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Flight of the Innocent

Play trailer Poster for Flight of the Innocent R 1992 1h 45m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Set in southern Italy, 10-year-old schoolboy Vito (Manuel Colao) lives with his family, who profits by kidnapping the children of the wealthy and ransoming them. When Vito's family is killed in a bloody rampage by a competing crime family, he flees to Rome to escape murder at the hands of a scar-faced killer (Federico Pacifici). Taught by his family not to trust the police, he contends alone with certain death and with making amends for the sake of his dead family.

Critics Reviews

View All (4) Critics Reviews
Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle Rated: 3/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Quentin Curtis Independent on Sunday We hear echoes of Kubrick, De Palma and Rossellini, but can't make out Carlei's own voice. Nov 29, 2017 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 23, 2005 Full Review James Berardinelli ReelViews Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (10) audience reviews
Audience Member Great thriller Great movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/22 Full Review Audience Member Set in, I think, early 1980s Italy, the movie follows a ten-year-old who watches his family being annihilated and then searches the family of the kidnapped son. Quite interesting, and it is very intriguing to see him move from poverty into the richer parts of Italy, getting exposed to a wealth that is the cause for his family's crime to begin with. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member The boy in this movie was really good. Unfortunately, evil overacting adults had to often come on the scene. If it weren't for their overly dramatic presence, this would have been a fine movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Feels as you are along the journey with this little boy as he deals with the horrible truth. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member I'm loving it! (It's still on now). Seeing all these little details of Italy, like they have that huge desert looking area! When I think Italy I think just some couple of cities, like it's just Venice and Rome. Not some place with things like big open areas like where the chase was in the beginning of the movie. And the relief I felt when the boy got to a civilized area, away from that strange town that just seemed to have one woman gawking from a building, not bothering to help that poor boy running from the killer. Kind of like wow! There's REAL Italy! Not just phony tourist pictures but the REAL THING! That mall he ran into.... Looked just like Strawberry Square in Harrisburg PA! It was flipping me out. Thiink Italy and I think those marble or whatever buildings and market places or something, not a shopping center like HERE! Then, getting over the fun of looking at Italy and into the show, I was getting all full of emotions over it! The sadness and horror that boy seeing his family killed off. ( Just flipping on the show, I thougth it was some Mexican drug family war seeing that desert and people shooting each other like they keep doing now in Mexico!) Envy of the boy for not seeming frightened like sissy me would be if I were in that situation, while I pitied him for being so alone. Impressed by his just going to some city he was never in before maybe, and not being afraid as I would be in any city alone at 10 years old! Love for him comforting that frightened boy in the orphanage or whatever that place was he had to sleep in and stay at for a while. Fear of any shaggy haired man coming around, since they all look alike, and one of them was that bum who killed the rich boy and was after this boy. I had a good old time with the emotions which is what I like in a movie. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member No English or American cast here. The very beginning seems all too Italian, even by today's standards, but give it about 10 minutes and it still seems too, too Italian. Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson: "Originally titled La Corsa Dell'Innocente, this Italian drama focuses on that country's ongoing wave of kidnappings. The early scenes focus on a large, outwardly normal Italian family who happen to make their living by abducting wealthy children and holding them for ransom. When the family is wiped out by a rival gang, only 10-year-old Vito (Manuel Coalo) survives. Any other child would go to the police at this point, but Vito has been raised never to trust the police -- or anyone else, for that matter." Pure gunshot violence in the beginning. Sam Peckinpah would be glad to see this. It seems the modern era Italians like gore, bloodshed and slow motion violence as much as anybody. [Taken from the films of Sergio Leone there is no doubt.] If violence is your game, check this out, at least in the beginning. "The boy Vito is a portrait of beauty and wide-eyed innocence spawned from a violent family of kidnapers and murderers in the South of Italy. When his entire family is murdered by a rival clan of kidnapers, Vito must flee for his own life and in the end attempts to make atonement for some of his family's sins." ....Written by Jeff Hole "If you are looking for a movie that has a great story, well done acting, fantastic direction and a score that will give you goosebumps when you hear it, look no further Flight of the Innocent is a Masterpiece of pure action and excitement. I have just finished viewing this movie for the fifth time and I am still not bored with it." .....by Robert Grima (rgrima72@maltanet.net) Director: Carlo Carlei Writers: Carlo Carlei (screenplay), Carlo Carlei (story) Stars: Manuel Colao, Federico Pacifici Salvatore Borghese Gross revenues! $33,851 MPAA rating for sequences of graphic violence and for some language. running time: 105 min Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Flight of the Innocent

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Set in southern Italy, 10-year-old schoolboy Vito (Manuel Colao) lives with his family, who profits by kidnapping the children of the wealthy and ransoming them. When Vito's family is killed in a bloody rampage by a competing crime family, he flees to Rome to escape murder at the hands of a scar-faced killer (Federico Pacifici). Taught by his family not to trust the police, he contends alone with certain death and with making amends for the sake of his dead family.
Director
Carlo Carlei
Producer
Franco Cristaldi, Domenico Procacci, Massimo Cristaldi, Bruno Ricci, Jon Turtle, Michelle de Broca, Gabriella Carosio
Screenwriter
Carlo Carlei
Production Co
Rocket Pictures, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Fandango, Cristaldi Film, Canal+, Renn Productions
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (DVD)
Jul 1, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA)
$138.2K
Runtime
1h 45m
Sound Mix
Stereo, Surround