Neither the neighborhood intimacy of "Mean Streets" nor the grandeur of the "Godfather" movies is imaginable without Visconti's example. Its richness, though, is inexhaustible, and well served by the spotless new 35-millimeter print being shown at Film Forum.

From its star-studded cast to its indelible camerawork by the legendary Giuseppe Rotunno, it's an unforgettable experience by a revered master of European cinema.

As we toss around words such as "dark," "stylish," "brooding," and "tragic" along the road to perdition, I recommend a three and a half hour pit stop in 1950s Milan.

Violent, deliberately operatic, and makes ambiguous social statements.

It's plotted in the form of an epic poem, each stanza dedicated to a member of the group.