The marketing for Fernando Di Leo's 1972 crime thriller The Italian Connection makes it a film easy to dismiss. So clearly derivative of William Friedkin's ‘71 film The French Connection, as well as referencing The Godfather both in its tagline and in the film itself, it's understandable that many saw this film and brushed it aside, deeming it a cheap riff on some of the greatest that American crime cinema has ever had to offer.
Those who are dismissive of Di Leo's film, though, miss out. The Italian Connection, despite its cheeky marketing efforts, is a great film. Directed by one of the many screenwriters involved in Sergio Leone's iconic A Fistful of Dollars, this film gets straight to the point. The very opening line, placed before any credits or even studio logos, is a man telling two others that they're ‘going to kill Luca Canali'.
The two assassins are Dave Catania (played by Henry Silva, of Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai) and Frank Webster (Woody Strode). Their quickly mentioned mission sees them travel from New York to Milan in pursuit of Mario Adorf's Luca Canali. With instructions to brutalise Adorf's character so severely that the entirety of Italy hears stories about it, a bleak stage is set.
That bleakness carries itself throughout the film's story, which sees lowly pimp Luca's life turned into a place of paranoia, loss and terror. Canali is not a good man, he is misogynistic and uncaring (other than for his daughter, or for a cat he finds in the film's climactic shootout) but the odds stacked against him are so unfair that the viewer can't help but root for him even if only slightly. He's one man against a corrupt world, even if Adorf's performance can lack the necessary emotions at times to make this hardship convincing.
The world he lives in is one of crime and desperation, one in which anyone affiliated with him becomes a target or chooses to deceive him for money. While Silva and Strode play into the stoicism of the typical western villain, Adorf is a hero who is forced to suffer to find his purpose. He must be emotional in order to re-discover his principles. This contrasts the two villains very well, as well as the mysterious Don Vito who quietly pulls the strings.
Unfortunately, the film's mostly silly action does pull away from the intensity of the film's atmosphere. It is action driven by slaps and headbutts above all else, even if the speedy deaths of some are shocking. The real stand-out sequence is the film's car chase, also indebted to The French Connection which sees Adorf genuinely hang off the side of a car as it speeds along. It's a massively exciting set-piece, made exhilarating by the audacity of the stunt work. The score can also be a little too energetic and distracts from the oppressive nature of the story.
Still, The Italian Connection is a brooding action crime thriller peppered lightly with existential ideas. It has a host of solid performances, some exciting cinematography and top-tier third act set-pieces to get the blood of any audience member flowing. What it can lack in convincing action, it more than makes up for in energy and atmosphere.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- 2020 4K restoration of the original negative, presented with Italian and English audio, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- …And a Tiny Bullet for a Tiny Kitten: A new visual essay by Howard S. Berger on Di Leo's use of deadpan farce and absurdism in his social critiques of post-war Italy in his milieu trilogy
- Archival documentary The Roots of the Mafia (26 mins)
- Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Limited edition booklet with new writing by Italian crime expert Austin Fisher
- Limited edition of 3000 copies
The Italian Connection will be released by Radiance Films on 26th August
