Giordano is a child baptized in the bloodshed of the Second World War, but years later as Johnny Cool becomes bewitched by a beautiful femme whose obsession spins like a broken moral compass. Henry Silva as the cool protagonist is mesmerizing with his bravado and charisma, walking through the tempest as a god of war. Like Ares, he is kept in chains by his master, unable (or unwilling) to leave this bondage and assumes a vendetta to kill those who have disrespected his principal.
The opening scene depicts a young woman being chased by Nazis, and a young boy who witnesses this attempted rape. The precocious lad pulls the pin on the German’s grenade and blows him to smithereens, but the soldier’s cohorts suddenly appear and murder the girl. Gunfire from the mountains reveals the Italian Resistance who save the boy. We soon learn that the woman was his mother. The film’s first act transitions quickly to the present date (1963), where the boy Giordano in now a leader who fights against injustice to support his village. But he is captured by the police and apparently murdered, while in reality he is whisked away to start a new life and identity as hitman Johnny Cool. He must revenge the wrongs done to his mentor, an exiled gangland Godfather Johnny Colini (Marc Lawrence). Death ensues.
Dare Guinness (Elizabeth Montgomery) falls for Johnny the first moment she sees him pummel a man into unconsciousness. This is love at first punch. She becomes a loyal confidant even as the police throttle her for information as the body count rises and the population of the criminal underworld diminishes. Johnny has no attachment except his mission. He kills by switching suitcases, he guns down his target utilizing a window washing platform, he vaporizes another while his quarry swims with his children nearby. Always suave and in control, Johnny is always one step ahead of his prey. Until Dare dares to sell him out, not out of hatred or profit but out of her own sense of moral obligation. There’s just no future in loving a hitman.
Even gods are mortal, and Johnny Cool ain’t so chill once he’s sporting a straitjacket, captured by his nemesis in the form of a corporate board of businessmen, the ultimate gangsters. In a nice twist, Elisha Cook, Jr. is one of these suite-wearing overlords who meats out the punishment instead of being consumed by it! Both Johnny’s mission and life are over and incomplete.
Final Grade: (C+)
