Countless wiseguy films are spoofed in this film that centers on the neuroses and angst of a powerful Mafia racketeer who suffers from panic attacks. When Paul Vitti needs help dealing with his role in the “family,” unlucky shrink Dr. Ben Sobel is given just days to resolve Vitti’s emotional crisis and turn him into a happy, well-adjusted gangster.

The story of Santo Bastucci, a local banker with a rare gift for memorizing numbers; he is unwittingly cast into the forefront of an aging wiseguy’s bid for power, Manny “The Hand” Mistera. Santo is caught between the loyalty he has for his cagey father-in-law, Benny, his childhood friend, Basta, and his streetwise uncle, Matteo, the pastor of their Brooklyn church.

Yul Brynner plays political leader Sharif who is sprung from a police van on his way to a firing squad by young loyalists led by Sal Mineo. Yul and the other prisoners kidnap an ambulance and head into the Arabian desert with the police in hot pursuit. All the performances are magnificent: Sal Mineo showing his acting talents, Jack Warden in a wiseguy performance as an employee of Zahrain oil who was involved in embezzlement, Anthony Caruso as a slimy psychotic and the underrated Madlyn Rhue as a nurse who becomes emotionally involved in the proceedings.