Product Description

Winner Of Five Italian Oscars Including Best Director - Ricky Tognazzi

Sicily, 1992: When a high-profile judge and his bodyguard are brutally murdered, four reluctant young cops are assigned as 'La Scorta' - Italian for 'the escorts' - to protect the replacement prosecutor from Mafia assassins. But in a country where high level corruption and sudden violence are a way of life, the squad quickly find themselves outnumbered, outgunned and desperately out of time. Even if they can survive the daily threat of car bombs and ambushes, will personal conflicts and backroom betrayals blow apart the nation's most unlikely team of heroes?

Claudio Amendola (in his breakout performance) and Enrico Lo Verso star in this white-knuckle thriller from writer/director Ricky Tognazzi featuring a pounding score by Ennio Morricone and based on a true story of uncommon courage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11222 in DVD
• Brand: RYKODISC
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 95 minutes

Features

• In the Sicilian town of Trapani, the Mafia owns just about everyone, except for four loyal bodyguards who are assigned to protect a newly-appointed honest judge marked for death. Based on a true story. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 827058109291 UPC: 827058109291 Manufacturer No: BU1092

FHM
"POWERFUL...A Latter Day UNTOUCHABLES!"

The Washington Post
"A TIGHT THRILLER!"

Film Four
"POWERFUL AND EXPLOSIVE!"

Customer Reviews

A forgotten classic well worth remembering
La Scorta is one of the best Italian films of the 90s, although that hasn't stopped it from disappearing from circulation for years until Blue Underground's DVD release. Unlike the Eurotrash which is that label's main stock-in-trade, this is a powerful and sober crime drama (rather than an out-and-out thriller) about the small group of bodyguards protecting a judge investigating mafia and government corruption in Sicily. It's certainly not a glamorous portrait: terminally underfunded, they only have two bullet-proof vests between them, and instead of armoured cars they get clapped-out unmarked vehicles the police can't even afford to keep the tanks full. There's not much in the way of action, but there's plenty of suspense over what MIGHT happen. Every abandoned car by the roadside could be a bomb, a stuck gate could be a prime opportunity for an assassin, so that when the expected does finally happen (and to the most obvious candidate in the most obvious fashion) it doesn't feel quite like such a cliche, more inevitability. The film does a good job of humanising its protagonists en route. While they all have the usual stereotyped dead meat trappings - families, girlfriends, pregnant wives - they spend much of the first half jockeying for position, making mistakes and inadvertently betraying their charge. Ricky Tognazzi directs with energy and imagination that belies the film's low budget and is well served by his ensemble cast.

Sadly, the DVD transfer, while acceptable, is not great, although the extras are good.

You won't even mind the captions - this is a good film!
Despite the fact that I knew none of the actors and don't speak Italian, this was a very credible film (and why shouldn't it be - it was a true story). The characters were well formed and very well played and the story was compelling. I think not having "big stars" in this production made it better, as equal attention could be payed to all. This is a film well worth seeing and I will probably watch it many times again.

Gripping - Intense
Great movie..will hold your attention from beginning to end. True depiction of what the Mafia is really like and how their tentacles reach out and control businesses and government. A true...must watch film.