Here

There aren't many of Cassavetes "jobs for hire" that mean much to fans of the films he directed. Sure, it's fun to see DePalma do a ZABRISKIE POINT on his head in THE FURY, and he brings a certain refined sense of evil to his role as CIA spook... Occasionally there's a fire to his performance in Mazursky's THE TEMPEST that outshadows the rest of the film and makes you wish he were the director... Franco in THE DIRTY DOZEN is a fun enough creation but not really a Cassavetean character... Generally speaking, whatever of St. Cassavetes' magic might be glimpsed in his commercial film work is fleeting, there by accident or snuck in through the cracks, and not particularly significant to Cassavetes' own body of work. With obvious exceptions MIKEY AND NICKY the films he acted in but didn't direct don't deserve substantial treatment alongside his "real" films.

It's really, really hard for me to feel that way about MACHINE GUN McCAIN, though.

I'm basing this on a European PAL DVD that came out a couple of years ago; I haven't seen the new R1 version, but assuming it's the same... What you get here is a very straightforward tale of the committed little guy (Hank McCain, a smalltime bankrobber) using guts and integrity and ruthlessness to take on the Mafia. Initially he is sprung from prison by a gangster (Peter Falk) to do a job rob a casino for him. When the gangster discovers that the casino is actually owned by his bosses, he tries to call off the robbery, but McCain is unstoppable. Along the way, he enlists an innocent young woman's help (Britt Ekland); eventually, he's on the run with her, seeking shelter briefly with his old flame, played by Gena Rowlands. How much influence Cassavetes, Rowlands, and Falk had on Montaldo I can't say, but anyone who has read Ray Carney on GLORIA and THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE and I'm assuming true Cassavetes fans have will understand that Cassavetes was fascinated by gangsters and often used them to figure the Hollywood system he was so at odds with, the money men and thugs and controllers who stifled creativity and true expression. Unlike either of those films, tho', here we have Cassavetes himself sinking his teeth into the role of an "independent" battling "the system." Cassavetes crackles in this role like he was born for it, and makes the whole doomed romanticism of the story arc (as the costs of his rebellion get higher and higher) that much more poignant. I'm not saying it's an art film, mind you it's a hardboiled Italian gangster film with some pretty badly dubbed secondary roles and lots of violence and melodrama (and even a bit of sex) but it's about as Cassavetean as it could be, taking themes that are important to Cassavetes (or would be) and expressing them through the medium of unabashed pulp. (I'm not the only Cassavetes fan I know who has great fondness for this film). And Hank McCain's a lot easier to root for than poor doomed Cosmo, too, I'll tellya, and Falk and Rowlands are pretty damned good, too! BTW, fans of the film should check out Mike Patton's terrific "reading" of the theme song on the extended, Tzadik version of John Zorn's BIG GUNDOWN.

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Don't buy. Blue ray & sound OK nothing special. A couple of actors on the way down willing to play any terrible part. You might beable to make it threw this movie one time, before selling it for one dollar at your next yard sale. Save your money, I wish I had

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