The Sicilian Clan Details

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The Almost Perfect Crime

There are a number of memorable films were a bunch of clever thieves manage to pull off the perfect crime and disappear to spend the proceeds of the crime, such as the Italian Job (2002) and the Getaway (1972). The Sicilian Clan is such a film except for three particular things: the clever bunch of thieves come all from the same family, it is a French movie (although 20th Century Fox helped in the marketing), and in the end it was not perfect crime, well it was almost perfect.

The guy who ruins what was ALMOST a perfect crime to steal expensive jewellery on board a passenger plane from Paris to New York is Roger Sartet, played by Alain Delon. This veteran French star is joined by two other veteran French film stars, Jean Gabin who plays Vittorio Manalese, head of an extended family of thieves in Paris and Lino Ventura as police inspector Le Goff who only manages to solve the crime thanks to Sartet's womanizing.

The film was enjoyable to watch from the very beginning, with the Malalese family helping Sartet escape from a prison van. Soon a long-time American friend of Vittorrio informs him of a plan that could net them priceless jewellery being exhibited in Rome and eventually in New York. The plan which involved hijacking the New York bound flight carrying the jewellery works smoothly. thanks in part to the ingenuity of Vittorio, and one of most thrilling scenes displaying this resourcefulness was when Vittorio impersonated a police inspector on the telephone and thus resolved a hitch that had just happened when the wife of man kidnapped by Sartet (to take his seat on the flight) begins looking desperately for her husband at the airport.

But just when everyone is relaxing and waiting to disappear with their share of proceeds from the heist, Vittorrio learns that before the heist took place, Sartet had frolicked with the naked wife of one of his sons. Vittorrio hatches another clever plan to punish Sartet for bringing shame to his family. But this time Vittorio's luck runs out and soon all hell is let lose, allowing inspector Le Goff to soon figure out who stole the jewellery.

Viewers of the film will be mesmerised by the beautiful music by Ennio Morricone at the beginning and end of the film. The involvement of 20th Century Fox helped the film make a good profit at the U.S. box office for 1969 when the film was released. There are some exciting comic relief along the way in many parts of the film, making this one of the most exciting heist films to come from France.

Dated and Dull

The French doing gangsters in the sixties. Very dated. Jean Gabin being tough, Alain Delon being tougher, both being glamorous. But then came The Godfather parts 1 and 2 (and 3), and all sicilian clan gangster films fade into insignificance. This is no exception.