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| Images courtesy of Radiance Films |
Radiance Films have been showing Italian writer-director a
lot of love lately, starting with their deluxe limited edition boxed set of Cosa
Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani while Arrow
Video recently took a stab at one of his films in their Gothic Fantastico box. With renewed interest in contemporary Italian
crime dramas/thrillers thanks to boutique labels like Radiance who have more or
less posited themselves as the new Arrow Academy, their ongoing efforts to
publish previously unavailable Eastern European titles in lavishly restored and
stacked blu-ray sets, it was only a matter of time before the company would
land on arguably Damiani’s finest hour as a film director: the white-knuckle
tense espionage/hostage Eurocrime thriller Goodbye & Amen.
When a CIA agent stationed in Rome named John Dannahay (Tony
Musante from The Bird with a Crystal Plumage) is conspiring a planned coup
d'état of the African government with several other higher ups in the Italian
government, the elaborate plan is thwarted by the unlikely homicidal actions of
corrupt diplomatic colleague turned lone hotel rooftop sniper Donald Grayson
(John Steiner from Tenebrae). Quickly
developing into a hostage crisis ala Dog Day Afternoon, the disgruntled
diplomat takes a young action movie actor and his mistress Mrs. De Mauro
(screen starlet Claudia Cardinale). Forced
to shift gears and postpone the plan in order to bring down the lynchpin that
could expose government corruption, the film takes on the structure of a police
thriller of increasing tension and an almost domino-like rally of surprise
revelations ahead.
With its exquisite, precise cinematography of Italian
backdrops atop rooftops by Deep Red cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller and
its funky, moody prog rock score by Oliver Onions aka Guido and Maurizio
De Angelis and its committed yet nuanced performances from the ensemble cast,
Damiano Damiani’s Goodbye & Amen is a stone-cold masterpiece of
Italian crime cinema. While not quite a
poliziotteschi, it nevertheless is one of the stronger hostage crisis films
while also functioning as an existential, almost sardonic examination of the
gulf between political corruption and the need to maintain law and order. As Damiani ratchets up the tension with our
antagonist Donald Grayson pouring corn flakes all over the hotel floor in order
to hear potential assassins leading towards a heart pounding finale of the
killer and hostages trying to exit the hotel cloaked in motorcycle gear and
helmets (a common giallo trope), the film builds up to a fever pitch of anxious,
nervous excitement.
All of the actors in the piece, from Tony Musante, Claudia
Cardinale, John Forsythe and John Steiner give pitch-perfect performances
across the board, creating realistic and deeply flawed figures who take
uncertain risks to try and advance their respective plans. While ostensibly a hostage negotiation
thriller of sorts, as with Damiani’s Cosa Nostra series Goodbye &
Amen is also rather sardonic in its investigation of an already deeply
corrupt government backed into a corner and forced to do right to avoid
exposure of doing wrong. On the one
hand, our hero John Dannahay is intent on gaining control of a dangerous
situation posing great harm to the general public, yet on the other hand his
whole goal is to simply cover his ass.
For no apparent reason, this benchmark of Italian crime
cinema remained unavailable on home video for a long time but thanks to the
ongoing efforts of Radiance Films, Goodbye & Amen has been fully
restored in 2023 in two cuts: the original Italian language cut and, for the
first time ever on home video, the English cut.
The blu-ray comes with an audio commentary by Eurocrime aficionados
Nathaniel Thompson and Howard Berger as well a newly conducted interview with
editor Antonio Siciliano and Wolfango Soldati.
Another bona fide masterpiece of Italian crime cinema from one of its
greatest purveyors, Damiano Damiani’s Goodbye & Amen represents one
of the pinnacles of Eurocrime as well as sociopolitical satire and one of
Radiance Films’ very best releases to open their 2024 roster.
--Andrew Kotwicki
