Go Gorilla Go | |
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![]() Italian theatrical release poster | |
Italian | Vai gorilla |
Directed by | Tonino Valerii [1] |
Screenplay by | |
Story by |
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Produced by | Mario Cecchi Gori [1] |
Cinematography | Mario Vulpiani [1] |
Edited by | Antonio Siciliano [1] |
Music by | |
Production company | Capital Film [1] |
Distributed by | Cineriz |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes [1] |
Country | Italy [1] |
Language | Italian |
Box office | ₤1.846 billion |
Go Gorilla Go (Italian : Vai gorilla) is a 1975 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Tonino Valerii.
The script of the film continued some scenes from the debut film of Valerii, Per il gusto di uccidere , including the final duel between Fabio Testi and Antonio Marsina. [2] The censorship commission banned the film to people under 18 years old and Valerii refused the cuts requested by the production to lower the ban; the film eventually had a significant commercial success, grossing over 1 billion and 800 million lire. [3]
Gori contacted Tonino Valerii who specialised in spaghetti westerns. Valerii's latest film My Name is Nobody (1973) was his most popular to date. [1] Valerii and screenwriter Massimo De Rita started developing a few ideas and had three story outlines for the film. [1] [4] These ideas were an omnibus film about a police patrol on a night shift, the second was a revenge film that Valerii described as "in the vein of Death Wish " about a lawyer who uses his knowledge of crime to seek revenge on gangs. [4] The last idea was a story about a bodyguard. [4] Valerii saw a newspaper on Gori's desk about a wealthy Italian industrialist who moved abroad in fear of being kidnapped. [4] Feeling that the story captured the era that Italy was in, they decided on the story of the bodyguard (or gorillas as they were nicknamed). [4] Valerii says they convinced Gori on the film when De Rita told him the title "Go Gorilla!". [4]
Valerii cast Fabio Testi in the role after he had been in a few films (Blood River and Red Coat) that did poorly in the box office. [4] Al Lettieri had a small role as Testi's best friend in the film. It would be one of Lettieri's final roles as he died of a heart attack on October 18, 1975. [4] For the villain, Valerii cast Antonio Marsina who had recently given up acting after a few roles in 1960s Westerns and had become a photographer. [4] Marsina arrived with his girlfriend who auditioned for a part but was not cast. [4] Valerii thought that Marsina had an interesting face and got him to do a screen test which got him the role. [4]
Valerii stated that the film's script was written quickly with a lot of dialogue being re-written in the editing room to "rescue" a few scenes. [5] The film was shot at De Paolis Studios in Rome. [1]
Go Gorilla Go was distributed in Italy by Cineriz on November 14, 1975. [1] The film received a v.m. 18 rating in Italy, making it not permitted to an audience under the age of 18. [5] When this happened, Cecci Gori insisted that Valerii cut the most violent scenes as requested. [5] Valerii did not accept this and no cuts were made. [5]
The film was a great box office success in Italy, where it grossed a total of 1,846,285,530 Italian lire. [1] [5] It re-launched Fabio Testi's career as one of Italy's most popular action film actors. [5]
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