My first encounter with
European countercultural sex symbol Joe Dallesandro came in the form of Andy
Warhol produced Paul Morrissey’s Flesh
for Frankenstein and eventually Blood
for Dracula. While still active in
the film business, including the Steven Soderbergh film The Limey, it was this series of X rated subversive horror films and
the recently re-released Merry-Go-Round that
imprinted the Factory produced male sex icon into this viewer’s memory banks.
Born a street hoodlum
himself before becoming a male model turned successful leading actor with the
power to draw admirers from straight and gay audiences, Dallesandro became a
beloved underground cult hero often cast in roles demanding full frontal male
nudity and/or graphic sex scenes. It
wasn’t until 1975 that the actor ordinarily cast in movies for his physique
than his acting ability finally found a role that arguably hit closer to home
than any other work in his oeuvre: the Pasquale Squitieri directed crime drama The Climber.
In a role best described as
more than a little semi-autobiographical, Dallesandro plays Aldo, an
Italian-American small time runner who, like many small time criminals before
him, gradually climbs his way up the social ladder in the crime syndicate and
quickly ascends from the hunted to the hunter.
Closest to Kinji Fukusaku’s equally gritty, violent and forthright
yakuza pictures depicting the criminal way of life as it is rather than how
cinema typically sensationalizes it, The
Climber is a hard and often heavy crime drama chronicling the street rat’s
rise to power as a fully-fledged mobster.
Largely a procedural of gang
violence, violent assassinations and Aldo’s own transformation from lowly and
polite servant to domineering and ruthless crimelord, The Climber is at once familiar territory while offering
Dallesandro a role which arguable airs out the actor’s own hamper of dirty
laundry for all eyes to see. Visually as
aforementioned, this is a gritty looking crime drama which, like most Italian
films of the time, is largely composed with handheld cinematography along with
heavy use of the zoom lens. It’s an ugly
world and Eugenio Bentivoglio’s rough and ragged cinematography captures the
harsh terrain beautifully.
Performances across the
board are solid and a solid counterpoint to Dallesandro is his girlfriend
Luciana (Stefania Casini from Suspiria)
who undergoes her own transformation from caregiver to the weak and wounded
Aldo before becoming his hapless slave girl with his ascent to power. Aiding the film’s somber mood is the original
score by Franco Campanino which is equal parts funk, guitar rock and downbeat
strings, giving listeners a soundscape that accurately reflects the mood of the
central characters.
Fans of Dallesandro and the
Italian crime drama are in for familiar territory of the genre but not of the
performer. Ordinarily onscreen for his
sex appeal, seeing him make a ruthless turn as a violent gangster was and still
is a startling sight to behold.
Occasionally the film’s collection of men-in-suits crime meetings can
become tedious and the finale’s landing is a bit shaky, but overall The Climber’s rags to riches tale of a
rising crimelord delivers audiences a Dallesandro they haven’t seen before that
oddly emerges as one that is as much about the character as it is about the
actor playing him. Not a masterpiece but
as close to a confessional for Dallesandro onscreen as viewers are likely to ever
get.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki