Watched Tony Arzenta last night. Alright film, even though I didn’t think much of the plot. Once again a tiny role for Rosalba Neri, blink and you’ll miss her. Too bad. The film starts too slow, but it takes off later. The bloody shootings are the best thing about the film. Solid direction by Tessari. As mentioned an alright film, but should have been better. Didn’t like the ending. 6,5/10
The “Confessions of a police captain” , “Summertime Killer” disc from Wild East droped in today so I watched both films straight away.
It had been some time since the last time I watched “Summertime Killer” so I was pleased that it was better than I remembered.
And “Confessions of a police captain” is one of the best in the genre so its impossible to go wrong with this disc.
Euro Crime is steadily becoming one of my very favorite genres. Great kick-ass attitude. Have Squadra Volante to watch.
[quote=“Silence, post:403, topic:376”]Have Squadra Volante to watch.[/quote]Probably the most professionally made out the Massi films.
I think The Last Round is my favourite of his.
Is the No Shame release of The Last Round uncut ? Someone one mentioned to me there is longer fan edit version, but I have not been able to confirm this.
[quote=“chuck connors brother, post:405, topic:376”]I think The Last Round is my favourite of his.[/quote]Yojimbo ;D
Watched Squadra Volante.
Nice film, great ending.
Tomas Milian is ultra cool, wearing black 70’s pants, black leather jacket, a cool black hat and chewing a cigar all the time.
Watched Roma Violenta, which I enjoyed.
But still, it’s sort of depressing. Dark, cynical and… well dark and cynical.
And the end was fucking confusing!
[quote=“Silence, post:409, topic:376”]Watched Roma Violenta, which I enjoyed.
But still, it’s sort of depressing. Dark, cynical and… well dark and cynical.
And the end was fucking confusing![/quote]Fantastic film, Merli gives out one of his best hidings of all time on that bus!
[url]http://img515.imageshack.us/i/milano20calibro2091.jpg/[/url] [size=12pt]Milano Calibro 9[/size] (1972, Fernando di Leo)
![http://img515.imageshack.us/i/milano20calibro2091.jpg/[/url]](http://img515.imageshack.us/i/milano20calibro2091.jpg/%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
The first film of the Fernando di Leo Box I watched. If I’m well-informed, this is the first part of his loose ‘milieu trilogy’. Fast and furious, violent and loud. The story? Surprise, surprise: a nice variation on Dashiel Hammett’s Red Harvest concept, about the warring factions and the man in the middle. The factions are, in this case, the Mafia and the Police, the man in the middle is Moschin, a lower mafia con-man who spent a few years in jail for a minor offence (minor in Mob terms). Both the Mob and the Police think he has embezzled a sum of 300.000 (dollars, I suppose, Lire weren’t worth anything).
What makes Milano Calibro 9 so nice, is the double-twisted ending, that took me - a man not very experienced in watching Italian crime movies - by surprise. However, if you recognize the source – like I did – the first twist seems only logical, even predictable, so I should have seen it coming. I’ll try to do better next time.
This is a very enjoyable movie, but I wasn’t too fond of its ‘loudness’. Like in spaghetti westerns, blows and knock outs are accompanied on the soundtrack by some kind of explosions, as if an elephant falls down from a skyscraper. Wham. Boing. This doesn’t bother me in a western setting, but it bothered me here (would be interesting to find out why exactly). Furthermore I didn’t like Mario Adorf as the Mafia hitman (most viewers did, so I found out): jumping and running around like a madman, he seems to be going for a nomination for the Special Tomas Milian Reward for Over-the-Top Performances.
The other actors are fine, especially Moschin (the sheriff from The Specialists) who gives a remarkably laid-back performance, and in his best scenes even has some of the cool and stoicism of Delon (Melville clearly was an influence here). Also appearing are Frank Wolf (as the police captain!), Luigi Pistilli (as his left-wing assistant!) and Lionel Stander.
The disc has good image quality, although colours could have been a tiny bit more vivid. Both audio tracks (Italian and English) do the job, but aren’t very loud. Problem is that you can’t switch between tracks on-line; I wanted to watch it in Italian, but there was some slang and the lines were delivered so fast that I lost track. It’s also impossible to activate and deactivate the English subs on-line. You have to go back to the menu every time you want to chance anything.
If you think that Mario Adorf’s performance was over the top in this one just wait until you see him in La mala ordina. The character he portrays in that film is both over the top and completely untrustworthy IMO
I still love both films though.
[quote=“Dorado, post:412, topic:376”]If you think that Mario Adorf’s performance was over the top in this one just wait until you see him in La mala ordina. The character he portrays in that film is both over the top and completely untrustworthy IMO
I still love both films though.[/quote]
Yeah, something like a Marlon Brando on speeds.
I think La Mala Ordina is the second part of the trilogy, so it’s the next on the program
I suppose I get used to these performances, they’re probably (like Milian’s and Fernando’s performances in SWs) part of the show; once you’ve experienced a few of them, you don’t bother anymore. It’s like your first night in Rome or London (when you’re living in the countryside): the constant noise of the traffic keep you awake, but you get used to it rather fast
I thought Adorf was ok in La Mala Ordina. Plus this site was made for the genre with the most over the top fake mexicans there is so over the top acting doesn’t bug me ;).
I’d say Calibre 9 was the best out the three but Manhunt is the most accesible and more fun, I’ve probably watched it the most.
It took me some time to get used to Sancho’s loudness too
The first time I saw him, I thought he was a bit ridiculous, and I didn’t really like him. Today I still find the big man a bit silly, but I love him. I love his loudness and his funny way of handling a gun too.
Ooooh, I need to go back and read up on this thread and discover some of the essentials! I’m painfully ignorant of this genre; at least compared to what I should be!
The double bill with ”I am the law” and ”Mafia” from wild east productions dropped in today so I just watched both films.
“I am the Law” stars Giuliano Gemma as a judge sent to Sicily in the pre-second world war era to fight the Mafia. It’s an interesting and controversial film because it seems to approve the use of extreme methods in the fight against organized crime.
7/10
“Mafia” stars Franco Nero as a police captain fighting against the mafia on Sicily, the film is pretty routine though. I had expected more from Damiano Damiani.
5/10
I Am The Law is a solid, well made drama. It’s not particularly exploitative. It’s not Eurocrime in that sense, in the Tomas Milian way. It’s just a film that happens to be about the Mafia and it’s pretty good. Eductional and dealing with a not often covered era. Particularly, for non Italians, I suppose.