Better Late Then Never

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I must confess that when it comes to Italian genre cinema, my tastes usually go to spaghetti westerns. But I do try on a regular basis to sample other kinds of Italian movies, including crime/gangster movies. What attracted me to watch "The Italian Connection" was the presence of Henry Silva and Woody Strode. Well, they are in fine form, though I wish the movie gave them a little more to do, since they spend a lot of the movie just waiting around. A bigger problem was that the first thirty or so minutes of the movie are pretty slow and drab, so much so that I thought about giving up on the movie. But I'm glad I didn't, because after that first half hour, the movie really jumps into gear. Lead actor Mario Adorf does a great job, not coming across as a stereotypical tough action star, but instead someone driving by desperation and vengeance. Seeing this unlikely character get into gunplay and other action is really exciting, because you'll keep wondering if he'll prevail. And the action scenes are great, most notably a fantastic long chase sequence alternately on foot and with vehicles that beats many action sequences coming out of Hollywood at the time. The very ending feels kind of unfinished and will have you asking, "Well, what now?" - which the movie does not answer. But that's a minor quibble. I've got four more crime movies by director Fernando di Lio on DVD waiting to be watched, and I can't wait to sample them.

Two vicious hit men (Henry Silva and Woody Strode) are sent by the New York mob to Milan, Italy to "make an example" of a small-time pimp (Mario Adolph) who is believed to be responsible for a missing shipment of heroin. The two hit-man have the support of the local Milan mafia don (Adolf Celli), who may know more than he's telling about the missing heroin, but their target turns out to be much more wily and dangerous than they could have possibly anticipated.Although this Ferdinand de Leo crime thriller is regarded as a minor masterpiece of the genre, it has only been released in America so far on a crappy VHS tape which really hampers the enjoyment. It's full-frame, horribly cropped with the kind of muddy, off-color transfer that gives third generation bootlegs a not-so-bad name. The dubbing could charitably be described as indifferent--it's like they pulled random English speakers off the street and had them read from cue cards. The women in these movies are typically just sex objects, but still you would think that an actress of Femi Benussi's stature in Italian exploitation films (maybe a rung below Edwige Fenech and Barbara Bouchet) would at least get CREDIT for the important role of the protagonist's ill-fated, former prostitute girlfriend. (And her patented long, butt-naked nude scene would probably be a little more enjoyable if the ample skin she shows wasn't bluish-gray due to the lousy transfer). Perhaps most ridiculous though, the whole thing is presented as a "blaxploitation" film due to the presence of African-American actor Woody Strode (who's obviously dubbed by a white guy) even though the real protagonist here is a white Italian.The action scenes are very effective though despite the transfer. It's also a pretty good basic story. I like these movies where there's a criminal anti-hero taking on the mob rather than the usual vigilante cop. The Italian crime thrillers certainly have their share of vigilante cops (the genre was largely inspired by "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection"), but even these films at least acknowledge that that there's moral ambiguity in the world and that violence isn't always a clean solution for every problem. Overall, I would recommend this, but if you're going to get it at all, it probably would be worth seeking out a widescreen Italian version with English subtitles. Avoid the laughable "Black Kingpin" version.

The second film in Fernando Di Leo's 'Milieu' trilogy, "La Mala Ordina" aka. "Manhunt" of 1972 is, in my opinion just not quite as brilliant as the foregoing masterpiece "Milano Calibro 9" (also 1972) and its brilliant successor "Il Boss" (1973), and yet this is an excellent and breathtaking crime epic that no lover of Italian genre-cinema could possibly afford to miss. The tough-minded and violent film, which has been released under many aka. titles such as "Hit Men", "Hired To Kill", "The Italian Connection" or even the absolutely inappropriate title "Black Kingpin", is breathtaking from the beginning to the end and profits from a brilliant cast. The plot revolves around Luca Canali (Mario Adorf), a small-time pimp, who suddenly has to fear for his life when he is framed for the disappearance of a shipment of heroin. Canali, who has no clue who the real thieves are, is soon mercilessly hunted by both the local mafia and two contract killers sent by the American mob (Henry Silva and Woody Strode)...The role of Luca Canali fits Mario Adorf perfectly. I'm a fan of Adorf in general, he was always best in roles of the kind, and he delivers an excellent performance here. Henry Silva (one of my favorite actors) and Woody Strode (another great actor) are easily equally brilliant as the two American hit men, who are ultra-tough, but also responsible for the humorous scenes in the film, as Silva is constantly hitting on everything female while Strode is dead-serious and hardly says a word. The rest of the performances are also good, Adolfo Celi, who is probably best known for playing James Bond villain Mr. Largo in "Fireball" plays the Milan mafia don, and the female cast is entirely nice to look at. The story is not quite as convoluted as it was the case in "Milano Calibro 9", but "Manhunt" is still a tantalizing and uncompromising from the beginning to the end, and filled with non-stop action and brutal violence. The score is also great, and the camera-work ingenious. To me personally, "Manhunt" is not quite as brilliant as "Milano Calibro 9" and "Il Boss". These two films, however, are in my opinion easily two of the greatest gangster films ever brought to screen, and even though slightly inferior, "Manhunt" is still an awesome piece of crime cinema that is excellent in all aspects and easily surpasses most famed American gangster-classics. Excellent film-making, an absolute must-see for every fan of Italian genre cinema.

The other two comments I've seen here are completely accurate. I only want to implore you to see this some more. So far, I've yet to see Henry Silva in a better role. His role in the more recent Ghost Dog was super, but here he is even better. He's great in this as a wild, tough, and sleazy hit-man. The way he skulks around like a bad asp is totally cool. This movie also boasts some righteous potty mouth dialog, worthy of a Sopranos episode. The only possible drawback to this movie is the dated special effects (of people punching each other or getting shot) that come off as being pretty silly at times- but honestly, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. This is right up there with Street Law as a classic of 70's Italian-made violence. See it!