''The Italian Connection'' (, also released as ''Manhunt in the City'' and ''Manhunt in Milan'') is a 1972 noir- thriller film directed and co-written by Fernando Di Leo; starring

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

Henry Silva Henry Silva (September 23, 1926 – September 14, 2022) was an American actor, with a film and television career which spanned fifty years. A prolific character actor in over 140 productions, he was known for his "dark, sepulchral" looks and ...

Woody Strode Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete, actor, and author. He was a decathlon, decathlete and American football, football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National ...

Adolfo Celi Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...

, Luciana Paluzzi, Francesca Romana Coluzzi,

Sylva Koscina Sylva Koscina (; born Silvija Košćina, ; 22 August 1933 – 26 December 1994) was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress, best known for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules ( Steve Reeves) in ''Hercules'' (1958) and '' Hercules Unchained'' (196 ...

, and

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his inte ...

. The film is the second part of Di Leo's “Milieu trilogy”, preceded by ''

Caliber 9 ''Caliber 9'' (; also released as ''The Contract'') is a 1972 Italian poliziottesco film written and directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Lionel S ...

'' (also 1972) and followed by ''The Boss'' (1973). It was released to Italian theatres on September 2, 1972.

Plot

Hitmen Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, monet ...

Dave Catania and Frank Webster are dispatched from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

to find and kill Luca Canali, a small-time pimp accused of stealing a mob

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

shipment. Local

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

Don Vito Tressoldi is upset by the Americans intrusion on his turf, but is forced to play along by collecting Canali for them. Don Vito deploys a city-wide network of spies and informants to find Canali, but he manages to narrowly evade them, even as his own friends turn on him. It transpires that Don Vito actually stole the shipment himself and framed Canali. He resorts to having Canali's wife and daughter killed to draw him out. Enraged, Canali goes on a violent rampage of revenge against the mob, picking off the members of Don Vito's gang and eventually killing the boss himself in his own office. Canali leads Catania and Webster to a final confrontation in a

wrecking yard A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are brou ...

, where he manages to kill them both but is severely wounded in the process. Exhausted, Canali collapses, leaving it ambiguous if he survives or not.

Cast

Production

Di Leo's original title for ''The Italian Connection'' was ''Ordini da un altro mondo'' (''Orders From Another World''). The film's premise is taken from the short story "Milan by Calibro 9" by

Giorgio Scerbanenco Giorgio Scerbanenco (; ; ; 18 July 1911 – 27 October 1969) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian-born Italians, Italian crime fiction writer. Life and works Giorgio Scerbanenco was born in Kyiv, in what was then the Russian Empire. At an early age, h ...

, which had appeared in the book ''

Milano calibro 9 ''Milano calibro 9'' is a 1969 short story collection by the Italian writer Giorgio Scerbanenco. It contains 22 stories concerned with the underworld of Milan. The book has been translated to French and Spanish. Contents # Milan by Calibro 9 # B ...

'', the inspiration for di Leo's earlier film of the same name; unlike the previous film, Scerbanenco did not receive an onscreen credit. The film was shot on-location in

, and at

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

's Dear Studios.

performed his own stunts in the infamous car chase scene. In contrast to ''Caliber 9'', Adorf also did his own

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

for the English-language version. Actors

and Luciana Paluzzi had previously appeared together in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' Thunderball'' (1965).

Release

''The Italian Connection'' was released theatrically in Italy on 2 September 1972 where it was distributed by Alpherat. The film grossed 852.404 million

Italian lira The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...

on its theatrical run in Italy. It was released in West Germany on 1 December 1972 under the title ''Der Mafiaboss - Sie töten wie Schakale''. The film received a release in the United States as ''The Italian Connection'' in 1973 with an 87-minute running time. Various home video releases over the years retitled the film as ''Hired to Kill'', ''Black Kingpin'', ''Hitmen'', and ''Hit Men''. The film was released by Raro Video on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States.

Legacy

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

, a self-avowed fan of Di Leo's films, cited the characters of Dave and Frank as the inspirations for Vincent Vega (

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

) and Jules Winfield ( Samuel L. Jackson) in ''Pulp Fiction''.Italian B-Movies: Tarantino's inspiration
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References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Connection, The Poliziotteschi films 1970s action thriller films 1972 crime thriller films 1972 films Films about organized crime in Italy Films based on works by Giorgio Scerbanenco Films directed by Fernando Di Leo Films scored by Armando Trovajoli Films set in Milan Films shot in Milan Films shot in Rome Italian gangster films Italian crime thriller films Italian action thriller films West German films German gangster films German crime thriller films German action thriller films English-language Italian films English-language German films 1970s Italian-language films 1970s Italian films 1970s German films