Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. In the three Godfather films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice-nominated for Academy Awards. Michael is the youngest son of Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his father's death, Michael succeeds him as the don of the Corleone crime family.
Vito Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and in the first two of Francis Ford Coppola's film trilogy. Vito is originally portrayed by Marlon Brando in the 1972 film The Godfather, and later by Oreste Baldini as a boy and by Robert De Niro as a young man in The Godfather Part II (1974). He is an orphaned Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire.
Peter Clemenza is a fictional character who first appeared in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. He is played by Academy Award-nominee Richard Castellano in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film adaptation of the novel, and by Bruno Kirby in The Godfather Part II (1974).
Mario Merola was an Italian singer and actor, most prominently known for having rejuvenated the traditional popular Neapolitan melodrama known as the sceneggiata.
Opera is a 1987 Italian giallo directed and co-written by Dario Argento and starring Cristina Marsillach, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi, and Ian Charleson. The film's plot focuses on a young soprano (Marsillach) who becomes involved in a series of murders being committed inside an opera house by a masked assailant. The film features music composed and performed by Brian Eno, Claudio Simonetti, and Bill Wyman.
Poliziotteschi constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as polizieschi all'italiana, Italo-crime, spaghetti crime films, or simply Italian crime films. Influenced primarily by both 1970s French crime films and gritty 1960s and 1970s American cop films and vigilante films, poliziotteschi films were made amidst an atmosphere of socio-political turmoil in Italy known as Years of Lead and amidst increasing Italian crime rates. The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.
Maurizio Merli was an Italian film actor and a star of many Italian police thrillers.
High Crime is a 1973 Italian-Spanish poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. The film stars Franco Nero, James Whitmore, Delia Boccardo and Fernando Rey. High Crime was a large financial success at the time of its release and helped popularize the Italian cop thriller genre.
The Tough Ones is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi and first entry into the Tanzi/Moretto/Monnezza shared universe .
Il Capo dei Capi is an Italian biographical crime drama miniseries which debuted on Canale 5 between October and November 2007. It tells the story of Salvatore Riina, alias Totò u Curtu, a mafioso boss from Corleone, Sicily. Riina is played by Palermo-born actor, Claudio Gioè, and the series was directed by Alexis Sweet and Enzo Monteleone. The series is inspired from the eponymous book-inquiry of Giuseppe D'Avanzo and Attilio Bolzoni. It was broadcast in the UK in the spring of 2013 on the Sky Arts channel, retitled Corleone and split into 12 one-hour episodes.
Salvatore Riina, called Totò, was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s with the assassinations of Antimafia Commission prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, resulting in widespread public outcry and a major crackdown by the authorities. He was also known by the nicknames la belva and il capo dei capi.
Silent Action is a 1975 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Sergio Martino.
Il commissario di ferro (transl. The Iron Commissioner is a 1978 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Stelvio Massi.
Weapons of Death is a poliziottesco film directed by Mario Caiano in 1977. It is spin-off from the Commissioner Betti Trilogy as the character of Gennarino returns from the film Violent Naples.
Hunted City is a 1979 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Stelvio Massi. It represents one of the few negative roles for Merola.
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony is a 1973 crime-comedy film directed by Michele Lupo, and starring Lee Van Cleef, Tony Lo Bianco and Edwige Fenech.
City Under Siege is a 1974 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Romolo Guerrieri. The film is loosely based on Il commissario di Torino by Riccardo Marcato and Ugo Novelli.
The Mafia Triangle is a 1981 Italian "poliziottesco" film written and directed by Alfonso Brescia and starring Mario Merola. It is an unofficial remake of Brescia's 1978 film Napoli … serenata calibro 9.
