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Das Gesetz der Gewalt
Nach einer wahren historischen
Begebenheit
Based on a true tale of power, corruption and murder, Christopher
Walken stars in the story of the largest lynching in American history... |
Ein wenig bekannter
dunkler Punkt der amerikanischen Geschichte steht auf dem Lehrplan dieser
aufwendig inszenierten und von hochkarätigen Charakterstars getragenen
Geschichtstunde aus dem US-Fernsehen. Clancy Brown, als rechtsstaatlich
empfindender Gutmensch hübsch gegen den üblichen Strich gebürstet, findet in
Christopher Walken als skrupellosem Pfeffersack einen würdigen Gegner. Mit
ausufernden Courtroom-Sequenzen kein Fall für reine Actionfans, doch der
historisch interessierte Dramenfreund kommt auf seine Kosten.
www.hahnwirt.at/video/filmliste/vendetta.htm
Anmerkung:
Die große Aufmachung von Walken auf dem Cover
trügt. So groß ist seine Rolle nun denn auch wieder nicht.
 
Hinter den Kulissen von Vendetta
Inhaltsangabe:
Nach einer wahren historischen Begebenheit:
New Orleans 1890. Im Hafen der Stadt kommen Schiffe mit tausenden
italienischen Einwanderern an, die vor der Hungersnot in das Land ihrer
Träume geflüchtet sind. Über die Docks und die Märkte herrscht ein Landsmann
von ihnen, Joseph Macheca. Sein Geschäftsimperium weckt die Gier des
Baumwollhändlers James Houston. Der skrupellose Geschäftsmann schmiedet
gemeinsam mit dem Bürgermeister ein tödliches Komplott. Als der Polizeichef
erschossen wird, sollen die Italiener die Schuldigen sein. Folter,
Erpressung, Falschaussagen – der Prozess ist ein abgekartetes Spiel und
trotzdem: Die Geschworenen sprechen die neun Angeklagten frei. Dieses Urteil
wird der aufgehetzte Mob niemals akzeptieren. Nur ein Wort, aber eine
ungeheuerliche Anschuldigung – Mafia. Wie eine korrupte Stadt den
amerikanischen Traum italienischer Einwanderer in einen Albtraum verwandelt.
mehr:
www.digitalvd.de/dvd/9061.html
www.beamtech.de/filmeneu/filmdetail
www.evolver.at/?story=545
Historischer Hintergrund
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"The largest lynching in American History".
Based on a true story, Vendetta tells the shocking and tragic story of a group
of Sicilian immigrants working on the New Orleans docks in the 1890's. After
the Chief of Police was brutally murdered, much of the city's Sicilian
population was rounded up and brought in for questioning. Eventually,
thirteen were formally tried for murder and nine went to trial, and while
they were acquitted, a series of brutal lynchings showed they had as much to
fear from the city's general populace as they did from the corrupt police
force. The cast includes Christopher Walken and
Bruce Davison ~ Mark
Deming, All Movie Guide
When the Old Country Meets the New World, the
Streets Will Run Red With Blood....
www.amazon.com/Reviews |
Summary
In the late 1890's, Italian immigrants largely
controlled the New Orleans docks. Businessman James Houston (Walken) sees a
means to more than one end by setting up a frame for the murder of the
police captain (Brown). Eleven Italians are arrested
 for the killing, and
it appears that Houston's conspiracy of cops, judges and politicians will
insure their conviction. Amazingly, thanks to the efforts of their lawyer
(Davison) and his investigator (O'Malley), the jury turns in a verdict of
innocent. But before they can be set free, a mob, led by the mayor, and
whipped into a mafia-fear frenzy, breaks into the prison and hangs the men.
The film is based on a true and shameful incident in New Orleans history,
and although the original crime was never solved, the book's author found
enough evidence to strongly implicate the business community.
While history books often use the 1921 Sacco
and Vanzetti case as an example of justice falling victim to the bigotry of
the times, this HBO movie--based on a turn-of-the-century New Orleans
trial--provides a far more sobering example. Vendetta opens with a montage
of black-and-white photos of immigrants arriving in the U.S., accompanied by
an audio track of anti-immigrant invective that sets the tone for the rest
of the movie. Christopher Walken lends his always unsettling presence as the
city's largest cotton exporter and mastermind of a plot to take over the
docks from the Italian immigrants who run them. When police chief David
Hennessy (Clancy Brown) refuses to go along with the plan, he's shot and
killed, and a random group of Italian produce merchants are accused of the
murder. The trial and its appalling aftermath are portrayed with a realistic
vehemence that may make some viewers flinch. Director Nicholas Meyer has
coaxed powerful performances from a cast of mostly unknown actors, most
notable among these is Alessandro Colla, who makes his debut as 15-year-old
Gaspare Marchesi and provides the film's few smiles. The pacing makes
Vendetta hard to follow at first, but as the subplots begin to converge like
cars speeding toward the same intersection, the film compels you to keep
watching until the inevitable conclusion. --Larisa Lomacky Moore --This text
refers to the
VHS Tape edition.
 <<click----
Based upon the 1977 book of the same name by
Richard Gambino, Vendetta is a compelling portrait of prejudice.
Sicilians were recruited by Louisiana planters during the late nineteenth
century as a substitute labor force for African Americans. Yet within only a
few short years, immigrant entrepreneurs assumed economic control of the New
Orleans docks. Economic rivalry between the Sicilians and the local business
establishment created bitter ethnic tension. Although the screenwriter,
Timothy Prager, includes these crucial developments in the story line, he
occasionally struggles with the explanatory dialogue, as when the Sicilian
businessman Joseph Macheca melodramatically exclaims, "They brought us here
to be the servants. In less than a generation we threaten to be their
masters."
Journal of American History
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