The Italian Connection (1972)

 

The second film in the Fernando Di Leo Milieu Trilogy, The Italian Connection, said to have been the inspiration behind Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, landed a much more entertaining blow in my eyes compared to the often praised Caliber 9.  Mario Adorf (who in my opinon carried Caliber 9's lackluster cast of characters) returns as a small-time pimp named Luca Canali.  Canali is framed for stealing a shipment of heroin that was in transit between Italy and New York.  To make a example of him the mob brings in two American's (Henry Silva and Woody Strode) to take Canali out.  They enlist in the assistance the local Milano mob to help locate Canali, but Canali proves to be a harder target to bring down than anyone expected, as he fights to stay alive and discover who set him up to take the fall for something he had nothing to do with.

My biggest issue with Caliber 9 was the fact it was dialog and story heavy with a cast that was mainly dull and a story that was mediocre.  Action wise it held a lot back, a lot of threatening, but little action until the conclusion.  The Italian Connection easily rectifies that by two fold.  Once again Mario Adorf takes his role and runs with it, easily becoming the most interesting and entertaining character in the film.  Going in I thought Henry Silva was going to be the show stealer but Silva (and his co-star Woody Strode) were amazingly bland.  The Italian Connection also has a quite stellar backup cast with three lovely cult Italian film actresses Luciana Paluzzi (Thunderball), Femi Benussi, and Sylva Koscina.  Throw in Adolfo Celi (Thunderball & Danger Diabolik) as the local mob boss assisting the Americans in tracking down Canali, and you have a pretty nice cast of lovely ladies and cult villains.

Overall The Italian Connection was highly entertaining, rarely a dull moment and as an overall package is a definite improvement on Caliber 9.  The story isn't as in-depth, and definitely has it's share of glaring plot holes compared to Caliber 9, but when you're looking for a good Euro Crime experience is it story or action and women that your looking for?  If it's the latter, The Italian Connection is the film for you.

8/10