The Sicilian

Rating:
Summary: Garbage, I wish there was zero Stars
Review: Absolutely some of the worst acting and story continuity I have ever seen. Christopher Lambert is not the only bad actor here - Joss Ackland as Don Masino and Barbara Sukowa as the Duchess are not much better. The dialogue can be so hard to follow, and the film jumps around so much, that towards the end of the movie you can barely (if at all) understand what's going on. Instead of spending more time on the "why" and "how" of Giuliano's campaign for Sicilian revolution, this film wastes time on smaller, less important scenes. One in particular, where Giuliano is robbing the Duchess of her jewels, and ends up frolicking in bed with her, is absolutely excruciating to watch - the acting and dialogue is that bad. Don't waste 2 1/2 hours of your life on this.

Rating:
Summary: Just try to sit through this...
Review: Absolutely some of the worst acting and story continuity I have ever seen. Christopher Lambert is not the only bad actor here - Joss Ackland as Don Masino and Barbara Sukowa as the Duchess are not much better. The dialogue can be so hard to follow, and the film jumps around so much, that towards the end of the movie you can barely (if at all) understand what's going on. Instead of spending more time on the "why" and "how" of Giuliano's campaign for Sicilian revolution, this film wastes time on smaller, less important scenes. One in particular, where Giuliano is robbing the Duchess of her jewels, and ends up frolicking in bed with her, is absolutely excruciating to watch - the acting and dialogue is that bad. Don't waste 2 1/2 hours of your life on this.

Rating:
Summary: Buy British!
Review: Admirers of THE SICILIAN may like to know that the British DVD release (on the Momentum label) is both uncut and fully letterboxed!

Rating:
Summary: Artisan does it again
Review: Amazing, isn't it? They somehow -- probably entirely by
accident -- put out the longer "Director's Cut" of this
terrific and hugely underrated movie, then destroy it with
a careless, awful, cropped presentation. But then, these
are the people who advertised a "documentary" on their disc
of FIRST BLOOD -- which turned out to be nothing but clips
from that film.

Rating:
Summary: The Sicilian is one of the worst films I've ever seen.
Review: Don't bother with this film. Watch the Italian film "Salvatore Giuliano." The Sicilian is a Godfather clone with an abnormal brain.

Rating:
Summary: Garbage, I wish there was zero Stars
Review: Don't waste your money on this.It is not worth seeing. It is an insult to the movie going public.I threw mine into the Garbage

Rating:
Summary: One of the great 1980s films, unseen until now.
Review: I'm thrilled that the complete version of Michael Cimino's masterpiece is FINALLY going to be available in the United States! I caught this in Paris during its first week in October of 1987 and was floored by the movie. Brilliantly literate screenplay by the uncredited Gore Vidal, with Terrance Stamp as Vidal's stnad-in. Elegant mise-en-scene and a tight dramatic arc that I wouldn't have thought Cimino capable of. (I'm one of the minority that hated "The Deer Hunter" but thouht "Heaven's Gate" was brilliant.) When I got back to the United States I was shocked to find out "The Sicilian" had been released in a version cut by 25 minutes and was roundly trashed as incoherent. The rumor was also out that when Fox demanded that Cimino deliver a 120 minute version, he deliberately cut it to make no sense thinking that the studio would then have no choice but to release his complete film. But they released the deliberately sabotaged version instead. Anybody know the truth about this? Anyway, this is one of the great American-produced films of the 1980s -- if you love Scorsese and Visconti,and want something both passionate and cerebral, political and exciting, you must see this.

Rating:
Summary: "Make Your Peace With God."
Review: I'm very glad this movie finally came out on DVD with Cimino's excellent Director's Cut, but Artisan has a history of crap DVDs, and this is no exception.
The movie itself is excellent, the noble story of Salvatore Giuliano, who attempted a failed revolution of Sicily. People who have problems with Christopher Lambert's performance obviously see him then immediately stop watching the movie. His character is out of place in every aspect, he rears his horse at a woman in the window, skids across the floor like he's flying to start a dance, and continually makes a point of how different he is, Lambert seems to fit the role perfectly. Aside from him we have John Turturro in the performance of a lifetime and an interesting contribution by Terrance Stamp.
I sincerely hope a special edition of this DVD comes out in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Blasphemy, or For a Few Dollars More.
Review: It is blatantly obvious that Artisan was only concerned with making a buck on this release. I advise anyone who is a fan of Cimino's work to avoid this dreck they call a DVD. For beginners the film is presented in full screen, pan and scan format. For anyone who is familiar with Cimino's films you know that they are all amazingly composed and shot in widescreen formats that vary from 65 to 70 mm. This film is no exception and moments such as the one where Terence Stamp's character looks on from his ivory tower through a telescope, just cries out for appropriate frame representation. Not only that but the film has several cameos by a group of method acting gnats or as most people would refer to it, overwhelmingly BAD graininess. Whole scenes seem washed out in terms of color and lighting and it is a true accomplishment to distinguish objects from one another in the locust storm of grain that envelopes each subsequent scene. Some would argue that that is what you get for a film as cheaply priced as this one but this is a travesty. I would rather have the film cleaned up, digitally remastered and presented in its original film ratio and pay a few dollars more. A caption on the back of the box sums up the overall stupidity and lack of quality execution on Artisan's behalf:"Formatted from its original version to fit your screen." then, directly below it states:"Presented in the original 1.33:1 format in which the film was shot." Huh? I almost got an aneurism trying to figure the logic in that. Note to Artisan:It is either formatted to fit your screen OR presented in its original format, IT CAN'T BE BOTH! Regardless, this film is a cheap, dragged through the back alley slums, popped into VHS and copied onto "digital" transfer, type DVD. ARTISAN YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!

Rating:
Summary: Underrated
Review: Since I read the book, I wanted to see this movie. I was quite curious if Christofer Lambert could pull it off, playing Salvatore, but he actually did a great job. And so did John Turtorro!
This movie did something I've never experienced before; It was just the same way as I thought it would be while I read it!
The story was a little changed, but that doesn't harm the story much (except for letting out the Corleones).