Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 15, 2026

Martin Balsam was an incredibly distinguished actor with several major awards (Academy, Tony) to his credit, but who arguably never really became a superstar, which may be one reason why, according to kind of funny comments made by Franco Nero in a supplement included on this disc, Balsam was actually the third, and, according to Nero, incredibly late, actor considered for the title role in this 1971 film. As Nero gets into, he and frequent collaborator director Damiano Damiani were already attached to this feature when Damiani asked Nero for some ideas about a co-star. It turned out that Nero and one Anthony Quinn were close by neighbors (in Italy), and Nero thought Quinn would not just be great, but would add considerable marquee value to the property. Unfortunately for Nero and Damiani, an initial meeting went south pretty quickly when Quinn started making "suggestions", including changing the setting from Italy to the United States. Quinn's agent evidently (somewhat hilariously) then suggested another of his clients, Ben Gazzara, who actually flew to Italy, only to pretty much do the same thing Quinn had, leading to his exit. Now, I'm not quite sure whom this agent Nero talks about might have been, but he was obviously very resourceful, because according to Nero he just moved right down his client list and offered Balsam, who turned up the basically moments before shooting was scheduled to start. All of this might imply that the final film had a slapdash quality, but that's actually not the case, and both Balsam and Nero are excellent in this deconstruction of corruption at the highest levels of the Italian justice system.

The film basically gives away a central plot element in its first few minutes, as Police Captain Bonavia (Martin Balsam) arranges for the release of an apparently criminally insane individual from a mental institution. Though Bonavia's assistant keeps offering warnings, Bonavia lets this guy do all sorts of apparently nefarious activities which seem to be leading up to an assassination of some sort, though things of course go spectacularly wrong. That brings in a character named Traini (Franco Nero), who is actually a "trainee" of sorts, as something close to what we'd call an Assistant District Attorney on this side of the pond. Bonavia's obvious subterfuge(s) are not dealt with surreptitiously in any way, and a cat and mouse game between Bonavia and Traini ensues, though it turns out Bonavia may have good reasons for acting as apparently strangely as he does.

It's perhaps understandable why Damiani in particular evidently felt this was a uniquely "Italian" story, as evidenced by any number of other notable Italian films from really this same general time period that pulled the scab off of a seriously infected justice system in that country. Still, the very presence of Balsam gives an internationalist flair to the proceedings, though the allusive presence of the Mafia certainly adds a distinctly Italian flavor to the story. There's an undeniably nihilist tone as things predictably spiral for Bonavia, but it may be Traini who ends up getting the biggest shock of the story (which is saying something, considering Bonavia's fate).

Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Confessions of a Police Captain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Radiance's insert booklet has the following information on the transfer:

Confessions of a Police Captain was restored in 2K and supplied to Radiance as a high definition file. The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with original mono audio. Extra synchronization work was done in house at Radiance on the film's English audio track.

As I've mentioned previously, including in the recently reviewed Romancing in Thin Air being released simultaneously by Radiance along with this disc, I'm not always a fan of these "pre delivered" masters, and the fact that there's not even mention of who provided it perhaps adding subliminally to a cautionary feeling. That said, this is a generally nicely detailed presentation that offers a decent if arguably improvable accounting of the palette. Densities are secure and color timing is quite commendable for the most part, but some passing moments can offer either brown or actually just slightly green tinged flesh tones. Production design is admittedly not very luxe, but fine detail levels on things like costume fabrics are rendered precisely in close-ups. A lot of midrange material can be on the soft side, and that includes a large number of outdoor scenes. Minor signs of age related wear and tear can be spotted, but nothing of any serious consequence. Grain can tend to clump at times (pay attention to brighter backgrounds like white curtains), but shows no egregious compression artifacts.

Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Confessions of a Police Captain features LPCM Mono tracks in either Italian or English. There's some noticeable high end hiss on the Italian track that may be more noticeable simply because the Italian track is a bit louder and brighter than the English. Both tracks can show just very minor signs of roughness if not outright distortion in the highest frequencies during some of the louder cues in Ortolani's score (like the flourish of strings during the opening credits), but both tracks do a nice job of delivering sound effects in particular. Despite the work Radiance evidently engaged in, as evidenced by the above verbiage from their insert booklet, there's no denying that both tracks can offer "loose sync" at times, though the English language track does seem to be offering Balsam's own voice to my ears. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Franco Nero (HD; 29:15) is featured in this charming new interview. Subtitled in English.


• Michele Gammino (HD; 22:47) is a new interview with the actor, who is best known in Italy for his voice work. Subtitled in English.


• Antonio Siciliano (HD; 26:49) is a new interview with the film's editor. Subtitled in English.


• Lovely Jon (HD; 31:00) is a new appreciation of Riz Ortolani's score.


• Gallery (HD)

Radiance's insert booklet features some archival Damiani adjacent material. The keepcase features a reversible sleeve and packaging includes Radiance's Obi strip.

Confessions of a Police Captain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This film avoids some of the hyperbolic action that can often accompany poliziotteschi from this same general era, but I'd argue that actually redounds to the benefit of a story that is about moral shades of gray when encountering systemic corruption. Balsam and Nero are both outstanding in the film. Despite its rather heady reputation, this may not have broad enough appeal to warrant a significant restoration which might have ameliorated some passing color timing and damage issues, but technical merits are generally solid and the supplements very interesting. Recommended.