The Sicilian

Despite an illustrious literary pedigree—The Sicilian is based on the 1984 titular Godfather tie-in bestseller by Mario Puzo, with a script by novelist Steve Shagan—Michael Cimino's 1987 epic was a box-office bomb, partially due to the distributor's brutal post-production editing that cut 30 minutes of the story. Christopher Lambert stars as Salvatore Giuliano, a remarkable real-life 1940s bandit and Sicilian separatist who styled himself as a modern Robin Hood, working to uplift the peasants from Italian-landowner domination. But—at least here—the well-educated but politically naïve firebrand fails to see how much he is being used as a tool by Palermo Mafiosi, until his fate is sealed. Some subplots—Giuliano's gentleman-highwayman crashing of a posh dinner of aristocrats, and making the cover of Life magazine—are historical fact. But even with the missing half-hour of material restored for this Blu-ray release, the saga still features confusing transitions, uneven acting, and schizoid shifts in tone, although one can glimpse a superior, David Lean-like epic lurking beneath this sprawling mess, and Cimino's eye for the Sicilian mountainscape is often breathtaking. Notable also is the international cast, including John Turturro, Aldo Ray, Barbara Sukowa, and an especially impressive boss-of-bosses turn by Joss Ackland. But ultimately this is an interesting misfire, of primary interest to film students studying Cimino's checkered career. Optional. (C. Cassady)