The 1974 crime sequel that promised a franchise but ended in a furnace
In short: Borsalino & Co. arrived four years after its hit predecessor, aiming to continue the saga of gangster Siffredi in 1930s Marseille. Despite a high-profile international production and a dramatic conclusion, the film failed to match the original's success, leaving its final promise of a future sequel permanently unfulfilled.
Directed by Jacques Deray and produced by star Alain Delon, the 1974 film Borsalino & Co. serves as a direct sequel to the 1970 original. While the first film featured both Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, Belmondo’s character perished in the predecessor, leaving Delon’s Siffredi to carry the narrative alone. The story picks up in 1934 Marseille, where Siffredi seeks vengeance against Volpone, a rival gangster backed by Nazi Germany and local police forces. After being humiliated and driven into exile, Siffredi eventually returns to dismantle Volpone’s empire in a violent, calculated campaign.
The production was a significant international effort, involving companies based in Paris, Rome, and Munich. Filming occurred between 29 March and 25 June 1974, with the French release following on 23 October. Despite the scale of the project, the film struggled to capture the same audience enthusiasm as the 1970 original. It attracted only about one-third of the spectators who had seen the first film, recording 1,698,390 admissions in France. Although it ranked as the 21st highest-grossing film in the country for 1974, it was widely considered a commercial disappointment compared to the massive popularity of the first installment.
The film’s conclusion is particularly notable for its irony. After Siffredi dispatches Volpone by stuffing him into a locomotive firebox, he departs for the United States, leaving the audience with a final title card declaring, "To be continued." Despite this explicit promise of further adventures, no subsequent film was ever produced. The project eventually faded from the spotlight, later appearing in the United Kingdom under the title Blood on the Streets and eventually reaching home media audiences via a 2005 DVD release. It remains a curious footnote in 1970s European crime cinema, remembered more for its unfulfilled ambition than its narrative legacy.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Borsalino & Co.
- Also: Wikidata — Borsalino & Co. · CC0
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