Machine Gun McCain was an Italian production that was released in Italy as Gli Intoccabili. It was the second Italian gangster film made in 1968 that John Cassavetes appeared in. The first one was Rome Like Chicago (Italian title: Roma come Chicago). His involvement in both films was strictly for monetary reasons and he used his fees to help finance his own independent productions.

Machine Gun McCain marked the first time John Cassavetes and Peter Falk worked together as actors in a movie. Cassavetes would go on to direct him in four of his own productions - Husbands [1970], A Woman Under the Influence [1974], Opening Night [1977], Big Trouble [1986]

- and co-star with him in Husbands, the TV movie Columbo: Etude in Black [1972], Mikey and Nicky [1976] and Opening Night [1977].

The tagline for the film was "Even the Mafia calls him Mister!"

Britt Ekland divorced her first husband actor Peter Sellers the same year she starred in Machine Gun McCain. She had just completed The Bobo opposite Sellers in 1967 and would follow this gangster drama with the comedy The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968).

Peter Falk was no stranger to Italian film productions and had previously appeared in two World War II epics filmed in Europe, 1965's Italiani brava gente (shot in the Ukraine and released in the U.S. as Attack and Retreat) and Anzio (1968), which was shot in and around Naples.

In addition to directing Machine Gun McCain, Giuliano Montaldo was also a respected actor and screenwriter. Among his acting credits are The Doll That Took the Town (1956) with Virna Lisi and Elio Petri's The Assassin (1961) with Marcello Mastroianni. The sword-and-sandal epic Duel of the Champions (1961) and the historical drama Sacco and Vanzetti (1971) were scripted by him. Montaldo's other directorial efforts included several movies with a World War II setting such as Dio e con noi (1969), Gli Occhiali d'oro (1987), and L'Agnese va a morire (1976).

Producer Bino Cicogna lost a lot of money on his film deals and eventually relocated to Brazil to escape his creditors. He was later murdered there - a stabbing victim. His last feature film production was I Cannibali (1970), directed by Liliana Cavani and starring Britt Ekland.

The music score of Machine Gun McCain is by Ennio Morricone and is one of his best. The brooding theme song, "The Ballad of Hank McCain," has been recorded by other musicians, including John Zorn in his tribute to Morricone, The Big Gundown.

Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan makes one of her first screen appearances in Machine Gun McCain as Peter Falk's mistress. She would go on to appear in several acclaimed European films such as Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969), Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) - which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1971 - and Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation (1973). Giallo fans known her from such influential genre entries as A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) and Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), both directed by Lucio Fulci.

If you're a fan of Italian exploitation films, you'll recognize Luigi Pistilli as Peter Falk's henchman and Claudio Biava as one of the hoods McCain kills. Although Pistilli was an acclaimed theatre actor and also appeared in prestige films such as Francesco Rosi's Illustrious Corpses (1976), he more often appeared in giallos, spaghetti westerns and crime thrillers. Death Rides a Horse (1967), The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971, aka A Bay of Blood), Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972) and Tragic Ceremony (1972) are among his many credits. Claudio Biava has been equally active in Italian genre films, primarily spaghetti westerns and spy thrillers such as Django Kills Softly (1967), Ramon the Mexican (1966) and The Spy Loves Flowers (1966).

Cinematographer Erico Menczer began as an assistant cameraman, working for such internationally renowned directors as Michelangelo Antonioni, Mario Monicelli, and Federico Fellini. On his own, he lensed such memorable giallos as The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) for Dario Argento and The Dead Are Alive (1972) for Armando Crispino.

Machine Gun McCain was nominated for a Golden Palm award for Best Director at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.

by Jeff Stafford