Gang War In Milan released on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 20 from Raro Video.
Last year I received my introduction to Italian crime films through Fernando di Leo’s amazing Milano Calibro 9, which absolutely floored me with an amazing story and one of the coolest musical scores I’ve ever heard, courtesy of Luis Bacalov and Osanna. It was one of my favorite discoveries of the year and since then I’ve set upon trying to get a bit more exposure to the genre.
Gang War In Milan (Italian title Milano Rovente) is a one-upmanship tale which concerns the rivalry of two gangs: a prostitution racket, run by Sicilian protagonist Salvatore “Totò” Cangemi (Antonio Sabàto), and a group of drug runners led by Frenchman Roger Daverty (Phillippe LeRoy). Cangemi is pressured by Daverty to use his prostitutes to sell drugs for their mutual benefit — 70/30 in Daverty’s favor, of course. Cangemi knows a risky business when he sees one, and Daverty isn’t particularly trustworthy — his methods of persuasion come off as more threatening than sincere. Cangemi’s refusal creates a grudge between the gangs and sparks off a feud.
From there the fun is in watching the devious and ugly ways in which the two gangs retaliate and counteract against each other: planting drugs, posing as cops, putting hits out, kidnapping, sabotaging operations, recruiting traitors from the opposing gang, snitching to the cops, hiring outside help, and of course good old-fashioned murder. Cangemi’s gang is eventually strongarmed into selling for Daverty, but even then the contentions still abound. Perhaps the worst impacted are Cangemi’s prostitutes who find themselves in the middle of the violence, and saddled with a new expectation to peddle drugs to their clients. Cangemi himself may be the victim of his own hubris and ruthlessness, having bitten off more than he can chew. Really, he is a strange choice as a protagonist. Actor Antonio Sabàto manages to make him a charismatic and likeable lead, despite the fact that he’s basically a pimp, if a well-behaved one. The only real reasons we’re given to root for him are that he’s the main character and loves his mama. Ultimately he’s really just another gangster, like the rest.
The last act takes a great major turn that I’ll not elaborate on here, but it changes the nature of the whole story and is the best part of the film, ending things in a surprising fashion and on a very high note.
The film is certainly interesting, if more zippy than epic. It contains a lot of exploitative elements, which are both a help and hindrance. On the plus side, they add a lot of edginess and entertainment factor, and give the film a certain 70s flair, but on the other hand have a whole lot of ugliness. Now, given these characters are all gangsters and ruthless bastards, but even so the misogyny and general nastiness on the screen can get a bit repulsive. As I mentioned before, the prostitutes are sort of wedged in the middle of the gang violence, and several get killed or brutalized in different ways. That’s not to say that the men get a free pass; Cangemi’s top enforcer, Lino, is kidnapped by the French gang and tortured in a particularly vulgar fashion involving electric shocks applied to his privates. I didn’t much care for some of the seedier elements like these, but still enjoyed the film overall.
THE PACKAGE
The film comes in a new Blu-Ray (or DVD) edition from Raro Video, inarguably one of the premier distributors of Italian genre films. It’s released under the English title Gang War In Milan and features nicely refined packaging including a slipcover (with different cover art than the keepcase) and a 12-page booklet with an essay by Eurocrime expert Mike Malloy and a bio of director Umberto Lenzi.
Both covers are quite handsome, incorporating two vintage poster designs. Back when Raro put out Hanging For Django, they apparently had a hard time locating decent versions of the poster for the slipcover (which is not at all surprising for many old and obscure titles), and ended up printing some pixelated low-res artwork which didn’t look very good. This time around they came up with a more elegant solution to what I assume was the same problem, using a watercolor-like filter to smooth out the pixelation. It looks much better. Additionally, the “compromised” art is used on the keepcase this time around rather than the more prominently visible slipcover. It’s a very nice package and I applaud the improvement in the design methodology which still honors the original poster art (which is a big deal to me, personally).
The new release boasts a newly restored transfer from the original 35mm negative and has both original Italian and English dub audio, and English subtitles. The subs are generally pretty good despite a couple of random typos. I watched the film with the dub track as well; it has great performances and lip synching, and favors clarity over literal accuracy. As dubs go, it’s quite excellent, but I still prefer the original presentation.
The film is not MPAA rated but is basically grimy “R” material with scenes of violence (including some of the bizarre/sexual sort), some nudity, and general sleaziness.
Special Features
Video Introduction by Mike Malloy (5:51)
Raro’s partnership with genre enthusiast Mike Malloy (writer-director of the upcoming documentary Eurocrime!) continues with this release. In this intro he provides some info on the film and its genre. He also says “Giallo” out loud, and I’m embarrassed to discover I’ve been saying it with a hard G for years when it’s pronounced more like “Jell-O”. Anyway, it’s an informative and good-natured feature. Not to nitpick, but the video appears to be interlaced and has some mild combing issues.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
Gang War In Milan — [Blu-Ray] | [DVD]