Looking for a something a bit different for you gangster flick fix? Then look no further than this box set of gritty, thematically linked Italian crime pictures from director Fernando Di Leo. Things don’t get much more delightfully 70s than this.
Caliber 9 headlines Gastone Moschin as Ugo Piazza, a mob tough guy just out of prison. Everyone believes he stole 300 grand from the the mafia, which leads to no end of beatings and threats of worse. The old gang forces Ugo to work for them again, in order to keep an eye on him, and he tells girlfriend Barbara Bouchet that his plan is to find out who really took the money.
A missing heroin shipment is the problem in The Italian Connection (a rather silly English title, for a film set in Italy, but whatever). This time, Mario Adorf, who was one of Moschin’s tormentors in Caliber 9 is the small-timer who is targeted by the higher-ups, and is finally pushed into striking back.
Henry Silva, one of the two hit men pursuing Adorf in The Italian Connection, plays the lead in The Boss. Here he is the main weapon in a mob war, a cold-blooded killing machine who winds up “rescuing” a the kidnapped daughter of one don, and, as the violence escalates, moving toward wiping out just about everybody. Though this is the last of a loose trilogy, it ends with “To Be Continued” (though it never was).
Rulers of the City is the cheeriest of the bunch, though it certainly has a body count. A couple of small-timers fleece Mr. Big Jack Palance, and the fallout from that little scheme leads to our heroes being targeted by two separate gangs. Dire though their situation is, they don’t seem to be particularly worried about it, and neither is the audience, and the film’s tone becomes more and more comic.
Running though all four films is a rather despairing take on Italian society, and Di Leo is not above taking time out from the plot to engage in socio-political musings. This is most clearly visible in the various commissioner and detective characters, almost none of whom have any real bearing on the action. They are utterly incapable of dealing with the mob, and the most they can do is argue over what has brought Italy to this state of affairs. The flashing “AUTHOR’S MESSAGE” sign is most visible in Calibre 9, but in all cases, it is a feature that is interesting thematically, though it does stop the plot dead in its tracks. In fact, the plots generally are rather meandering affairs, with long, static, talky bits punctuated by insanely over-the-top violence. The men are macho thugs in that extremely 70s way, and the women, sad to say, are all furniture, to be displayed or smashed as the men dictate. Know all this going in, and if you’re a fan of Eurosleaze, you’ll find a lot that will get your groove on.
Video
The films have all been restored and are presented in their original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen format. Grain and damage are, for all practical purposes, non-existent. The picture can, here and there, be a bit soft, but all in all, the image is sharp. The colours are strong yet gritty – you can almost taste the smog and the sweat. In other words, this is a near-pristine but absolutely authentic 70s experience.
Audio
Both English and Italian mono tracks are provided, and which is better is a bit of a question of taste, given the international nature of the cast. For instance, I preferred hearing Henry Silva speak Italian in The Boss, but the English dialogue sounded a bit better and matched lip movements more in The Italian Connection. Viewers will probably want to play around a bit with each film to see what works best. The music is terrific fun in all cases, but static and some distortion is also a constant. It is here, in the sound, that the age of the films is most apparent.
Special Features
On Caliber 9:
“Caliber 9”: (29:40) A thorough documentary, with Di Leo and other key players on hand to reminisce.
“The Genesis of the Genre”: (38:31) Fascinating stuff, as Di Leo recounts his life in film and the philosophical/moral position of his films (and by “moral,” Di Leo is quite explicit that he does not mean in the ordinary middle-class sense of the word).
“Scerbanenco Noir”: (26:08) A useful look at Giorgio Scerbanenco, whose books inspired the films.
Photo Gallery: (3:26) With a phone interview with Gastone Moschin.
Director Biography and Filmography.
On The Italian Connection:
“Alle Origini della Mala”: (20:36) “The Origin of the Mob” essentially – that is, the origin, and social inspirations for, the mob movies of Di Leo.
Photo Gallery.
Director Biography and Filmography.
On The Boss:
“Stories About the Mafia”: (23:19) Extending the scope of the pictures from Di Leo specifically, this documentary also looks at the Italian mob genre more generally.
Director Biography and Filmography.
On Rulers of the City:
“Violent City”: (15:32) Memories from the actors and crew again, with the focus on Rulers of the City, naturally enough.
Director Biography and Filmography.
Finally, there’s a 20-page booklet bu Luca Rea, featuring another interview with Di Leo.
Final Thoughts
The combined extras provide a pretty thorough look at Di Leo and his work, and the films are a great blast from the era. A nifty set, to be sure.