Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Italian Connection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 31, 2024

Fernando Di Leo's "The Italian Connection" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan; archival documentary; vintage trailers; and more. In English and Italian, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

The pimp

American professional killers David Catania (Henry Silva) and Frank Webster (Woody Strode) are summoned by a powerful mafia boss in New York and ordered to do a job in Milan. Their target is Luca Canali (Mario Adorf), a small-time pimp, who, according to mafia boss Don Vito Tressoldi (Adolfo Celi) in Milan, has stolen a large load of heroin that should have reached his partner in New York. Catania and Webster immediately jump on the next plane heading to Italy.

But the real thief is Tressoldi, so to prevent Catania and Webster from discovering that their boss has been cheated, he dispatches his men to bring in Canali, vowing to personally take care of the problem that has angered his partner. Completely unaware that he is running out of time to stay alive, Canali agrees to meet Tressoldi, assuming he would be presented with a business proposition.

When Tressoldi’s men botch their assignment and later murder Canali’s wife and little girl, Milan becomes a battlefield. Meanwhile, Catania and Webster interject themselves into the raging war between Canali and Tressoldi, assuming that the former is not just a bold thief, but a delusional wannabe gangster trying to take down the latter’s organization and build his own.

The Italian Connection is the second film in Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu Trilogy, which also includes Caliber 9 and The Boss. While it features many stylistically familiar twists and turns, it is the most straightforward of the three films.

Like all crime films Di Leo directed, The Italian Connection can be viewed with English and Italian audio tracks. The English audio track should be considered the original audio track because all stars utter their lines in English. However, all of them are badly overdubbed in English, so the quality of the English audio track is, to put it mildly, underwhelming. For example, the stars appear to be struggling with a seemingly never- ending supply of cheesy lines and many of their crucial exchanges have the wrong tone and energy. As a result, if The Italian Connection is viewed with the English audio track, neither its drama nor action can be taken seriously.

But many viewers enjoy The Italian Connection precisely because the English audio track effectively transforms it into an offbeat, bordering a parody crime film. After evolving into a mad avenger, Adorf appears to be transitioning into that kind of film too because his energy becomes impossible to contain. Di Leo also appears to have recognized the significance of this crucial transformation because there is a lot of material where his camera does very particular things to capture as much of its effects as possible. (It is not a coincidence that Di Leo repeatedly invents opportunities to insert close-ups of Adorf’s face dripping sweat like water, and even chooses to end the film with one).

The other big reason The Italian Connection is a fascinating genre film, regardless of whether it is seen with the English or Italian track, is its wonderful cast of serious actors. It is true that Adorf, Silva, and Celi are serious character actors who appeared in many genre films, but the likes of Sylva Coscina, Femi Benussi, Luciana Paluzzi have minor roles that serious actors are unlikely to have agreed to do if The Italian Connection was indeed conceived to impress as an offbeat, bordering a parody crime film. In other words, it seems fair to write that The Italian Connection turned out a much more interesting film because some things in it were not done right.

The Italian Connection, as well as the other two films in the Milieu Trilogy, were lensed by Di Leo's frequent collaborator Franco Villa.

Raro Video’s Blu-ray release introduces a new 4K restoration of The Italian Connection sourced from the film’s original camera negative.

The Italian Connection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Italian Connection arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video.

Please note that the screencaptures included with this release appear in the following order:

Screencaptures #1-24 are from the 4K restoration of The Italian Connection.
Screencaptures #27-34 are from the previous presentation of The Italian Connection.

The big four Fernando Di Leo crime thrillers from Raro Video's Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection Vol. 1 box set were all restored in 4K in Italy. Unfortunately, all four were regarded, too. The only film that still looks acceptable is Caliber 9, but Arrow Video's previous 2K restoration of it introduced with this release is vastly superior. Why? It does not have the same yellow(ish) tint that is present on all four 4K restorations and all anomalies associated with it.

On this release, The Italian Connection again has various compromised primaries and a fluctuating, often underwhelming dynamic range. As a result, many facial complexions are off, darker footage flattened, and outdoor and indoor color temperatures destabilized. I would like to present a few specific examples that should give you an idea how drastic and damaging some of these changes are. Early in the film, where the American professional killers arrive in the nightclub and engage the working girl with the blue hair, on the 4K restoration, the blue hair and dress acquire a variation of very odd and flat turquoise. See here and here. During outdoor footage, the tinting alters primaries and temperature at the same time. For example, the blue jeans and warm sunlight here are eliminated here. While the older master that was used to source the previous release of The Italian Connection should not be used as a reference for color accuracy, it is timed dramatically better, giving the film a much more convincing period appearance. Obviously, all of this is incredibly disappointing because it is very, very easy to tell that the raw 4K files are, yet again, excellent. Also, the previous release that is mendioned here is sourced from some sort of hybrid master that uses upscaled content. In other words, had it been timed properly, the 4K restoration easily could have produced the definitive presentation of the film. Sadly, at the moment the film frequently exhibits visuals with an unconvincing, even strange dynamic range and flatness that tends to emerge when digital filtering is applied. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Italian Connection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian track.

Both tracks feature original overdubbing. The English track should be considered the original track because the big stars uttered their lines in English, but it is a strange track that does a lot of damage to the film's integrity. I have always had a copy of this film in my library and have viewed it with both tracks, so if you pick up this release, I encourage you to experiment with both. The Italian track makes it easier to see the film as a serious crime thriller.

The quality of these tracks varies. I pulled out my previous Blu-ray release of The Italian Connection and on it the English track has slightly better clarity. Here, the English track is cleaner, but the high frequencies are managed/clipped somehow.

The Italian Connection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Roots of the Mafia - this archival documentary takes a closer look at mafia and its presence in Italy and how its image and activities are reproduced in Fernando Di Leo's films. The three films in Di Leo's Milieu Trilogy and their characters are examined in great detail. In Italian, with English subtitles. (21 min).

• Milieu Trilogy Re-Release Trailer - this recent trailer promotes the new 4K restorations of the three films in the Milieu Trilogy. In Italian, with English subtitles and English text. (2 min).

• The Italian Connection Trailer - presented here is a vintage international trailer for The Italian Connection. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Caliber 9 Trailer - presented here is a vintage international trailer for Caliber 9. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Samm Deighan.

The Italian Connection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is too bad that the remaining big Fernando Di Leo films did not end up with Arrow Video so that they could be given excellent 2K makeovers, like the one that was prepared for Caliber 9 a decade ago. The new 4K makeovers that were recently prepared for these films in Italy are predictably underwhelming.