Goodbye & Amen — Goodbye & Amen( Blu Ray)
Goodbye & Amen is a late 70’s Italian thriller that mixes gunman/ hostage tenseness, with espionage drama. With a few neat twists along its length, some taut interactions, and touches of moody visual flare. Here from Radiance Films is a new region A/B release of this film- taking in a new scan of the film, a commentary track, and a few other things.
Goodbye & Amen (aka L’Uomo della CIA) is from 1977. It was one of the lesser-known films by genre versatile director Damiano Damian. The Pasiano di Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia-born director producer, and actor, had thirty feature-length credits to his name. These go from isolated island-based romantic drama Arturo's Island (1962), to atmospheric horror The Witch (1966). Onto US horror sequel Amityville II: The Possession (1982). Though to a selection of mafia-focused crime dramas/thrillers featuring Fran Neo in the late '60s to 70’s- The Day Of The Owl, The Case Is Closed, Forget It, and How to Kill a Judge- these are all collected together on the excellent Radiance Films boxset Cosa Nostra- full review here.
The film opens with a panning shot of some of Romes's apartment blocks- homing on one of the roofs where we see lead CIA operative John Dannahay working out- he's played Tony Musante- who is known to Galio fans for his lead role in Dario Argento’s The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970). He gets a call, and heads out to Rome’s CAI offices where he details a new mission going into an African country to overthrow it- but things get delayed as one of the country's operatives turns up in the city.
Meanwhile, another agent has stormed out on his wife & son - seemingly taking a gun & heading for a hotel to start taking potshots at folks. He then barges into the room of middle-aged woman Mrs De Mauro (Claudia Cardinale) & blond-haired not brightest actor Jack (Gianrico Tondinelli)- who are having a steamy meeting up. Playing the gunman is John Steiner- an English-born actor who appeared in a fair few Italian genre films such as Caligula (1979) & Tenebrae (1982).
As the film unfolds the local cops are brought into the hotel- within time Dannahay is informed one of his operatives has seemingly flipped out.
With the gunman requesting rather bizarre items like thirty boxes of cornflakes, black raincoats & black motorcycle- the final two items are used to great effect in the film's moody nighttime shot finale.
The film blends taut & tense dramatics, and darts of action/ gunplay- with the swat team wearing these distinctive box-like hoods, which again adds an interesting visual edge to proceedings. The whole thing unfolds in an often fairly unexpected manner- with one or two good twists along the way. With an effectively pulsing electro bass & grooving keys led score
Acting-wise Musante sells well his role as the lead CIA operative- trying to balance personal loyalties with that of his job. Steiner as usual is great, and you're never sure if he’s lost his marbles or is firmly in charge of his destiny - for this film he’s suited in a blue dress suit & moustache. With the supporting cast all well enough picked & balanced.
On the whole Goodbye & Amen is a fairly original & distinctive mix of different thriller tropes- with one or two surprises along the way- be they visual or plot-wise. Yes, at points it is a little dialogue-heavy, and I could have done with maybe a touch more action- but if you enjoy euro crime films, I feel you’ll be entertained by what is on offer here.
Moving onto this region free Blu Ray- we find a newly restored scan of the film, which can be either watched in English or Italian. On the extra side, we get a commentary track from euro crime experts Nathaniel Thompson & Howard S Berger- this is excellent, really bringing out more from the film- with the track being wonderfully researched/ informed. They start by talking about how the subtitle of CAI Man was added to some releases of film/ poster artwork. They briefly touch on the film's source novel The Grosvenor Square Goodbye- though apparently it only takes in a few scenes from the book, and mostly the script is all new. They talk about where this film fits in director Damiano Damian's filmography- pointing out how reactionary/ satirical the film is in places. We get talk about the film scores by the De Angelis brothers- the scores CD release, and other noteworthy scores they worked on. They discuss how many of Damian’s films have a family in peril elements, and we find out the film was a difficult shot- apparently lead actor Tony Musante was at times rather problematic. Later on, they talk about the film's neat/ surprising twist. They point out that more than a few actors appearing in the film also turned up in Mario Bava's film work- though they play very different parts here. We get talk about the clever use of framing/ editing in the film's dialogue scenes, compare the film to the work of Billy Wilder, and much more…a must-play track!.
Otherwise, we get a new on-screen subtitled interview with editor Antonio Siciliano (38.49), and an archive interview with actor Wolfango Soldati(25.49). The finished release features a reversible sleeve, as well as a twenty-page inlay booklet- taking in a new write-up about the film from Lucia Rinaldi, transfer/ production notes, credits & few colour stills.
Goodbye & Amen is a skilfully made, well-acted and clever blend of different thriller tropes. It’s great to see the film getting the Radiance Films treatment- with a scan of great clarity/ depth, and a most worthy selection of extras.