7cb1d79195 After being away for a couple of years, Jerry Bolanti is back in his tough, North Jersey neighborhood, close to swampy meadowlands where bodies get pulled from the trunks of cars and dumped. He's short on cash, so a local boss, Anthony Iadavia, throws him some work - as a collector and a holdup man. But Jerry's cocky and a hothead, so he makes enemies faster than he can deliver on the jobs. Whatever bag or case of cash he touches doesn't seem to make it back to Iadavia. But Jerry's resilient and persistent, so he just may get his revenge as well as a chance to go caravan camping with his girl. Neighborhood kid goes to work for the Mafia as a debt collector. So I think I discovered a movie sub-genre here that I'll call the 'bada-bing' film. Released four years after "The Godfather", arguably one of the best films of all time, someone would consider it a good idea to come up with an Italian mobster flick called "The Death Collector". I don't have any idea how many Godfather knock-offs there might have been, but if this were the only one (besides II and III), it would have been one too many.<br/><br/>I've read with interest all of the other reviewers on this site, and it's curious to me that not many of them consist of more than a few sentences. Maybe because no one could follow this story? Let me boil it down for you. Jerry Bolanti (Joseph Cortese) figures muscle is more important than brains and alliances, and goes calling on a twenty seven thousand dollar debt from Bernie Feldshuh (Frank Vincent). Bernie pays off after some coaxing (doors pulled off his house), but figures he'll go after both Jerry and businessman Herb Greene who hired him. Jerry gets semi-whacked (doesn't die), while Bernie hires Spinoza (Frank Amirrati) who then hires Sam (?) to knock off Greene and the secretary who would have been a witness. Still with me? <br/><br/>To keep the mean streets from boiling over, Jerry's benefactor Anthony (Lou Criscuolo) the pizza shop guy, knocks off Bernie and his bodyguard for all the trouble they were causing. Upon recuperating from his injuries, Jerry teams up with mobster Joey Ubanz (Joe Pesci) and his partner Serge (Bobby Alto), both of whom get knocked off by Sam. A confrontation between Jerry and Sam in the shadow of the Twin Towers and the New Jersey Meadowlands might have been the end of the story, except for what follows. I could give it away, and you could probably figure it out, but to be absolutely sure of the ending, you'll have to catch the film.<br/><br/>Notwithstanding the convoluted story line, here's what else I learned - room service doesn't have hookers, and you don't throw peanuts at lounge singers. As for Joe Pesci, yeah, he's in the picture. But don't take it on faith that he makes the picture like other reviewers on this board have stated. I mean, really, he got whacked like everybody else. Surprisingly good "Mean Streets"-type crime drama. Foreshadows elements of "Goodfellas" and "Casino". Joe Pesci's first big role. Clever dialog. I think the Maltin guide gives this a bomb rating. I can only guess no one actually bothered to watch it.<br/><br/>Saw this at Tarantino's film fest and he said Scorsese used a number of these actors in Raging Bull.
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363 weeks ago