Verdict
Summary
A cold-hearted crime thriller from filmmaker Fernando Di Leo, The Italian Connection follows Caliber 9 in theme and thread, and it remains riveting right up to the chilling final act. It’s bad against worse in this film, with a rage-filled protagonist that is not necessarily someone you’re rooting for, but that’s what the movie gives you, and so you go with it.
Plot:
A pimp fights for his life when he’s framed by the mob.
Review:
Low level hood and pimp Luca (Mario Adorf) lives a fairly comfortable life doing what he does, but he has something to lose: His good reputation and his family. When a major heroin shipment is pilfered, the mob needs a fall guy, and so Luca draws the unlucky straw to be framed for it. He has no idea the hell that’s coming: Two deadpan “cleaner” killers (played by Woody Strode and Henry Silva, two guys you never want to cross in a movie) are dispatched to Milan to kill Luca, and they slowly but methodically make their way to him, taking a hostage along the way – the beautiful but doomed hooker Eva (Luciana Paluzzi) who is tied to Luca. Meanwhile, Luca is reeling from the death of his daughter and wife, who are just collateral damage in the war that he finds himself in the middle of. Taking no more of what’s being doled out his way, Luca goes on the run and fights back, culminating in an explosive and very bloody climax at a junkyard, where even he is surprised at how resilient his resolve to survive is.
A cold-hearted crime thriller from filmmaker Fernando Di Leo, The Italian Connection follows Caliber 9 in theme and thread, and it remains riveting right up to the chilling final act. It’s bad against worse in this film, with a rage-filled protagonist that is not necessarily someone you’re rooting for, but that’s what the movie gives you, and so you go with it. Purportedly a template for Pulp Fiction (which I can recognize), the picture has a grimy, unpleasant vibe throughout, and the final scenes in the junkyard has a shocking and totally unnecessary killing of a kitten, which threw me off and I’m not even an animal lover! It just made the movie that much more hard-hearted, which was apropos for its mission to put you through the meat grinder.
The Italian Connection has just been reissued by Kino Lorber / Raro Video, looking very fine in high definition. There’s an audio commentary by a film historian and an archival documentary, two audio tracks, and the trailer.
