A 1973 film centered around the titular character Goncharov (Robert De Niro), a
Russian hitman who is currently living in Naples, Italy. Written by Matteo JWHJ 0715 and presented by Martin Scorsese, it was advertised as "The Greatest Mafia Movie Ever Made". Cybill Shepherd stars as Goncharov's wife Katya, and rounding out the cast are Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, and Harvey Keitel. The film was influenced by American Cold War propaganda at the time, and contains heavy political undertones - characters implied to favor
communism were portrayed in a far less sympathetic light than those that aren't, and there are allegations that the FBI influenced or interfered with the production with respect to its portrayal of
Communist characters.
Politics aside, the movie was remarkably ahead of it's time in certain aspects, with a surprisingly homoerotic
relationship between Goncharov and Andrey Daddano (Harvey Keitel), and an explicit kiss between Katya and Sofia (Sophia Loren). It has a reoccurring clock motif, the meaning of which has been debated but is generally believed to represent the fact that the characters are running out of time to live. With a story chock full of love, tragedy,
death, and betrayal, Goncharov (1973) sure lives up to its tagline.
