The Iron Prefect – Radiance

Director: Pasquale Squitieri
Screenplay: Pasquale Squitieri, Ugo Pirro, Arrigo Petacco
Based on a Novel by: Arrigo Petacco
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Claudia Cardinale, Stefano Satta Flores, Massimo Mollica, Rossella Rusconi, Rik Battaglia, Francisco Rabal
Country: Italy
Running Time: 118 min
Year: 1977
BBFC Certificate: 18

Soon to be released on Blu-ray by Radiance Films, The Iron Prefect (a.k.a. I Am the Law or Il prefetto di ferro) is one of Italian director Pasquale Squitieri’s most successful films, both commercially and critically, winning a number of awards and even being privately screened for US President Jimmy Carter.

The film likely attracted audiences due to it being based on a very popular, factually-based novel of the same name (or the Italian title at least), written by Arrigo Petacco. Both told the story of Prefect Cesare Mori (played in the film by Giuliano Gemma), the titular ‘Iron Prefect’. In the film, set in 1925, he is sent to a region of Sicily by the Fascist authorities to do something about the mafia who have the locals under their thumb.

Mori lives up to his name, delivering swift, stern justice to the area, killing a local don and using no-nonsense methods to flush out the rest of his followers. However, not everyone is a fan of his techniques and the local people don’t always appreciate his help. Also, as he extends his targets, Mori faces further problems that might affect his success.

The Iron Prefect is a finely crafted, tough and engrossing crime thriller. However, whilst it was a film I admired and didn’t have any genuine problems with, it didn’t really grab me in the way I’d hoped. It didn’t help that I was extremely tired when I watched it but it’s a film I liked but didn’t love.

Part of this might be due to the protagonist. Mori is a hard man to like. He has a permanent stick up his ar*e, never cracking a joke or even so much as a smile. It may be the point of his character but when he and, indeed, the film are this dry and humourless it’s hard to care about what’s happening. Yes, that’s maybe a poor criticism of a film that’s meant to be hard-hitting, but it’s the only reason I can give for why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

As mentioned though, I still thought The Iron Prefect was very good, even if I didn’t particularly warm to it on a gut level.

It has a bit of an Untouchables vibe with its incorruptible hero taking down the mafia, though Squitieri’s film is less overtly stylish and the violence is shorter, sharper and more brutally realistic in this fashion. In one scene we see the grisly aftermath of a mafia attack on an innocent household and, in another, we see Mori literally blowing the brains out of a high-ranking mobster.

It also has the feel of a western, despite the setting. Indeed, characters often ride horses and the idea of a tough new ‘sheriff’ coming into town to clean out bandits who are wringing it dry is a typical setup for a good old-fashioned oater. Like Sergio Leone’s westerns, particularly his later ones, The Iron Prefect has a grand, operatic feel, with actions and emotions often played big. Ennio Morricone even provides the score, though it’s darker, more atmospheric and contains fewer memorable themes than his work with Leone.

Burt Lancaster was originally planned to be the star of The Iron Prefect but, at the time, he was in poor health, following the discovery of a tumour, so the role had to be recast. When asked about whom else he would like to play Mori, Squitieri famously replied “anyone but Giuliano Gemma”. For whatever reason, however, Gemma was given the job. He was very popular in Italy at the time, after finding great success making spaghetti westerns such as the Ringo series, which might explain things.

It is thought that Squitieri didn’t think Gemma’s famously wide, toothy grin would fit the character. I think they overcompensated for this though by having him not smile at all during the course of the film, creating quite an unlikeable protagonist. Otherwise, Gemma does a great job. He feels suitably imposing, whilst bubbling with anger and frustration under the surface. I just wish he had a touch more humanity.

The Mori character himself is interesting though. Working stringently on the side of the law, he seems to be doing good by putting a stop to the mobsters who have a stranglehold on the area. However, he does this in a fascistic way, answering to no one and threatening the lives of those he’s supposed to be protecting, just so he can force the ‘bad guys’ out. Also, whilst he tries to help the people by bringing them clothes and medicine, on top of tackling crime, they don’t always want his sympathy, particularly as he’s clearly from the upper classes, with his neat personal grooming and expensive, crisply-pressed suits. Squitieri plays on this contrast very successfully.

[* SPOILERS] As with most Italian films of the era, there’s a cynical end to it all too, with Mori’s privileged position cut short after clearing out the bandits, due to his insistence on next tackling the “gentlemen”, the corrupt members of the upper echelons of society. [* END OF SPOILERS]

Stefano Satta Flores, who plays Mori’s second-in-command, Spano, forges a more sympathetic character than his ‘boss’ and is one of the standouts in the film. Cardinale, who was Squitieri’s partner at the time and all the way up to his death in 2017, is typically strong whenever she’s on-screen too, though she’s underused.

The Iron Prefect is largely shot quite classically, with handsome, painterly compositions, but there are a few clever, unusual choices here and there. Most notably, a conversation between the ‘powers that be’ is shot from a distance with fabric and foreground objects obscuring the details of exactly who is speaking. This gives the sequence the feeling that we’re spying on a secret meeting we shouldn’t be present for.

Overall then, The Iron Prefect is a red-blooded but bitter account of one man’s crusade against the mafia. I found it a little too po-faced to totally fall in love with but I can’t deny it’s a well-crafted and compelling film.

Film:

Disc/package: