Goodbye & Amen is a strange little film that twists a couple of genres together, not always successfully, but it kept me on my toes and fully entertained me.
John Dannahay (Tony Musante) is a CIA agent living in Rome who is plotting to overthrow an unnamed African country. This with the full (but totally top secret) approval of his government. When it is discovered that a top diplomat named Lambert has been selling secrets, the bosses at the American State Department want to slam the brakes on the mission. But Dannahay, who is still recovering from a previously botched mission, demands things go ahead as planned.
Buy Goodbye & Amen Blu-rayThings do not go ahead as planned. Someone has started shooting people from atop of a Hilton Hotel. Then he breaks into one of the rooms and holds the two people – Mrs. De Mauro (Claudia Cardinale), and Parenti (Renzo Palmer) – hostage. Mrs. De Mauro is a rich, married woman having an affair with Parenti, who is a famous actor. Neither person particularly wants the public to know about this affair.
Meanwhile, Dannahay, who has yet to learn about the events at the hotel, goes looking for Lambert. He discovers that Lambert has just abandoned his wife and young son due to his affair with a younger woman. Also that very evening someone, presumably Lambert, snuck into the house and stole Lambert’s rifle. When his rifle case is found at the Hilton Hotel, it is assumed that the assassin must be Lambert. Either he’s gone completely mad, or this is all an attempt to thwart the coup d’etat.
Intelligent readers may notice that I’m being a little cagey about the identity of the assassin. That’s because it is one of the film’s major twists and I don’t want to be accused of spoilers. Intelligent viewers will be able to figure out the twist pretty quickly.
Inside the hotel room, director Damiano Damiani does a nice job of ratcheting up the tension. Buff and blonde Parenti will turn out to be a total coward, while the vulnerable-looking De Maruo will prove an excellent foil. She’ll try to seduce him in order to get him to drop his weapon. She’ll lure him into the bathroom where some Italian cops can shoot at him through an air vent. But the assassin is more clever. He never speaks on the phone himself or opens the door to the room, always making someone else do it. He orders cornflakes to be laid out in front of the door so he can hear anyone coming near. He asks for a face-to-face meeting with the American Ambassador (John Forsythe) knowing he will come for fear of losing face, and that this will give him more leverage to bargain with.
His escape plan is rather ingenious. He asks for four exact outfits to be brought to his room, along with four exact motorcycle helmets and four revolvers (three unloaded, one with bullets). This way, when they leave (to the roof where a helicopter awaits), the snipers won’t know who is who. Outside, Dannahay and the cops try to find a way to stop the assassin. They are quickly running out of options. Eventually, the whole spy angle comes back into play. It is yet another not actually very surprising twist in a film full of them.
The mixing of genres is a curious one. As are the political angles. Damiano Damiani was known as a political director and it is interesting to see an Italian take on America’s foreign policy at the time. But he doesn’t seem to know how to blend the genres and the politics together. They seem to come from different films. Yet the film completely worked for me. It is a thrilling, entertaining ride from start to finish.
Radiance Films presents Goodbye & Amen with a new transfer from the original negatives and it looks terrific. It contains both Italian and English language audio tracks, but the English language track comes with a warning that the original audio elements for that were pretty worn out. I gave it a precursory listen and it definitely comes in and out. Extras include a new audio commentary from Nathaniel Thompson and Howard Berger, a new interview with editor Antonio Siciliano, an archival interview with Wolfango Soldati, new artwork, and a nice essay on the film in the accompanying booklet.
