Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Violent Professionals Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 23, 2018

Sergio Martino's "The Violent Professionals" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Code Red. The only bonus feature on the disc is a gallery of trailers. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The avenger

The vintage trailer that was cut years ago to promote Sergio Martino’s The Violent Professionals to international audiences is quite interesting. It very quickly creates the false impression that Luc Merenda’s cop, Giorgio, is an unhinged exterminator of vulnerable criminals that may actually be victims of an unjust democracy. Halfway through the trailer a very dramatic voice even openly proclaims that “for the hunted there was no escape from the rogue cop-turned-killer”. This line alone sounds almost perfect for an Elio Petri film.

The one thing that the trailer makes clear and it turns out to be absolutely true is that the film is violent. After Giorgio’s boss is assassinated he vows to avenge his death and destroy the entire organization that they are a part of, which is a mission that is immediately condemned by his superiors and then used as an excuse to isolate him until the ‘rational’ authorities do what the law requires. Giorgio of course decides to continue with his initial plan and with the help of a beautiful girl (Martine Brochard) who likes to play hard to get in the city’s most dangerous bars penetrates the criminal organization. Then, after the local boss Padulo (Richard Conte) hires him to be a driver for one of his best units, it seems like it is only a matter of time before the cop gets his revenge.

The path that Martino follows in The Violent Professionals is the exact same path that the likes of Fernando Di Leo, Umberto Lenzi, and Enzo G. Castellari were on while shooting films like Milano Calibro 9, Gang War in Milan, and Street Law. In all of these films there is a very heavy emphasis on the violence, almost to the point of making a lot of the action footage look grotesque, plus there were be all sorts of random jabs at the socio-political status quo that would essentially legitimize the mayhem. In other words, through the violence the public was carefully conditioned to accept that these were the films that finally had the courage to expose the ugly underbelly of contemporary Italy. (As some of these films quickly gained popularity outside of Italy, many of the same directors then expanded the playing field and started shooting in France as well, and at this point the old excuse that their work was representative of a new wave of cinematic social realism no longer mattered). So Martino’s film is just another entry in a long list of action thrillers from the ‘70s that were a lot more interested in promoting Italian machismo rather than offering a credible social commentary.

What many, many contemporary 'professional' critics would not admit, however, is that this is precisely the reason why genre films like The Violent Professionals are still remembered and praised -- even when they clearly do not have anything original to say, they come with a fearless attitude that makes for a special kind of entertainment.

*The film was financed by the great producer Carlo Ponti, who was one of the pillars of post-war Italian cinema. His legacy includes such classics as Roberto Rossellini’s Europe '51, Federico Fellini’s La Strada, Vitorio De Sica’s Two Women, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up.

The Violent Professionals Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Sergio Martino's Violent Professionals arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Code Red.

The release is sourced from a brand new good organic remaster. However, the key word here is indeed 'remaster', which should not be confused with 'restoration'. Why? Because even though the entire film looks very fresh there are small areas of it that require additional work so that they look as good as they should. To be perfectly clear, I am not implying that there are some problematic anomalies; however, there are some small density fluctuations that are not part of the original photography, light discoloration, and a few blemishes and minor specks and scratches that remain. In other words, a restoration would have addresses all of these shortcomings. The good news is -- and for me this is a lot more important than everything else -- that there are no traces of problematic digital tinkering. Also, the color grading is convincing and never destabilizes the film's native dynamic range. Some encoding optimizations should have been made to ensure an even stronger overall organic appearance, but on a very large screen the film still looks quite good. My score is 3.75/5.00. (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 Violent Professionals 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 were officially overdubbed, which was a very common practice for these types of Italian genre films. I prefer the English track because a lot of the main characters spoke their lines in English, but as usual the English dub is a bit rough and too dramatic. The audio is stable and free of distortions. Dynamic intensity is decent, but again I must mention that the original dubs for these films often had plenty of dynamic fluctuations, and the English dub here also has some uneven spots. This being said, there is absolutely nothing that will affect negatively your viewing experience.

The Violent Professionals Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other Code Red catalog titles.

The Violent Professionals Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Luc Merenda plays a very angry cop on a mission to avenge the death of his boss in this predictable but still very entertaining action thriller from Italian genre master Sergio Martino. If you have seen Milano Calibro 9 and Gang War in Milan and enjoyed the macho attitude and hyper-violence they promote, then there is an excellent chance that you will also have a good time with The Violent Professionals. Code Red's new Blu-ray release is sourced from a good organic remaster, but the only bonus feature on the disc is a gallery of trailers for other titles from the boutique label's catalog. RECOMMENDED.