MovieChat Forums > Sorcerer (1977) Discussion > Actor who portrayed the thug with leisur...

Actor who portrayed the thug with leisure suit, bangs and medallion?

posted 10 years ago by stevecaratzas
2 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know who this guy is? The character who tells Mr. Ricci that the guy who walked away from the church heist is Jackie Scanlon from the Donnelly mob in Queens ("A real piece of sh*t") - and then later shows up with Vinnie (in a leisure suit and white loafers!) at the film's brilliant climax.

I'm wondering if the Blu-Ray release has a credit for him - as IMDb does not seem to. Any help would be appreciated!

[–] wrfarley 10 years ago

The actor's name is Ray Dittrich. He also appears in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. The other gangster, who says, "Mr. Richie, everybody wants to help you out on this," is Frankie Gio. Both are listed in imdb, and you can Google their images.

[–] stevecaratzas 10 years ago

Thanks for the info - very much appreciated. I did Google Ray Dittrich and wasn't sure he was the guy. Probably because I was examining the pics on my phone.

I also saw Sorcerer this past week at Film Forum (I went on to four diffrerent screenings) - and did see it in first run back in 1977 (seeing it multiple times then as well).

One of my all-time favorites (if not actual No. 1) it only gets better each time I see it.

I was at Film Forum on Monday when he did a Q&A via Skype and got to ask him about whether Nilo was there to put a hit on Scanlon or just laying low like the others. His response: "That's up to the audience to decide."

He also mentioned the purposefully ambiguous ending and the "gunshot" never came up. If I hadn't read mentions of it I'm not sure I would have noticed it. To me, the ending remains incredibly powerful.