''Cry of a Prostitute'' (, also known as ''Love Kills'' and ''Guns of the Big Shots'') is a 1974 Italian

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The ...

directed by

Andrea Bianchi Andrea Bianchi (31 March 1925 – 14 November 2013) was an Italian film Film director, director and writer. Filmography * ''Night Hair Child, Diabólica malicia'' (1972) (as Andrew White) (uncredited in English version) * ''Treasure Island (1972 ...

Plot

Hitman Tony Aniante returns to his native Sicily after having spent many years in the United States. Upon his arrival, the rival families Cantimo and Scannapieco contend for his services, unaware that Aniante's plan is actually to pit one against the other in order to take power, for which a reformed prostitute joins forces with him.

Cast

Henry Silva Henry Silva (September 23, 1926 – September 14, 2022) was an American actor, with a film and television career which spanned fifty years. A prolific character actor in over 140 productions, he was known for his "dark, sepulchral" looks and ...

as Tony Aniante *

Barbara Bouchet Barbara Bouchet (born Bärbel Gutscher; 15 August 1943)
, glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com; ...

as Margie *

Fausto Tozzi Fausto Tozzi (29 October 1921 – 10 December 1978) was an Italian film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in 70 films between 1951 and 1978. He wrote the script for '' The Defeated Victor'', which was entered into the 9th Berlin Internatio ...

as Don Ricuzzo *

Vittorio Sanipoli Vittorio Sanipoli (27 October 1915 – 25 July 1992) was an Italian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in around a hundred films and television series between 1942 and 1980. Life and career Born Luciano Sanipoli in Genoa, he made his ...

as Don Cascemi * Patrizia Gori as Carmela *

Dada Gallotti Dada Gallotti (born 8 April 1935) is an Italian actress. Born in Milan, Italy, as Alda Gallotti, she was one of the most active character actresses in the 1960s and 1970s. She appeared in several spaghetti Western films under the pseudonym Dia ...

as Santa Scannapieco *

Mario Landi Mario Landi (12 October 1920 – 18 March 1992) was an Italian director known for his giallo movies such as '' Giallo a Venezia'' and his television series '' Le inchieste del commissario Maigret''. Life and career Born on 12 October 1920, in ...

as Don Turi Scannapieco *

Alfredo Pea Alfredo Pea (born 17 November 1954) is an Italian stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Rome, Pea studied acting at the "Studio di arti sceniche" drama school by Alessandro Fersen. He became first known in the mid-seventi ...

as Zino *

Carla Mancini Carla Mancini (born 21 April 1950) is an Italian film and television actress.Cox p.295 A graduate of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia she made numerous appearances in films of the early 1970s. Selected filmography * '' Rough Justice'' (1 ...

as Margie's Maid

Production

''Cry of a Prostitute'' was filmed at Incir-De Paolis in Rome and on location in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

Release

''Cry of a Prostitute'' was released on 11 January 1974 in Italy, where it was distributed by Jumbo. The film grossed a total of 444,963,000 Italian lire. The film was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

as ''Cry of a Prostitute: Love Kills'' and on DVD by Televista. The Televista release is cut to 86 minutes.

Reception

Austin Fisher in ''Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema'' wrote that the film was one in a series of Italian film, alongside ''La mala ordina'' (''

The Italian Connection ''The Italian Connection'' (, also released as ''Manhunt in the City'' and ''Manhunt in Milan'') is a 1972 noir- thriller film directed and co-written by Fernando Di Leo; starring Mario Adorf, Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Adolfo Celi, Luciana ...

'', also starring Henry Silva) and ''Milano rovente'' (''

Gang War in Milan ''Gang War in Milan'' () is a 1973 Italian ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Umberto Lenzi. Cast * Antonio Sabàto: Salvatore Cangemi * Philippe Leroy: Roger Daverty * Marisa Mell: Jasmina * Antonio Casagrande: Lino Caruso * Carla Romanelli ...

'') that featured "'fixers' travelling over from the USA to resolve problems in the Italian mafia" and "overtly position American practices as the epitome of efficient modernity, in contrast to outmoded Italian ways of conducting business."

Notes

References

External links

*
''Cry of a Prostitute''
at

Variety Distribution Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...

{{Andrea Bianchi Italian crime drama films 1970s Italian-language films Films directed by Andrea Bianchi 1974 crime drama films 1974 films 1970s Italian films