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Vendetta (1999)
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Based on a true story, Vendetta tells the shocking and tragic story of a group of Sicilian immigrants working on the New Orleans docks in the 1890's. After the Chief of Police was brutally murdered, much of the city's Sicilian population was rounded up and brought in for questioning. Eventually, thirteen were formally tried for murder and nine went to trial, and while they were acquitted, a series of brutal lynchings showed they had as much to fear from the city's general populace as they did from the corrupt police force.
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Reviews
Pretty Good
Great Film overall
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
A very good made-for-TV-movie.A great cast , some good performances, but above all, a great story. As is almost always the case, the best stories are the true stories, the ones that actually occurred. Often they exceed our imagination, as is the case with this one. Hadn't I known that this was a true story, I would have deemed the plot to be far fetched, unrealistic... Goes to say...Watch this film if you can, it will teach you a little about the past and how some great fortunes where made at that time, the movie is definitely worth it.
African Americans were not the only group lynched in the US. In the 1890s, there were six lynchings of Italians, three of them in Louisiana. This is the story of one such lynching in New Orleans.After the emancipation in 1865, the power in New Orleans imported Sicilians to replace the African American. After a time, they came to regret this decision, as the Italian population grew to about 30,000 by 1890. They, particularly James Huston (Christopher Walken), set about trying to play the two factions of Sicilians (the Machecas and the Provenzanos) against each other.It should be noted that politically correct terminology is not used for the two races.Since the Sheriff (Andrew Connolly) wouldn't go along with the Mayor (Kenneth Welsh) and the other leaders, he was disposed of. Another policeman (Luke Askew) reported that "dagos" did it and riots ensued. Six men were pointed out by a "witness" that was intimidated by the police.A "trial" was held, but the results weren't what the town expected, so they took matters into their own hands, stirred up by the Mayor with threats by Huston that it will be done "with you or without you." Of course, many more were murdered in the real event that took place, but this is a movie.Huston got what he wanted.
The lynched were likely innocent of the crime. I have read most of the secondary writings about this event, and this is a fairly balanced movie. One should not be so quick to state that the movie is biased. Richard Gambino might have added a little to the police chief's character, but the chief was an ambitious man. A lot happened before this incident. Also, the drive-by shooting happened in reverse. The real shooting involved people driving by and shooting into a building and not the other way around. The earliest writers made the lynched out to be mafia men and black hand men, but since the 1970s... writers have changed their opinion based on better research.
people should be grateful for true history.so that nobody forgets.it's a great movie and somewhat a documentation.i would like to thank hbo for making movies that are true. i hope that hbo keeps these movies coming,that's how most people discover history and learn the truth.