The Climber (1975) User Reviews (10)

Joe Joe Joey Junior Shabadoo

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 14 June 2018]

Kick-ass gritty tale of the bad guys versus the bad guys here as Joe Dallesandro gets a huge chip on his shoulder with the mob in Naples. He's just a New York hustler peddling tobacco and collecting protection money when out of the blue he gets a kicking and thrown out of the gang for making too much noise.

Joe heads for Rome, rather handily getting a lift from Stefania Casini (and hooking up with her in the process). Joe finds a contact in Rome and gets another job from a sinister gay man to rip off a business deal, steal a briefcase, then bring it back. He also offers to give Joe one up the crapper for extra incentive. Nothing turns out right as the briefcase contains a load of heroin belonging to that gang in Naples, and Joe's been double crossed by that gay fella!

It's shortly after the Mob kill Joe's best friend that Joe decides the gloves are off, and he begins getting revenge by stabbing the guy that double crossed him first (in rather a realistic manner). America might be the land of opportunity, but Italy's the land where those capable of the most violence triumph over all, and Joe's headed for Naples with his new gang of boxers, bare-chested bikers who seem to have fallen into a time warp from an eighties Italian post-apocalypse film, and a sullen sharpshooter.

The first thing you'll notice is that Joe Dallasendro isn't the best actor in the world. He can scowl real good though, and he's playing an arrogant tough nut to boot, so we can forgive for the lack of Gielguid-esque soliloquies. Director Squitieri makes everything seem much more grubby and dusty as usual, which lends a bit more realism to the proceedings, and it's the same with the violence. No fancy stuff here, although there's plenty of the red stuff.

When I think about it, most of the emotion comes from Stefania Casini as the tearful girlfriend who watches her man drift further and further away due to his obsession with revenge, so it's worth watching for that too.

Between this and Order To Kill I'm seeing a distinct change in the fashions, cars and music of this genre, from the brown-suited Dirty Harry rip-offs of two years ago we now have thin white t-shirts, afros, sports cars and hard rock on the soundtrack. Nice.

An Italian Shooter

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 23 May 2017]

A hungry young buck (Joe Dallesandro) who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working at a warehouse for a gangster, and because of his ruthlessness and dependability he begins to ascend the ladder of organized crime.

Writer-director Pasquale Squitieri is not one of the better-known Italian directors. But he did come up the right way, being mentored by Vittorio De Sica and then going through a very brief (two film) spaghetti western phase with Klaus Kinski. By the time of "The Climber" (1975), he had already honed his action / crime film skills with "Camorra" (1972) starring Jean Seberg.

The star of "The Climber" is, of course, Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, who is something like a more handsome Peter Fonda. In fact, Squitieri personally stopped by the set of "Flesh For Frankenstein" to make sure he could get Dallesandro. Opposite him is Stefania Casini, who is today probably best known for "Suspiria" (1977), but interestingly enough had just appeared in Paul Morrissey's "Blood for Dracula" (1974)... with Dallesandro! (The pair ended up dating for a while.)

There is a rumor going around that this film was a big influence on Brian DePalma's "Scarface". Reviews all around the internet suggest it to be true, but no source is cited beyond the fact that the plots have some vague similarities. Whether the inspiration story is true or not, I do not know, but if it is, that is more than enough reason for this film to be preserved and studied. (Another reason is the score from Franco Campanino, who had been a popular musician alongside his brother since 1957, especially the song "Naples Dock".)

The Arrow Blu-ray is a bit sparse compared to some of their other releases. But it does feature a broad 28-minute interview with Joe Dallesandro, where he discusses being mentored by Warhol and Morrissey. We also learn how he was scammed into shooting a movie in Africa, the rarely-seen "Safari Rally" (1978). And he discusses his drinking problems. The interview barely covers "The Climber", but fans of European cinema will enjoy Dallesandro's honest and interesting reflections on working "underground".

Italian Crime Film with Joe DALLESANDRO

[ZeddaZogenau · 7/10 · 19 December 2023]

Poliziottesco with Joe Dallesandro and Stefania Casini

After breaking away from underground director Paul Morrissey and the factory of the genius of the century Andy Warhol, Joe Dallesandro, born in 1948, began his own attempts at European genre cinema. Under the direction of the Napolitan Pasquale Squitieri, who was Claudia Cardinale's partner from 1975 to 2001, he plays Aldo, the social climber. As a small-time mafioso in Naples, he works in cigarette smuggling, cheats on his boss (Raymond Pellegrin, he was still the inspector in "Manhunt in the City"), is thrown out of the gang and starts over in Rome. There he gets to know and love a naive supermarket cashier (Stefania Casini, who is also known from "Suspiria" (1977)). As Aldo climbs further up the criminal hierarchy with the help of a motorcycle gang, the private dark side of gangster life also becomes apparent.

The German title is somewhat misleading. Motorcycles do appear, but we don't have a biker film here. Rather, it's about the story of the rise of a small-time crook to become a crime boss. It's compelling, but not told in a particularly original way. The model stuntman Giovanni Cianfriglia can also be seen in a smaller role.

A typical gangster film from Italian mass production with a tailor-made role for the always somewhat boyish and wicked Joe Dallesandro. When engagements in the Roman film industry went downhill in the early 1980s, he returned to the USA. In 1984 and 1987, for example, Joe Dallesandro appeared as a guest star in the cult series "Miami Vice".

Certainly not the best gangster film from Italy, but all in all it's definitely worth seeing!

infamous and iconic Joe Dallesandro

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 27 May 2018]

Obscure Italian crime picture that has acquired some notoriety as the possible inspiration for De Palma's 'Scarface' but more particularly for featuring the infamous and iconic Joe Dallesandro. He was in Italy for 'Flesh for Frankenstien' and 'Blood for Dracula' and this is not as good as either of those, nor, of course, his wild and influential 'underground' movies for Andy Warhol in the late 60s/early 70s. Here we have an ugly, though well shot, violent film as Joe tries to insinuate himself into the higher echelons of the crime syndicates of Naples and Rome. Its okay, if too long, but every now and again Joe is posed upon a bike, against a wall or laying down and these particularly well shot scenes are, I guess, what you might call the 'money shots'. Decent soundtrack from Franco Campanino.

Grim, low budget

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 23 July 2022]

A tough and sadistically violent Italian crime thriller starring cult actor Joe Dallesandro. He plays a hoodlum who gets beaten to a pulp by gangsters and decides to rise through the ranks, SCARFACE-style, to get revenge. It's a pretty low budget tale that revels in bloody violence meted out to various ne'er-do-wells, but I didn't find it very entertaining along the way; just grim, cheap, and depressing.

Pitifully awful

[jake_fantom · 1/10 · 23 May 2017]

No, this is not the inspiration for Scarface as a benighted reviewer has trumpeted. The inspiration for Scarface was... wait for it... Scarface! -- the 1932 film starring Paul Muni with a virtually identical plot to the 1983 film by De Palma. This film, Climber, does not bear much resemblance to either of the Scarface films. It's a trash-for-cash low-budget Italian flick by a D-list director. The version I saw was subtitled in English, though I'm sure you can find a badly dubbed version if you try hard enough, but why bother? The only slightly noteworthy thing about this badly filmed, badly acted potboiler is that it stars Joe Dallesandro, the hunky but seemingly dim-witted "actor" who made a name for himself by appearing as a street hustler and showing his posterior in about six dozen Andy Warhol films. Unfortunately, in this epic, Joe doesn't have the opportunity to show off his behind and has to fall back on his acting skills, which are completely non-existent. And that greasy stringy hair! Make-up!

One of Dallesandro's best in Italy!

[czar-10 · 8/10 · 12 October 2000]

This Is Also one Of Joe's best performances in Italy, with a good story, and lots of action. Joe Plays a regular Hustler on the streets of Italy, trying to make a living. In the beginning of the movie you see Joe almost get pinched for smuggling smokes, he gets away from the cops, but gets his bike smashed by local thuggies, and is told to get the hell out of dodge. Anyway as the title suggests, Joe is one ambitious guy and eventually makes his way to the top, only to eventually die in a fight for control in the mafia under world.

Mediocre Italian Crime Flick

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 4/10 · 27 August 2017]

I've never understood the attraction to actor Joe Dallesandro. I've yet to see a film he's been in where I can actually say he was a good actor. For the most part he always seems angry, scowling and in general plays characters I could care less about. In looking over his list of credits at IMDb. com I found nothing that stood out that I could recommend to anyone as a great vehicle for him. Knowing this ahead of time I went into watching this movie hoping to be proved wrong.

THE CLIMBER is a reference to Dallesandro's character Aldo, a low level criminal working in a warehouse and as a transporter for a gangster in Italy. Aldo dreams of bigger things and when he makes a mistake in crossing the boss an attempt is made on his life. He moves and begins again with several friends, creating a gang for himself in a nearby town but under the radar of his old boss.

As I sit here writing much of what I watched is lost to me now. It left that little of an impression on me. The standard fare is here with gangsters threatening people, a few shootouts and attempts made on the lives of competitors. But nothing tremendous is on hand here. In fact most of it moves along fairly slow and the number of unbelievable moments that should demonstrate the ruthlessness of all these gangsters is never quite there.

I've been fortunate to have access and viewed several crime dramas from Italian cinema and this one left me wanting more. It offered little in the form of entertainment and made me think that my opinion of Dallesandro as an actor is more justified than ever. If you're a fan then by all means add this to your collection and continue to sing his praises. If you're wanting to know what Italian crime films from the time period are like then don't start with this one. And for the average viewer there is far more out there worth your time.

Arrow Video is releasing this film and I can't fault them on anything here, they continue to present any film they handle with love and care. The presentation is brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original negative. Extras include LITTLE JOE'S ADVENTURES IN EUROPE a brand new interview with Joe Dallesandro on his numerous European film appearances during the 1970s and early 1980s, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon and with the first pressing only a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Roberto Curti, author of Italian CRIME FILMOGRAPHY 1968-1980.

Inspiration for Scarface

[Falconeer · 9/10 · 4 January 2016]

Here it is, the movie that inspired Bryan DePalma's "Scarface," and when you see "L'ambizioso" you will recognize it immediately. The story is the same, changing only the locales. Aldo, played by cult actor Joe Dallesandro in possibly his biggest role, is a New York born, small time criminal, who comes to Naples to make a name for himself. He goes from a small time gig of hawking black market cigarettes, and methodically claws his way to the top of the criminal underworld, after being betrayed by a colleague. The story arc is the same as DePalma's iconic film, which came a decade later. Filled with action, bloody shootouts, and searing drama, this is one epic movie. Little-known director Pasquale Squitieri made a series of these gangster movies, and they are all brilliant. This guy really knew his stuff. He seemed to have an understanding for bad guys as he tells the story always from their point of view. and he makes us sympathize with them, and even have immense respect for them. Which is why these movies might not be appropriate for young, impressionable minds. For fans of crime cinema and Italian mafia films, "L'ambizioso" is required viewing, and is worth tracking down.

A pistol-whippingly wicked, explosively eventful example of Gangland grisly 70s Italian crime cinema!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 30 March 2022]

Made during the then popular poliziotteschi cycle, talented writer/director Pasquale Squitieri's boisterously action-packed crime thriller about the violently vengeful ascent and blood-spattered fall of surly, quick-witted, hot-blooded thug Aldo (Joe Dallesandro), a street smart smuggler whose seemingly limitless capacity for cruelty and delusions of grandeur bloodily orchestrates his gutsy, single-minded attempt to forcibly wrest power from incumbent gangland heavy Don Enrico (Raymond Pellegrin), Aldo's ambitious crime spree swiftly overextends the increasingly desperate reach of grievously gun-happy Aldo and his ever decreasing misfit mob's minor-league talents! While Pasquale's exhilaratingly pacey 'The Climber' is arguably one of the more consistently gripping, explosively eventful examples of 70s Italian crime cinema, this exceptional actioner has only just recently been given the cinematic credibility it so demonstratively deserves.

All the volatile ingredients that deliriously drew so many exploitation fans to Euro-crime's hyper-violent milieu are excitingly displayed in 'The Climber', with its attention-grabbing generosity of ferociously femur-fracturing fights, brutal bullet-fests, gratuitous Gangland goring's, bloodthirsty brawls, murderous displays of mobster mendacity, unrestrained vehicular carnage, and the coldly reptilian menace of Dallesandro effectively endows his hubristic, diabolically handsome, dead-eyed killer Aldo a malign Delon-like detachment that isn't exactly loveable, but his hyperbolic Alpha personality is weirdly magnetic! Much like vintage crime classics 'Scarface' and 'Public Enemy' long before it, Pasquale's doomy, frequently sadistic Euro-crime actioner exudes a similarly dark fascination with Aldo's rampant lust for money and power leading him inexorably to his own ignominious destruction! The exceptionally punchy score by composer Franco Campanino and equally strident film-making from maestro Squitieri has guaranteed that avid poliziotteschi fans, old and new, will readily appreciate the bellicose charms of this beautifully restored HD edition of Pasquale Squitieri's 'The Climber'.