Verdict
Summary
From director Pasquale Squitieri, The Iron Prefect is sometimes a grueling watch with gruesome depictions of murder and the treatment of children, but it’s a very solid piece of crime cinema where we get to see a stalwart hero go up against the dregs.
Plot:
Fascist Italy is plagued with mafia violence, and an “iron prefect” comes in and wages a one-man war against the mafia.
Review:
Mafia violence is plaguing 1925 Fascist Italy, the poor villages and townships completely at the mercy of the vindictive and savage mafia families that seem unstoppable. Entire families are murdered in their homes for even the most minor infractions, children are used as slave labor, and the police force is powerless to go up against the cutthroat mafia, which even seems to have control over the courts by mere intimidation. One man is called in from across the country, a no-nonsense “iron prefect” named Cesare Mori (Giuliano Gemma) who immediately bucks the trend by not kowtowing to the status quo and going straight into the cooker by killing, capturing, or resisting the Mafioso thugs that infest the villages where the poor peons are only conditioned to pain, suffering, and the misery that goes with adhering to the horrors the mafia inflicts on them. But it’s certainly no easy task for Mori, whose family is subjected to malicious persecution, and as he starts to painstakingly bring the mafia goons to justice, he also uncovers their clever plan to accrue large swathes of land in a scheme that really throws the Italian authorities for a loop. By making a name for himself, Mori puts a target on his back, but the effort is ultimately worthwhile as his infamy grows, even to America where everyone has heard of the iron balls of the Iron Prefect.
From director Pasquale Squitieri, The Iron Prefect is sometimes a grueling watch with gruesome depictions of murder and the treatment of children, but it’s a very solid piece of crime cinema where we get to see a stalwart hero go up against the dregs. It’s a very well made film, and quite uncompromising, with good performances by Gemma and Claudia Cardinale, who plays a poor villager, whose son has become a slave to the mafia, and who Mori sets his sights on helping to protect. It’s not a very “happy” film or one in which we feel relieved at the end, but instead it feels pretty realistic and chilling in how the Italian justice system was ruled by fear and allowed the mafia to run around unchecked for many years. Ennio Morricone did the heavy dramatic score.
Radiance Films recently released a premium limited Blu-ray edition of The Iron Prefect, and the 2K restoration transfer is really vibrant and warm. The product is limited and comes with the following bonus features.
Bonus Materials
- 2K restoration of the film from the original negative presented with Italian and English audio options
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Archival interview with director Pasquale Squitieri and star Giuliano Gemma (2009)
- New interview with Squitieri biographer Domenico Monetti (2023)
- New appreciation of Giuliano Gemma and the film by filmmaker Alex Cox (2023)
- Original trailer
- 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 cinema expert Guido Bonsaver and an original article on the real-life Cesare Mori and his Mafia raid as depicted within the film
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of text and markings
