Machine Gun McCain

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Movie Info

A hardened criminal learns there's little loyalty on either side of the law in this drama from Italian director Giuliano Montaldo. Charlie Adamo (Peter Falk) is a rough-hewn but ambitious underworld kingpin who has taken control of the West Coast syndicates and wants a piece of the action in Las Vegas. Adamo's boss Don Francesco DeMarco (Gabriele Ferzetti) isn't happy about his plans to take over The Royal, a posh casino and hotel that's owned by the mob, and he's determined to put Adamo in his place. Meanwhile, a handful of young gangsters are plotting to rob The Royal of $2 million, and one of them, Jack (Pierluigi Apra), know just the right man for the job -- his father Hank McCain (John Cassavetes), better known as "Machine Gun McCain," currently serving a life sentence after a crime spree put him in prison twelve years earlier. The mob arranges for McCain to be released, and Jack escorts him to Las Vegas, where he runs into Irene (Britt Ekland), a young woman he meets in a bar and impulsively marries. McCain plans and pulls off an ingenious casino robbery, but he pulled the heist after his backers ordered him to abandon the robbery, and soon he's one of several characters on the run from the law and the mafia. John Cassavetes and Peter Falk struck up a friendship while working on Gli Intoccabili (aka Machine Gun McCain), and it was the first of several films the two actors would make together, most under the direction of Cassavetes, including Husbands, A Woman Under The Influence and Big Trouble.

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Cast

John Cassavetes
as Hank McCain
Peter Falk
as Charlie Adamo
Gena Rowlands
as Rosemary Scott
Britt Ekland
as Irene Tucker
Gabriele Ferzetti
as Don Francesco DeMarco
Salvo Randone
as Don Salvatore
Pierluigi Apra
as Jack McCain
Florinda Bolkan
as Joni Adamo
Margherita Guzzinati
as Margaret DeMarco
Steffen Zacharias
as Abe Stilberman
Luigi Pistilli
as Duke Mazzanga
Jim Morrison
as Joby Cuda
Claudio Biava
as Barclay
Tony Kendall
as Pete Zacari
Ermanno Consolazione
as Gennarino Esposito
Annabella Andreoli
as Assunta Esposito
Val Avery
as Chuck Regan
James Morrison
as Joby Cudo
Dennis Sallas
as Fred Tecosky
Jack Ackerman
as Britten
Billy Lee
as Pepe
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Critic Reviews for Machine Gun McCain

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Audience Reviews for Machine Gun McCain

  • Aug 23, 2011
    Okay but ultimately pointless foreign lensed actioner. The great Gena Rowlands is in and out of this in under fifteen minutes and still manages to be the best thing in it by far. Peter Falk is similarly underutilized. They and Cassavetes must have signed on to this to get money for one of his independent directoral efforts. Britt Ekland is beautiful but given little to do. If you favor heist movies this is an acceptable time passer but nothing more.
    jay n Super Reviewer
  • Jun 15, 2010
    like an odd combination of other films that came before it. there were a lot of things about this that didn't work, but it was enjoyable and the morricone score is one of his best.
    chase _ Super Reviewer
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