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Released by: Alfa Digital
Released on: 9/1/2004
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Cast: Maurizio Merli, Tomas Milian, John Saxon, Claudio Undari, Bruno Corazzari
Year: 1977
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The Movie:
Maurizio Merli (of Fear In The City) plays Leonardo Tanzi. When a gangster known as The Chinaman (Tomas Milian of Almost Human) is sprung from the big house, he sends out a hit on Tanzi. The hit doesn't go as planned but Tanzi rides with it, faking his death so that he can go into hiding until all of this blows over and the police can bring matters to a close. Tanzi doesn't stay hidden long, however, when he finds out that The Chinaman is now working with another gangster, this time an American named Frank Di Maggio (John Saxon of Black Christmas). Merli sets out righting the wrongs that the two gangsters have been committing, avenging a few deaths and bugging up a few operations of theirs. The closer he gets to them, the easier it is for him to set into motion his plan to turn them against each other.
Merli is perfect in the lead role, showing far more charisma here than he did in other lead roles like Mannaja or Fear In The City. He chews through the scenery with a great sense of humor but when the action hits, and it does, he's believable in his anger. Saxon and Milian are as reliable as always, and make a great pair of villains for our moustachioued hero to square off against. Milian in particular shines, adding a very strange feel to his scenes with his odd choice of clothing and his rather shapely hairdo.
While there are a few moments that slow down, the action comes fast and furious with car chases and shoot outs keeping things moving at a nice fast pace. While some of the editing is a little bit choppy in a few places, for the most part Lenzi's direction is slick and very competent aided by some nice, tight cinematography from Federico Zanni who Lenzi also used on Almost Human, to which this film has a fairly similar tone. Zanni's camera does a good job of capturing the quieter moments of the movie with its swanky seventies European stylings and an even better job of closing in on the action as it happens and bringing the violence to life.
Highlighting the action scenes is a fantastic soundtrack by Franco Micalizzi full of dark and ominous sounding musical cues that make things feel even more tense and claustrophobic than they are. Claudio Undari (who played Pedro The Cannibal in The Fighting Fists Of Shanghai Joe!) has a nice supporting role as a thug named Dario, as does Bruno Corazzari (Four Of The Apocalypse). Despite the fact that the packaging claims Henry Silva stars, he does not appear in this film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The image is presented in a nice 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with only minor print damage in the form of the odd speck here and there, and some mild grain. Colors are nice and bright, flesh tones look natural and realistic, and there are no problems with mpeg comrpession. There is some mild edge enhancement and a couple of the darker scenes look just a tiny bit faded or washed out, but for the most part, this movie looks very nice.
The film is presented in a reasonably clean sounding Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono English dub. There are a few drop outs in the first few minutes of the film but after that things are pretty decent sounding, despite the inherent flatness of the dub. The extrememly seventies sounding guitar score sounds nice and clear and the dialogue is never difficult to understand or to follow.
The only extra feature on this release is the film's theatrical trailer. Though the back of the box says there is a stills gallery, sadly this is not the case.
The Final Word:
Until a better English language version comes along, this 'Alfa Digital' DVD has very nice picture quality and acceptable audio quality. Despite the lack of much in the way of extra features, the film itself holds up well with plenty of action and all the cliches that make seventies Italian crime movies so fun. The Cynic, The Rat And The Fist is worth your time.