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Released by: RaroVideo
Released on: May 20, 2014
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Cast: Antonio Sabato, Phillipe Leroy, Marisa Mell, Carla Romanelli
Year: 1973
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The Movie
After kickstarting the Italian cannibal sub-genre in 1972 with his film Sacrifice! (a.k.a. The Man from Deep River), director Umberto Lenzi filmed the Eurocrime thriller Milano Rovente (translated as Red Hot Milan), which was released in the UK and North America under the English title, Gang War In Milan. The film stars Antonio Sabí¡to (Escape from the Bronx, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) as Salvator “Toto†Cangemi, a Sicilian produce wholesaler whose business is a front for his criminal organization. Cangemi's real business is prostitution, and he controls all of the streetwalkers and escorts in Milan. When Cangemi's highest-earning hooker is murdered, Cangemi and his gang of well-dressed mafioso launch an investigation into the murder, while also trying to dodge the cops who suspect their involvement in the crime.
Cangemi believes that the murder was a personal attack against his operation, since she was his top prostitute her body was dumped in the private pool of the Skorpion Club, where he takes his morning swim. Cangemi uncovers that the murderer is a Parisian drug lord named La Capitaine, who wants to control all the crime in Milan and use Cangemi's hookers to sell heroin. Cangemi refuses to allow La Captaine to take control of his operation, and this soon leads to a gang war between the Milanese pimps and the Parisian drug pushers. Gang War in Milan becomes a “one man against the world†film, when the tables are turned on Cangemi and double-cross after double-cross transforms him from a confident, arrogant leader into a desperate man under attack from all sides. This intense, frenzied film keeps raising the stakes and ratcheting up the tension until a twist-ending leads to Gang War In Milan's bullet-riddled conclusion.
Gang War In Milan is Umberto Lenzi's first entry in the Poliziotteschi sub-genre, and it's a high energy crime thriller with a sleazy, misogynistic edge. The movie unloads at a very fast clip. There's a lot of intrigue here for a movie that's only 100 minutes long, and Lenzi's energetic direction gives you just enough time to breathe and keep pace with the dialogue and the story, without ever lingering on any scene or event for too long. Lenzi's direction here isn't quite as breathless as in his radioactive zombie film, 1980's Nightmare City (or City of the Walking Dead), but what Gang War In Milan has in common with Nightmare City are some rapid-fire sequences of nasty, over-the-top violence. While the violence isn't as sustained throughout the whole film as in Nightmare City, Gang War In Milan has enough crazed nastiness to keep most fans of Italian horror and Eurocrime happy. This film's got testicular electrocution, car bombs, women getting acid thrown in their faces, having their tits slashed, and beat up, and plenty of men getting punched, shot, stabbed and set on fire. There isn't a lot of gunplay or car chases in the film, but the action scenes that are present are fast-paced and well staged.
The performances from the main cast are very good. Antonio Sabí¡to impressively walks a fine line in the role of Cangemi as he alternates between being an arrogant cocky asshole who treats women like playthings and property, and a charming, sophisticated gentleman who makes regular visits to his elderly mother. Cangemi is an unrepentant misogynist with a mean streak, but his French opponents are even worse. It's an impressive feat that the film will have you rooting for Cangemi by the finale, given how unlikeable he is, and that's entirely due to Sabí¡to's charismatic performance. As Mike Malloy's essay on the film notes, even Lenzi himself thought he might have made Cangemi too unlikeable by making him a pimp who has no problem beating his “whores,†and who only cares if they die because it affects his bottom line. It's a testament to Lenzi's objective directorial style, that while Cangemi's lifestyle is presented glamorous and fashionable, the film never condones his actions or his attitudes.
Playing the role of the femme fatale, Jasmina Sanders, Austrian sexpot Marisa Mell (Danger: Diabolik, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) provides a strong contrast to the many women in Gang War In Milan whose only purpose is to either sell their bodies, get slapped around, or worse. While her inclusion isn't enough to divert any charges of misogyny one could level against the film, it's undeniable that she holds her own against Sabí¡to in the acting department and her character commands a level of respect from Cangemi that no other women in the film receives. Especially not the naí¯ve prostitute Virginia (Carla Romanelli), who is introduced and then immediately told to strip and put on some revealing lingerie with holes cut out to show off her nipples.
So yes, Gang War In Milan isn't the most progressive film when it comes to the treatment of women, not by a longvshot, but the same can be said for a lot of the Eurocrime and genre cinema that came out of Italy in the 1970s and 80s. If you can look past the violent misogyny present in the film, then you'll appreciate Gang War In Milan for what it is: a stylish, no-holds barred film about an all-out war between a prostitution racket and a drug cartel, starring impeccably dressed Italian and French criminals and a bevy of beautiful European women.
Audio/Video/Extras
Gang War In Milan comes in red hot on Blu-ray in 2:35.1 with a very nice VC-1 encode in a new transfer, digitally restored from the original 35mm negative. Gang War In Milan is full of fashionable clothes, classic cars and swanky 70s apartments, and it favors a primary color palette full of bright blues canary yellows, rich purples and cherry reds. While the film is never overly ambitious in its cinematography, it's always easy on the eyes due to the sheer amount of color and fashion present in the film, which this transfer does an excellent job of representing. Colors pop and appear vibrant while still looking natural. There's a fine level of film grain present throughout, and there doesn't appear to be any use of DNR or edge enhancement. While this transfer is a little on the soft side in terms of fine detail, it still maintains the natural look of film very well. RaroVideo have done a great job at preserving this film and fans of Eurocrime and 70s cinema will appreciate the quality of this high definition transfer.
The film can be viewed in an English dub or the original Italian, and the audio is presented in a linear PCM stereo 2.0 track that provides a much fuller, more detailed sound than you would normally expect from a 2.0 stereo track. Carlo Rustichelli's elegant score has a nice, warm sound to it, and sound effects and dialogue can be clearly heard at higher volumes without any distortion. Like the image transfer, this linear PCM 2.0 audio track nicely preserves the audio of the film in a way that feels authentic to it. I wouldn't recommend you watch the film with the English dub however, as the dialogue was definitely written for Italian actors and it just sounds unnatural as the English voice actors trying to keep up with the film's fast-paced dialogue. With that in mind, the English dub and the English subtitles for the Italian track don't exactly match up, so curious fans might want to watch both versions with the subtitles on to note the difference in the dialogue.
The sole extra on this disc is an introduction to the film by Eurocrime expert Mike Malloy, writer and director of the recent documentary Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s. As he polishes several of guns that appear in the film (and a machete), Malloy discusses the film, it's place in the Eurocrime canon, conventions of the genre that appear in Gang War In Milan, and he and offers a brief introduction to the genre for the uninitiated. It's an entertaining introduction to the film that fans of Eurocrime and Italian genre cinema will enjoy.
RaroVideo's release of Gang War In Milan comes nicely packaged in a slipcase with alternate art on the Blu-ray case. This release also includes an 11-page booklet featuring an essay on the film by Mike Malloy titled “The Eurocrime Of Gang War In Milan: Lenzi's First And Sabí¡to's Best,†as well as a brief Biography on Umberto Lenzi and his complete Filmography. Malloy's essay is informative and does a really good job of placing the film within both the Poliziotteschi sub-genre and Lenzi's filmography, without repeating anything he says in his video introduction.
The Final Word
If you are new to the Eurocrime genre, Gang War In Milan is a great place to start. If you're already a fan of director Umberto Lenzi or the Poliziotteschi sub-genre, then this lavishly stylish and viciously sleazy film is a must-have release.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
