Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Academy Museum, Los Angeles
"In a city set to explode, one man has just lit the fuse!” Italian filmmaker Sergio Sollima, who made his mark in the poliziotteschi subgenre of crime films in the country, directed and co-wrote this grimy revenge picture shot primarily on location in New Orleans and San Francisco, and at Cinecittà Studio in Rome. Inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï (1967), the film stars tough guy Charles Bronson as professional killer Jeff Heston, who is hoodwinked by mobster Al Weber (Telly Savalas) and his lover, Vanessa, played by Bronson’s longtime wife and frequent on-screen collaborator, Jill Ireland. Effects artist Carlo Rambaldi is uncredited for creating a black widow that crawls over Bronson’s hand.