Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 6, 2023

In one of several worthwhile supplements Severin has aggregated for Violent Streets, commentators Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson make the case that director Umberto Lenzi may not have achieved the renown of some of his contemporaries at least in part perhaps due to the fact that, at least according to Howarth and Thompson, his directorial style wasn't "flashy" enough, though the fact that Howarth's book about Lenzi includes the word kinetic in its title might subliminally undercut this thesis, one way or the other. There is a certain stolid quality to some of Lenzi's work, to be sure, but there are also at least moments of flourishes, but one way or the other, when you have a star like Tomas Milián snarling in front of the camera, how much additional "style" do you really need? Milián is a near feral presence in all five films Severin has aggregated in this appealing new collection culled from Lenzi's rather impressively long filmography. Some of the supplementary interviews with Lenzi included on the various discs in this set might suggest that his relationship with Milián may not have always been smooth sailing, so to speak, and in a way I was reminded (perhaps only due to it very recently passing through my review queue courtesy of a bonus feature on Arrow's release of Black Sunday) some remarks by John Frankenheimer speaking to his evidently intermittently stormy relationship with Burt Lancaster, another leading man with a somewhat feral presence. One way or the other, much as with the Frankenheimer - Lancaster collaborations, Lenzi and Milián formed a viscerally compelling symbiotic unit for whatever reason, and the five films collected here offer more than abundant proof of the energy the duo brought to some admittedly at times otherwise pedestrian efforts. Severin has perhaps sweetened the pot for a certain demographic by including soundtrack CDs with some of the films.

For reviews of the five films in this set, please click on the following links:

Almost Human Blu-ray review

Syndicate Sadists Blu-ray review

Free Hand for a Tough Cop Blu-ray review

The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist Blu-ray review

Brothers Till We Die Blu-ray review

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplements included on each disc, as well as bonus items like soundtrack CDs, are detailed in the above linked reviews. The black keepcases all have artwork covers and the entire set is housed in a nice looking slipbox.

Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For lovers of a certain nook and cranny of Italian cinema, this set will be a real find, and Severin has provided that fan demographic with some generally solid technical merits and very nicely done supplements, including several soundtrack CDs. While individual films' merits may of course vary, the set as a whole comes Recommended.