Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
christopher-underwood
A really good, uncompromising, violent and sexy police thriller with a fabulous lead performance from Gastone Moschin. Just out of jail, he is presented as being stuck between a rock and a hard place as he tries to manoeuvre himself so as not to get re-arrested by the police or killed by his mafia inspired ex-employers. He gives such a solid and believable performance which helps(or hinders) the viewer as we seek the truth in this exciting and twisting tale. Barbara Bouchet is ushered in as an exotic dancer in a wonderful beaded two piece. She gives a great performance, both as a dancer and key figure in this beautifully written piece. The action slows somewhat whenever we return to the police station but the double act of Frank Wolff and Luigi Pistilli and bad cop and good cop, help to keep things moving and Pistilli's dialogue seems to be very much the personal and political thoughts of writer/director Fernando Di Leo. A marvellous rock soundtrack and so, so, 70s decor help to ensure a very watchable, if very violent and thrilling ride.
PimpinAinttEasy
Dear Fernado Di Leo, I had a tough time keeping track of all the plot twists. There were so many of them. But it was an entertaining film at the end of the day. You lack the finesse of Elio Petri or Melville. But it is OK. A lot of filmmakers would kill to make a film like this.You did assemble a cast of real bad asses.Gastone Moschin - well, I'll just say he was an odd choice for a leading man. Its not like he was bad or anything. But he would have been better off as one of the gangsters who get shot.Barbara Bouchet was sexy as hell.The exchanges between the capitalist and the communist police officers was interesting. That was your own stamp on the film.The scene at the beginning was terrific. You used the background score to great effect. Though I did not like how it suddenly turns into a rock n roll tune.I will check out more of your films.Loved the background score by LUIS BACALOV, the over the top acting by MARIO ADORF, complicated plot and the nude ravishing cabaret dancing BARBARA BOUCHET. i also realized that GASTONE MOCHIN, the dour hero acted as fanucci in GODFATHER 2.this is like an over the top version of JEAN PIERRE MELVILLE movie. there are a lot of similar themes and tropes. honor and friendship between gangsters. philosophizing police officers. women used as objects of sex. the violence is almost caricaturish. the first 15 minutes of the film is fucking outrageous. strongly recommend it. Best Regards, Pimpin.(9/10)
Darkling_Zeist
After viewing Castellari's 'High Crime' and Di Leo's 'Milano Calibro 9′ my life-long obsession with Italian crime cinema began in earnest; and a more suitable baptismal font from which to anoint oneself with euro crime's original sin would be hard to find, as 'Milano Calibro 9' remains one of the towering achievements of Di Leo's woefully undocumented career. From the bravura opening montage; where Di Leo creates a tense, dynamic pulse of underworld chicanery, driven to a tumultuous climax by the dense, throbbing, almost baroque jazz funk of, Luis Bacalov (arguably his finest score). And from then on Di Leo is unerring in his fierce vision of violent double dealings and unflinching vengeance, with nary a skipped beat for the film's duration, a rollicking, breathless yarn gloriously undiluted by soft-bellied tangents, or vapid self indulgence. The gangster milieu simply doesn't get any better than this; as much as I dig on Melville's studied, glacial cool, Di Leo's swarthy mise en scene has balls the size of prize winning pumpkins. Some may find all these myriad of hyperbolic blogs dedicated to a Italian crime cinema a trifle perplexing then, oh yes! They discover 'Milano Calibro 9', and in one brutal pole axing knee to the oily conkers it's all over; one can never return to the anodyne world of mainstream cinema without a considerable degree of incredulity. Forget Hubbard, quantum mechanics or Castaneda, this film WILL change your life.
JasparLamarCrabb
Fernando Di Leo's mobster movie is kept buoyed by a ferocious performance by Gastone Moschin and some of Di Leo's very best direction. Moschin, who would find lasting infamy as the dreaded "Fanucci" in THE GODFATHER PART II, plays a recent parolee suspected of ripping off mobster Lionel Stander. He's hounded by psychotic Mario Adorf and ruthless police commissioner Frank Wolff. Di Leo's directs the proceedings with a lot of flair and the movie moves at a very quick clip. Moschin has great chemistry with Barbara Bouchet (as his go go dancing girlfriend) and the entire cast is first rate. Adorf is a standout as the unrelenting Rocco, a mafia foot soldier who NEVER gives up his principles. The excellent music score is by Luis Enriqez Bacalov. A riveting thriller from beginning to end. Echoes of this film can be seen in the likes of RESERVIOR DOGS & THE DEPARTED (note the breath-taking ending).
