Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

High Crime 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 26, 2024

Enzo G. Castellari's "High Crime" a.k.a. "La polizia incrimina la legge assolve" (1973) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Blue Underground. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by Franco Nero, filmmaker Mike Malloy, and Bill Lustig; archival audio commentary by Enzo G. Castellari; archival program with actor/stuntman Massimo Vanni; arhcival program with camera operator Roberto Girometti; archival promotional materials for the film; and a lot more. In English or Italian, with optional English, English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

High Crime is a very, very close relative of The French Connection, and Enzo G. Castellari has always acknowledged the obvious relationship between the two. (In an archival audio commentary, Castellari also credits Bullitt as a major inspiration).

In Genoa, Vice Commissioner Belli (Franco Nero) and his boss Aldo Scavino (James Whitmore) launch a massive operation to capture The Lebanese, a prominent courier working for the biggest local drug distributors and their partners across the border in Marseille. They get their man, but shortly after, in a quieter area of the city, several executioners blow up the car transporting him to the police station. Having barely evaded death and struggling to control his anger, Belli proposes a bold new strategy to get to the people who have been working with The Lebanese -- reaching out to Cafiero (Fernando Ray), an aging, semi-retired crime boss with intimate knowledge of the underworld, and tricking him into cooperating. Initially, Scavino dismisses it, but when Belli successfully engages Cafiero and their interactions begin sending tremors throughout the underworld, he acknowledges that it could work. Meanwhile, two of the city's most prominent public figures, Umberto Griva (Dullio Del Prete) and his brother Franco (Silvano Tranquilli), both identified in incriminating documents that Scavino has handed to the District Attorney, launch a counter operation. After Scavino is eliminated, Belli goes on the warpath, suspecting that Cafiero has outsmarted him and alone he must confront multiple opponents, the most powerful of which might be in Marseille.

Everything that makes the poliziotteschi very entertaining genre films is on full display in High Crime. It has a motley crew of colorful macho characters whose energy is off the charts. It is packed with great action featuring old-fashioned car racing overseen by the great French stunt master Remy Julienne. It has great authentic urban visuals of the kind that film directors no longer bother to shoot because powerful computers can now fake them on demand. It has a fantastic soundtrack from two legendary composers, the De Angelis brothers. And yet, High Crime is a very, very different poliziotteschi.

It is that different because its intelligence is uncanny. Indeed, High Crime is not a conventional poliziotteschi about good guys clashing with bad guys in a bloody battle for dominance, but an exposé of organized crime and its suffocating grip on society, carefully packaged and presented as a genre film targeting an audience that would not approach it as such. While this may seem like a minor trick now, even a predictable one, in the early 1970s European crime films, and the poliziotteschi in particular, were not done this way.

Of course, the previously mentioned relationship between High Crime and The French Connection makes it awfully difficult to argue that the former was a groundbreaking film. Clearly, it was not. However, even though High Crime was modeled after The French Connection, its characters and environment are unique. Also, High Crime recognizes order in what appears to be chaos in ways that The French Connection never does, and in the years after its theatrical release, this recognition became an essential element of Italian crime films and TV series. (The classic TV series The Octopus was conceived as an elaborate masterclass on the structure of this order/chaos, and remained unmatched until the arrival of Gomorrah).

Castellari’s director of photography was Spaniard Alejandro Ulloa, whose credits include such cult films as The Diabolical Dr. Z, The Mercenary, Kill Them All and Come Back Alone, Perversion Story, and The Devil's Honey.

Blue Underground’s combo pack release presents a fully uncut version of High Crime that is approximately 103 minutes long. It can be viewed with original English and Italian audio tracks.

High Crime 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blue Underground's release of High Crime is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. Both discs are Region-Free.

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-6 are from the 4K Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #8-35 are from the Blu-ray.

The release introduces a 4K restoration of the fully uncut version of High Crime. In native 4K, the restoration can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision. I also viewed the 1080p presentation of it in its entirety on the Blu-ray.

It was very difficult for me to form an opinion on the 4K and 1080p presentations because they look quite different -- for different reasons, too. Also, High Crime features plenty of stylization that makes evaluating certain parts of it very, very tricky.

The 4K restoration gives the film a predictably clean appearance, which is practically identical in native 4K and 1080p. However, this is where pretty much all major similarities between the two presentations end. Why? In native 4K, all visuals reveal very good to excellent delineation, clarity, and depth. They boast outstanding fluidity, too. However, grain exposure is noticeably better in 4K. In 1080p, the grain often has an unusual powdery appearance that I did not find convincing. In the final act, when the action moves to Marseille, I was even able to spot some light smearing. The native 4K presentation looks somewhat shaky there too, but produces superior visuals. The biggest discrepancies are in the area of color reproduction. For example, there are splashes of light green hue -- like the one seen here -- that are not natural. To be clear, the film does have plenty of stylization, and light green(s) and yellow(s) are part of it, but there is more going on here, and it is easy to tell for a couple of reasons. First, in native 4K, the green hue effect pretty much disappears, so I suspect that a conversion anomaly could be responsible for it. Second, select color grading choices are unconvincing. It is easy to tell because often times sky colors break and produce blooming effects, which are visible in native 4K and 1080p. However, because of the conversion anomaly, they are exacerbated in 1080p. So, the native 4K presentation is clearly the superior one because it produces stronger visuals with better organic qualities, plus it maintains a more convincing color scheme. However, I think that different parts of it could have been graded more convincingly, too. My score for the 4K presentation is 3.75/5.00.

High Crime 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English, English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the English track because all major characters utter their lines in English. However, this track features overdubbing too, so you should expect to hear plenty of unevenness that is present on Italian genre films from the era. Dynamic balance is very nice, with the action footage providing the best contrasts. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

High Crime 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary One - in this archival audio commentary, co-writer/director Enzo G. Castellari tells Bill Lustig how High Crime was conceived and shot while highlighting its unmissable relationship with The French Connection, and shares interesting information about different locations from Genoa and Marseille (and even Barcelona) that were used in it, the casting choices and Franco Nero's commitment to the project, the action choreography, etc. Also, there are some very interesting comments about the different work ethic of American and European actors, as well as violence in crime films.

• Commentary Two - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by star Franco Nero, filmmaker Mike Malloy (Eurocrime), and Bill Lustig. It is an outstanding commentary with plenty of interesting recollections and factual information about the shooting of High Crime, its style, and Enzo G. Castellari's vision of it and working methods. Nero even recalls his first encounter with Castellari, what it was like to shoot action footage with Remy Julienne (Nero apparently did a lot of the dangerous driving), and various other interesting parts he played in the years after High Crime. Fantastic commentary.

• Commentary Three - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani. The commentators share plenty of information about the conception and production of High Crime, the city of Genoa (and why it has not been used a lot in Italian crime films), various casting choices that were made and the careers of several actors, the different versions of High Crime, the frequent overlapping of western and crime identities that materialized in the poliziotteschi, etc.

• Alternate Ending - fully restored alternate ending. In English. (3 min).

• Theatrical Trailer - presented here is a restored vintage trailer for High Crime. In English. (5 min).

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary One - in this archival audio commentary, co-writer/director Enzo G. Castellari tells Bill Lustig how High Crime was conceived and shot while highlighting its unmissable relationship with The French Connection, and shares interesting information about different locations from Genoa and Marseille (and even Barcelona) that were used in it, the casting choices and Franco Nero's commitment to the project, the action choreography, etc. Also, there are some very interesting comments about the different work ethic of American and European actors, as well as violence in crime films.

• Commentary Two - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by star Franco Nero, filmmaker Mike Malloy (Eurocrime), and Bill Lustig. It is an outstanding commentary with plenty of interesting recollections and factual information about the shooting of High Crime, its style, and Enzo G. Castellari's vision of it and working methods. Nero even recalls his first encounter with Castellari, what it was like to shoot action footage with Remy Julienne (Nero apparently did a lot of the dangerous driving), and various other interesting parts he played in the years after High Crime. Fantastic commentary.

• Commentary Three - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani. The commentators share plenty of information about the conception and production of High Crime, the city of Genoa (and why it has not been used a lot in Italian crime films), various casting choices that were made and the careers of several actors, the different versions of High Crime, the frequent overlapping of western and crime identities that materialized in the poliziotteschi, etc.

• The Genoa Connection - in this archival program, Enzo G. Castellari and Franco Nero discuss the impact The French Connection (and American cinema in general) had on High Crime and its tone and visual style, the unique qualities of the main characters in it (James Whitmore's character was modeled after a real commissioner who lost his life), the dangerous action/stunt work that was done for it, its reception and cult status, etc. In Italian, with English subtitles. (26 min).

• From Dust to Asphalt - in this archival program, Enzo G. Castellari explains how he fell in love with the western genre and how his work always channeled themes and ideas that were typical for it, and discusses the production of High Crime and the dangerous action/stunt work that was done for it. In Italian, with English subtitles. (29 min).

• Hard Stuns for High Crimes - in this archival program, actor/stuntman Massimo Vanni confesses that his passion for cinema comes from Giuliano Gemma and explains how his presence before the camera in many westerns impacted his work. Vanni also discusses his work with Franco Nero and Remy Julienne in High Crime. In Italian, with English subtitles. (20 min).

• Framing Crime - in this archival program, camera operator Roberto Girometti recalls how he entered the film industry and discusses his contribution to High Crime. Girometti has some very interesting comments about his great chemistry with Franco Nero and impression/interactions with Remy Julienne. In Italian, with English subtitles. (21 min).

• The Sound of Onions - in this archival program, composers Guild and Maurizio De Angelis discuss their prolific career and the many classic and cult films they were asked to score. The composers also highlight several great actors and directors they worked with, one of which is Enzo G. Castellari. In Italian, with English subtitles. (23 min).

• The Connection Connection - in this archival program, filmmaker Mike Malloy discusses High Crime and the era it emerged from. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Alternate Ending - fully restored alternate ending. In English. (3 min).

• Poster and Still Gallery - a large collection of vintage posters from around the world, lobby cards, VHS/DVD/Blu-ray covers, and CD/LP jackets. The gallery was compiled by Gregory Chick.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Soundtrack - the original motion picture soundtrack by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis is presented on a separate CD. 20 tracks. Total length: 59.16 min.

• CD card - mini card with the CD tracklisting and reproduction of an original Italian theatrical poster.

• Cover - a reversible cover with original Italian theatrical poster art.

High Crime 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the old days, long before the internet made it easy to track down and purchase cult films from around the world, High Crime was known as the Italian French Connection. Enzo G. Castellari, a great admirer and lover of American cinema, has always acknowledged the obvious relationship between High Crime and The French Connection, and even credited Bullitt as an inspirational film. However, High Crime is not a copycat. It has unique Italian characters and environment, and more importantly, a distinct IQ that makes it a very special entry in the poliziotteschi genre. Blue Underground's combo pack introduces a new 4K restoration of High Crime with an overwhelming selection of exclusive new and archival bonus features. Some areas of the 4K restoration could have been managed quite a bit better, but this is an unmissable release. Just the great new commentary with Franco Nero is enough to highly recommend it. If you reside overseas, you will be happy to know that the 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray are Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.