The Italian Connection Blu-ray Review

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The Italian Connection is a 1972 poliziottesco film by director Fernando Di Leo. It was the second in his Milieu Trilogy, preceded by Caliber 9 also in 1972 and followed by The Boss in 1973.

When a shipment of heroin goes missing between New York and Milan, a small-time pimp in Milan, Luca Canali (Mario Adorf), is framed for stealing it. The New York mafia boss sends to American hitman, Frank Webster (Woody Strode, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) and David Catania (Henry Silva) to find him. Local mafia Don Vito Tressoldi (Adolfo Celi) is perturbed by the American’s intrusion on his territory, but he is forced to play along, and he unleashes his own team of thugs to hunt for Canali. But things take a turn when Canali’s wife and daughter find themselves in the crossfire and he becomes the hunter rather than the hunted.

The Italian Connection pulls no punches – this is early 1970s grit. Violence abounds, misogyny abounds, and one of the most underrated chase scenes in cinema is included, with Adorf doing the majority of his own stunts as well. It is the sort of lead-laden, testosterone fueled crime noir one would expect to see coming out of the infamous “Years of Lead” period in Italy’s history, spurred on by the CIA’s Operation Gladio.

Di Leo gives the story a slow build up to the ultimate violent release as we get to the third act. There are some spates of unbelievable violence against women — smack ups, sexual assaults – that by today’s standards would likely not make it into the cut. But the essence of the gangster violence does not ramp up until the end of the film, but Di Leo also peppers in a lot of comedic relief to ease some of the tension. He also manages to keep the pace speedy which makes up for the thinness of the plot. The story moves along rapidly with Adorf’s charisma and believability as at once a hapless stooge, a misogynist pimp, and a ruthless killer.

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The Video

The Italian Connection is presented in a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative in a 1.85:1 AVC 1080p encodement on Blu-ray Disc. This is a gorgeous transfer that not only looks clean but shows a natural layer of organic grain throughout and presents with a natural color palette. The primaries, of which there are plenty on this early ‘70s production, look vibrant. For example, the red shirt and deep blue pants of Luca Canali’s daughter.

The Audio

Raro presents the Italian and English mono mixes for The Italian Connection in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. I don’t speak Italian, but the Italian dialogue sounds more naturally acted to my ears than the English dialogue and also a little clearer from an audio perspective, but the dub lines up better with the English as it appears they filmed in English but then dubbed the audio.

The Supplements

The audio commentary from Samm Deighan is the kind I really like, she’s conversational while providing a lot of information on Di Leo, his films, and the actors.

• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Archival Documentary: Roots of the Mafia (SD; 00:20:36)
• Milieu Trilogy Re-Release Trailer (SD; 00:01:30)
• Caliber 9 Trailer (SD; 00:03:14)
• The Italian Connection Trailer (SD; 00:01:46)

The Final Assessment

Genre fans will enjoy this superb restoration of the gritty and action packed The Italian Connection on Blu-ray from Raro. Being that this is a 4K restoration, one would hope that these see a release on 4K Ultra HD soon as well.

The Italian Connection is out on Blu-ray November 5, 2024 from Raro Video

Purchase The Italian Connection Blu-ray on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: R
• Studios & Distributors: Cineproduzioni Daunia 70 | Hermes Synchron | Raro Video
• Director: Fernando Di Leo
• Written By: Fernando Di Leo | Augusto Finocchi | Ingo Hermes
• Run Time: 95 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: AVC 1080p
• Primary Audio: Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
• Secondary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
• Subtitles: English for Original Italian Audio
• Street Date: 5 November 2024