Caliber 9 (1972)

People are voting emotionally.

Dreadfully Boring

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Fernando Di Leo was a well-respected director who near-perfected the poliziotteschi genre during the 1970's, taking a genre spear-headed by the likes of Italian film-makers Umberto Lenzi and Carlo Lizzani and delivering tough-as-nails stories about brutish men in a brutish world. Milano Calibro 9, or simply Caliber 9, is one of Di Leo's most highly-regarded works, kicking off his Milieu trilogy (followed by Manhunt and concluded by The Boss) for which he is now best remembered for. And the film is terrific - inspiring future directors such as John Woo and Quentin Tarantino, Milano Calibro 9 begins with an explosion of violence that serves as a warning of what is to come.After a heist that saw a wad of money go missing and the criminals behind it either dead or behind bars, shadowy mafia boss The Americano (Lionel Stander) is left fuming, turning his city upside down in search for his cash. Career criminal Ugo (Gastone Moschin), one of the participants in the robbery, is released from prison and is immediately reprimanded by his psychotic former boss Rocco (Mario Adorf), who fingers Ugo as the culprit. Denying any involvement and trying to go straight, Ugo finds himself pulled back into the criminal world he thought he had left behind by the mafia and the police, the latter trying to pressure him into turning informer. Hooking up with his friend Chino (Philippe Leroy) and girlfriend Nelly (the gorgeous Barbara Bouchet), Ugo plans to turn the tables on his former gang while he still has a fraction of leverage.The film is not without it's problems - occasionally the narrative sags when the action is away from the city's violent underworld, and the sporadic political discussions between the veteran Commissioner (Frank Wolff) and his left-wing underling seem relevant but out of place - but Milano Caliber 9's quality lies within its tone and exhilarating brutality. The opening sees the manic Rocco beat up suspects, tie them together in a cave and blow them up with dynamite. Although the film doesn't maintain the excitement of this early scene, it truly comes alive when the characters - an ensemble of odd-looking barbarians - threaten each other with words, fists, knives or guns. Moschin proves to be a stoic anti-hero, but Adorf steals the show as the arrogant loud-mouth Rocco, resembling Super Mario in a tailored suit and a neater moustache. The twists and turns keep coming right until the end, and left me wanting to see more from a film-maker who has, up to now, completely evaded me.

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.

Ugo Piazza (Moschin) has just gotten out of jail. All he wants to do is reconnect with old flame Nelly (Bouchet) but some gangsters are making his life a lot more miserable than it already is. They are convinced Ugo has $300,000 stashed away somewhere, and they intend on harassing him until he forks it over. Rocco (Adorf) keeps pushing Ugo, and at the top of the ladder is a sinister crime lord known only as "The Americano" (Stander). Ugo goes to visit his old friend Chino (Leroy) for help - and now Chino is involved in the whole mess. Not just with gangsters, but with the local cops as well. Luckily, the Police Commissioner (Wolff) and an idealistic cop named Mercuri (Pistilli) are constantly engaged in a back-and-forth dialogue about left wing and right wing issues. But does Ugo actually have the money? And if so, will he make it out of this treacherous situation? Milano Calibro 9 (or just Caliber 9 to us Americans) is another excellent Fernando Di Leo movie. It's beautifully shot and edited, and the plot is always engaging and intriguing. From the killer opening on down, this movie more than delivers the goods in the entertainment department. And although the plot may seem simple, there's a lot of food for thought as well. That seems to be a tricky thing to pull off, but Di Leo does it and we all benefit.Set in Milan (hence the Italian title), we are immediately thrown into a dangerous world. But it's a beautiful world on the surface, and nowhere better is this symbolized than by Barbara Bouchet's character, Nelly. Her beauty is overwhelming, and even her apartment is dazzling. But just below the surface is violence and instability. Gastone Moschin plays Ugo perfectly, in a very stoic manner. He has a great face, and if this movie was remade today (which hopefully it won't be), Jason Statham could play the Ugo role.Stylistically, this movie is ahead of its time and is strikingly modern. Sure, it may be a world of rotary phones, typewriters and cops who drink and smoke pipes at the station (which is fascinating to modern eyes because it represents a time long past, never to return), but on a technical level, this movie could have come out this year. Di Leo masterfully brings technical expertise together with quality writing and performances and naturally a winner of a movie emerges. Not a lot of directors can achieve what he achieves and that's a testament to his talent. And the music! The music is beyond awesome. As if getting the genius Bacalov wasn't enough, he also brought on board the great band Osanna (for those who don't know, they're a big name in the Italian prog community). Di Leo was a fan of the album Bacalov did with The New Trolls, and fans will note that parts of the great album "Concerto Grosso" are used in the background as well. We can't speak highly enough of the music in this movie. It truly puts the icing on an already-excellent cake.

Milano Calibro 9/Milan Calibre 9(1972) contains a fast paced tightly edited prologue that is done with brilliance. The opening five minutes are both brutal and sadistic. Rocco played by Mario Adorf is introduced in the prologue as a psychotic mafia hood. The prologue is an example of setting up mood and story for the film. Mario Adorf gives a performance that brings to mind Joe Pesce in Goodfellas(1990) and Casino(1995), Takeshi Kitano in Boiling Point(1990), and Lee Marvin in The Big Heat(1953). He is excellent as the mafia hood with a sadistic streak. Mario Adorf plays his character with unbelievable and vicious conviction. His performance is one of the best acting jobs from the film. This movie along with La Mala Ordina/Hired to Kill(1973) and Il Boss/The Boss(1973) makes Fernando Di Leo the Italian eqivulent of Jean Pierre Melville. Fernando Di Leo is influenced by Melville in many aspects. Milan Calibre 9(1972) reminds me of Le Doulos(1961) with their use of anti heroes. One of many films that Jean Pierre Melville made an impression on. Has a double plot twist which is utilized in cleaver and unpredictable fashion. I was surprised by the first plot revealing twist. I was convincing stunned by the second plot revealing twist which was much more unexpected. The double plot twist is one characteristic that makes the film special. Fernando Di Leo stands out in the gangster craze of Italian cinema in the same way that Sergio Leone stood out as a master of Italian Westerns, Dario Argento as a master of Giallos, and Lucio Fulci as a master of Italian Zombie pics. He brings out a direction full of passion and spunk. The director films the violent scenes with panache and piazzazz. An underrated filmmaker in Italian cinema. Soundtrack of Milan Calibre Nine is awesome and cool. Luis Enriquez Bacalov is excellent at performing music for Italian Crime and Western motion pictures. The Police are depicted in a cynical and unsympathetic light. The only Police officer who comes out in a sympathetic tone is Fonzino who's only in the movie for a few minutes. The major action sequence in Milan Calibre 9(1972) prefigures John Woo. What's so twisted about the end of the motion picture is its Rocco whose the most trust worthy person in the entire story. Gastone Moschin gives a gripping performance as a man who cannot escape his tragic fate. Some wonderful performances are handed out by Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy, and Lionel Stander. The scene where Nelly Bordon played by Barbara Bouchet is doing an erotic dance is filmed with multiple camera angles. An sensual introduction to the character of Barbara Bouchet. The editing in this one scene is good and imaginative. Barbara Bouchet is definitely one of the beautiful women from the 1970s when one sees Milan Calibre 9(1972). An example of the growing popularity of the gangster movie in Italy. Milan Calibre 9(1972) is in my opinion belongs among the top ten of Italian gangster pictures. The Godfather(1972) may have influenced the gangster film in Italy during the 1970s, but Milano Calibro 9(1972) takes on a life of its own. I've was very impressed by Milano Calibro 9(1972) that I've taken an interest in other films from this genre and decade in Italian cinema. Provided many influences and inspirations for filmography of Quentin Tarantino. His portrayal of tough guys in his films takes a page out of Milan Calibre 9 as well as other mafia features by Fernando Di Leo. The sadistic violence and unpredictable plot twists can be seen in Resevoir Dogs(1992) and Pulp Fiction(1994). No one filmmaker has influenced Tarantino more frequently besides Jean Pierre Melville than Fernando Di Leo.