Tough guy actor Henry Silva is ideally cast as the ice-cold lead in director William Asher's "Johnny Cool," a character who was forged in a crucible of World War II violence and then trained to kill without compunction after a well-heeled mafia boss is sent into exile. When you think of a mobster-in-exile, the name of the infamous Lucky Luciano inevitably comes to mind. Actor Peter Lawford produced this crime thriller, and he shelled out for a memorable cast, featuring Elizabeth Montgomery, Richard Anderson, Telly Savalas, Jim Backus, John McGiver, Elisha Cook Jr. Mort Sahl, Brad Dexter, Joseph Turkel, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop. "Rio Conchos" writer Joseph Landon penned the screenplay from John McPartland's novel about an exiled crime kingpin, Johnny Colini (Marc Lawrence of "The Asphalt Jungle"), who exacts revenge on his adversaries who sent him into exile and dispatches a legendary Italian public enemy number one to carry out his orders. He gives his hired gun his own name, and the younger Colini goes to America eventually to perform executions. The men that informed on the older Colini, since exiled to Rome in palatial comfort, are crime figures, so they are sort of prepared for the younger Colini and his army of himself. Colini is brazen. He kills one man in Grand Central Station in New York City in the middle of peak traffic as people are boarding trains. He cracks open an attaché case, seizes a pistol, and shoots his target at point blank range. Later, he hires out as window washer to gun down another dastard in a skyscraper with a submachine gun. When he isn't shooting and killing his opponents, Colini knows how to drop them flat with a deft karate chop. Along the way, he picks up a questionable girlfriend recently divorced, Darien 'Dare' Guiness (Elizabeth Montgomery later of "Bewitched") who turns out to be his Achilles Heel.
William Asher directs routinely and doesn't stage any of the killing with any kind of flair. "Johnny Cool" resembles a made-for-television movie, but Joseph Landon's screenplay is far more mature. The scene where our hero watches as his mother is gunned down by German soldiers and afterward claims a machine pistol as his 'family' exemplifies the crucible of violence that gave rise to him. Landon's screenplay is fairly straightforward and only the interrogation sequences suggest something new. The American gangsters torture one of the older Colini's henchmen. This doesn't dissuade our anti-heroic protagonist from killing and still more killing until he gets the job completed. At one point, two henchmen posing as FBI agents work over his girlfriend Darien (Elizabeth Montgomery) when she cannot satisfy their curiosity. Later, off camera, these two guys rape her. When Johnny discovers this, he pays them back with a steak knife in their respective abdomens. Mind you, "Johnny Cool" shouldn't be confused with "Point Blank." Produced when 'crime doesn't pay' was the bottom line, "Johnny Cool" is doomed from the outset. Silva makes a great villain. Don't expect "Johnny Cool" to be as good as the later cycle of Italian crimes movies that came out about a decade later. You won't see any blood and gore, just a lot of dangerous behavior. The Billy May original soundtrack is bombastic. The cast is first-rate and production values are sturdy.
William Asher directs routinely and doesn't stage any of the killing with any kind of flair. "Johnny Cool" resembles a made-for-television movie, but Joseph Landon's screenplay is far more mature. The scene where our hero watches as his mother is gunned down by German soldiers and afterward claims a machine pistol as his 'family' exemplifies the crucible of violence that gave rise to him. Landon's screenplay is fairly straightforward and only the interrogation sequences suggest something new. The American gangsters torture one of the older Colini's henchmen. This doesn't dissuade our anti-heroic protagonist from killing and still more killing until he gets the job completed. At one point, two henchmen posing as FBI agents work over his girlfriend Darien (Elizabeth Montgomery) when she cannot satisfy their curiosity. Later, off camera, these two guys rape her. When Johnny discovers this, he pays them back with a steak knife in their respective abdomens. Mind you, "Johnny Cool" shouldn't be confused with "Point Blank." Produced when 'crime doesn't pay' was the bottom line, "Johnny Cool" is doomed from the outset. Silva makes a great villain. Don't expect "Johnny Cool" to be as good as the later cycle of Italian crimes movies that came out about a decade later. You won't see any blood and gore, just a lot of dangerous behavior. The Billy May original soundtrack is bombastic. The cast is first-rate and production values are sturdy.