Verdict
Summary
From filmmaker Damiano Damiani, Goodbye & Amen is a slow burn thriller that has a compelling middle portion as the events in the film heat up, but the movie unfortunately begins to unravel a bit towards the unsatisfying climax. The active shooter / hostage scenario is where the movie succeeds and works best in commanding your attention, and it’s at its weakest in the script department.
Plot:
A crazed terrorist stakes refuge in a hotel room, taking the occupants hostage while he figures out how to escape.
Review:
CIA agent Dannahay (Tony Musante) has been having meetings with staff and diplomats on how the agency can assist with an African government’s transfer of power using covert means when something totally unexpected transpires in a hotel nearby: A terrorist sets himself on the rooftop, casually and indiscriminately begins shooting people below, murdering without cause or reason. First to be shot and killed is a vagrant, and then a tourist, causing panic below. The terrorist flees to one of the hotel rooms where a woman (Claudia Cardinale) is having a tryst with her lover, and the terrorist keeps them hostage as the authorities below scramble to figure out what’s happening. The suspect is deduced to be a man named Harry, who happens to be one of Dannahay’s colleagues and friends, and Dannahay is called in, along with the American Ambassador (John Forsythe) because the terrorist demands to speak and deal only with him. Now an international incident with news coverage, panic, and hostage negotiating commencing, Dannahay tries to figure out why his friend is behaving this way, but with some deductions he realizes that there’s been a mistake: The terrorist is not his friend, but someone who has been mistaken for him because of the rifle he’s been using (turns out it was stolen), and so he has to track his friend down to get to the bottom of all this chaos. When the terrorist is ready to make his escape (using deception and subterfuge), Dannahay is all but helpless to ensure the safety of the hostages … and his friend, who becomes a pawn in the terrorist’s scheme.
From filmmaker Damiano Damiani, Goodbye & Amen is a slow burn thriller that has a compelling middle portion as the events in the film heat up, but the movie unfortunately begins to unravel a bit towards the unsatisfying climax. The active shooter / hostage scenario is where the movie succeeds and works best in commanding your attention, and it’s at its weakest in the script department. The film has a leery eye and has some out-of-nowhere nude scenes that made me question their purpose, and I guess I can chalk that up to being an Italian film from the ’70s, but I’m just not sure why that stuff made it into this film, as it certainly didn’t need it. The score by Guido and Maruizio De Angelis has a great tempo and opening title theme.
Specialty label Radiance recently released Goodbye & Amen in a premium, limited edition (3000 units) Blu-ray edition that has a brand new restoration, and the picture and sound quality are both outstanding. There’s an insert booklet, a reversible sleeve, and a bunch of choice bonus features as well.
Bonus Materials
- New 2023 restoration of the film from the original camera negative presented with Italian and, for the first time on home video, English audio options
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Audio commentary by Eurocrime experts Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth (2023)
- Interview with editor Antonio Siciliano
- Archival interview with Wolfango Soldati (2013)
- New and improved English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian crime cinema expert Lucia Rinaldi
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
