The Italian Connection (1972) User Reviews

"I killed enough people to fill a cemetery"

[lost-in-limbo · 8/10 · 22 May 2011]

Two professional hit men from the States are hired to track down a small-time pimp Luca Canali in Milan, as this man was accused of the disappearance of a shipment of heroin between Milan and New York. Well that's what they are to believe by local crime boss Don Tressoldi. Their job is to brutally kill Luca and make a message of it. However Luca doesn't know why they want him and he won't go down too easy, as he tries to get to the bottom of it.

This confidently gritty 70s Italian crime thriller might start off slowly, but when it hits its strides. Boy it doesn't let up. What starts off talky where you are waiting for things to happen gets better as it moves along, where plot threads unfold and it suddenly becomes impulsively hazardous. There's one sensational car / foot chase sequence that packs brute force and never gives you a chance to catch a breath. It's very well done. Most of the action follows the same dynamic pattern. Thrilling, tough and intense with constant roughness. Fist fighting, scuffles and shootouts… as the sweat pours and the bruises are inflicted. Hear and see it! Not escaping is the seedy hook, brassily loud instrumental score, compact camera-work and authentic European locations.

Some well known players feature in the cast. Woody Strode and Henry Silva are the American assassins. Strode plays the quiet, steady head and Silva's a live-wire, womanizer. Complete opposites, but the same rather deadly and downright bad-asses. This shows in the lethal cat and mouse climax in a car scrap-yard with Mario Adorf's character. Adorf holds his own with a respectable turn, constantly making a slip when the manhunt begins, but after a tragedy hits. Now he's fuelled by revenge… going in head first. The script is just as jagged, as like the editing but there's a sardonic edge to it and the excessive melodramatics ups the emotions and motivations.

Hard-boiled, if bittersweet Italian crime entertainment.

Excellent Italian action/drama.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 4 February 2003]

When a shipment of heroin disappears enroute from Milan to New York a small time pimp named Luca Canali(excellent Mario Adorf)is fingered by the mafia for execution.There is only one problem...he is the wrong man!Unable to prove his innocence he is caught in a life and death struggle with the New York boss' hit men(Henry Silva and Woody Strode)."Hit Men"/"La Mala Ordina" is a typical Italian crime/drama with plenty of violence and sleaze.The acting is pretty good,the action almost never lets up and the ending is very exciting.Highly recommended if you are a fan of Italian cult cinema.

Fantastic Polizi flick!

[The_Void · 9/10 · 18 November 2007]

I'm a big fan of Italian crime flicks, and I'm an especially big fan of this one as it's one of the best out there! The Italian Connection is a part of a loose trilogy by director Fernando Di Leo, the other two parts being the excellent Milano Calibro 9 and The Boss, which I've not seen yet. As good as Milano Calibro 9 is, this film is better and I'll be very surprised if it's topped by The Boss. Like many Italian cult films, this one has a list of a.k.a. titles as long as my arm. I saw it under the title 'The Italian Connection', but it's alternative title 'Manhunt' is probably the most suitable considering the plot. It's quite a simple tale of crime and revenge. First we are introduced to two American contract killers who are given the task of going to Milan to track down a pimp named Luca Canali who apparently stole a large amount of heroin from the killer's employers. However, it soon transpires that they've been misinformed when the local crime boss also wants to get his hands on Carneli, before it comes to the killer's employer's attention that it was really him that stole the heroin...

The main reason why this film works is down to the simple plotting. The plot itself actually has quite a lot of angles, but director Fernando Di Leo keeps the focus on one thing at a time and that ensures that the film is always thrilling and easy to follow. Fernando Di Leo is clearly very good at directing crime flicks, aside from the aforementioned trilogy of which this film is a part; he also has a handful of other crime flicks to his name, including the very good Kidnap Syndicate. This film is set up like a chase movie, we have the contract killer chasing our unlikely hero (the pimp) for the first part of the movie, then he's being chased the local crime boss' men and the story is given a nice twist in the final third. Cult actor Mario Adorf is great as the pimp Luca Canali; he makes an unlikely hero, but an engaging and interesting one. Henry Silva and Woody Strode are effective as the contract killers, while the cast is nicely topped off by Adolfo Ceri as Milan's crime boss. I would say that this is a fun film to watch, but it's also rather brutal; a sequence involving a cat in a scrap yard at the end sums that up. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to name The Italian Connection as one of my all time favourite Italian crime flicks, and this one therefore comes highly recommended.

Well-Made Spaghetti Crime Thriller

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 2 April 2005]

"La Mala Ordina" (1972) ranks as a brutal, violent, no-holds-barred, urban crime thriller from Italian director Fernando Di Leo. New York mafia kingpin Corso ("The Day of the Jackal" gunsmith Cyril Cusack) dispatches two laconic, no-nonsense torpedoes, Dave (Henry Silva of "Johnny Cool") and Frank (Woody Strode of "The Professionals"), to Milan to knock off Luca Canali (a heavily mustached Mario Adorf of "Fedora"), an inconsequential pimp who has been framed by the Milan mafia for stealing heroin from New York. The likable Luca is surprised when he discovers that two Americans are hunting him down. Talk about an underdog hero who uses his head, in one scene, our outraged protagonist head butts a telephone and shatters it. Meanwhile, Dave and Frank seem to be loitering around Milan with a pretty tour guide Eva Lalli ("Thunderball" bad girl Luciana Paluzzi) who doesn't seem to realize how notorious her two charges are. Rough stuff galore follows in what is a generally comprehensible, hard-knuckled Mafioso melodrama. Top Milan Mafia chieftain Don Vito (another "Thunderball" alumnus Adolfo Celi) wants his henchmen to capture Luca before the Americans can collar him. Writer & director Di Leo puts his hero through the ringer. Poor Luca watches in shock as his estranged wife Lucia (Sylva Koscina of "Hornet's Nest") and their daughter are run over by a madman in a mini-van. The grief-stricken but revengeful Luca chases the fiend down and leaps onto the front of the mini-van. Di Leo pay-offs two scenes that foreshadow Luca's use of head butting his opponents and a telephone, and Luca head butts his way through the driver's windshield and into the driver's seat. The showdown in a junk car lot is just as terrific. Look for lots of nudity, too. Don Vito's gunsels get their hands on one of Luca's squeezes and try to tear off her nipples during a nasty interrogation scene. Neither Koscina nor Paluzzi are used as anything but sex objects. Interestingly, Koscina and Paluzzi are struck and killed by cars. Fans of raw-edged Italian crime dramas will enjoy this opus.

Hot in the City, Hot in the City, Tonight!

[Coventry · 9/10 · 30 March 2009]

"Manhunt" is a fantastic title for a fantastic Italian action/thriller with even more fantastic testosterone-laden characters and a fantastically dazzling level of excitement. Admittedly I'm slightly biased, as I'm a sucker for Italian cult cinema in general, but hey, apparently so are all my fellow reviewers around here! The second installment in Fernando Di Leo's Italian mafia trilogy is definitely on par with the other two, "Milano Calibro .9" and "The Boss", and I rated those respectively 10/10 and 9/10. The three films take place in similar locations and often even star the same cast members, but nonetheless they're entirely divergent and distinctly unique achievements. "Manhunt" mainly excels through a vastly simplistic yet hugely fascinating plot, but also through a handful of jaw-dropping shock sequences and perplexing performances. Two relentless American hit men arrive in Milan with the assignment to eliminate the guy who was supposedly responsible for a shipment of heroin gone missing. Basically a routine job, but the boss wants to set an example out of this case and instructs for the kill to be mighty and spectacular. One problem, however, the target Luca Canali is only a small time pimp wrongfully appointed as the culprit by the competition and he unexpectedly safeguards himself tremendously from the massive manhunt held against him. Mega-gifted director Di Leo masterfully illustrates the titular manhunt, as we gradually witness how Luca Canali transforms from a casual & presumptuous little thug into an almost likable and forcedly infuriated anti-hero. Mario Adorf gives away a stunning performance as Luca; a literally unstoppable man of steel – the dude crushes telephones and windshields with his bare head - who honestly has no idea what overcomes him but continues to battle for his survival nevertheless. His opponents, played by "Poliziottesco" veteran Henry Silva and Woody Strode, are convincingly menacing as well. The film is also stuffed with bestial showdowns and adrenalin-rushing chase sequences. The violence in "Manhunt" is uncompromising as hell and literally nothing or no one escapes the extreme brutality, not even children, women or adorable young kittens. Some of the settings are overly clichéd (like the topless dancing) and the nudity footage is a bit too gratuitous (random hippie orgies), but those are just insignificant little defaults in an overall first-rate 70's thriller. "Manhunt", as well as the aforementioned other two installments of Fernando Di Leo's mafia trilogy, is a definite must for action fanatics with nerves of steel.

Excellent Fernando Di Leo crime flick

[Red-Barracuda · 8/10 · 22 March 2013]

The Italian Connection is yet another movie that proves conclusively that Fernando Di Leo was the master director of the poliziotteschi. These action-thrillers were Italy's answer to the violent crime films that emerged in America in the early 70's. Di Leo made several and this one may very well be arguably the best. Its story is underpinned by a shipment of heroin that is stolen en route from Milan to New York. A couple of American mafia hit-men are dispatched to Italy to find and kill the pimp who is accused of the theft. This man is innocent of this crime, however, and he proves to be a surprisingly resourceful opponent.

One of the main strengths of this movie is its cast. Everyone suits their roles very well. Mario Adorf is particularly excellent as the pimp who becomes the unlikely hero. Adorf puts in a very energetic performance that really drives the film. Poliziotteschi veteran Henry Silva and Woody Strode are suitably mean as the mafia killers, seemingly their pairing was the reason Quentin Tarantino cast John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson as the legendary hit-men in Pulp Fiction (for this alone The Italian Connection deserves a footnote in film history). Rounding things off we have Adolfo Celi (Danger: Diabolik) as the mafia don and Femi Benussi (Hatchet for the Honeymoon) gets substantially naked in a role as a prostitute.

Like most of these types of movies there is a lot of moral ambiguity here. There are no heroes in the truest sense. The identification figure is a low level pimp after all. This makes it a crime film in the truest sense. But it is also a very good action flick. Of particular note is a spectacular chase sequence where a van fires through town with a man hanging off the front while head-butting his way through the windshield! There is, overall, a healthy dose of violent action in general in this one, climaxing in a great scene in a junk-yard.

Along with Milan Calibre 9 and The Boss, this is a top level example of this kind of movie from Fernando Di Leo.

Who said anything about wasting a bullet on a pimp.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 8/10 · 29 January 2013]

Poliziottesco, a fusion of the words poliziotto ("policeman") and the same -esco desinence, indicates 1970s-era Italian-produced "tough cop" and crime movies. Recurring elements in poliziotteschi films include graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels.

With directors like Fernando Di Leo, these films replaced the spaghetti westerns. They saw their decline after erotica and horror took over in the late 70s.But it was the spaghetti westerns that gave Di Leo his training. He wrote the script for A Fistful of Dollars, and was assistant director under Sergio Leone in For a Few Dollars More.

The films of Fernando Di Leo had a great influence on later directors like Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.

Henry Silva(Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Above the Law) puts in one of his best performances in this film. He is excellent as a sleazy hit-man. Woody Strode (Spartacus, Kingdom of the Spiders) is very good as Silva's partner.

Lots of action, one car chase, and plenty of big naturals. Mario Adorf stole the show with his huge range of facial expressions.

Strongly recommended for beginners in Italian police films

[dottorepaulo · 10/10 · 14 September 2005]

I spent much time in studying Italian police films of this era - and this one sticks out as one of the best. Unlike other Di Leo flicks - this one has a decent story, features B+ actors like Mario Adorf and Adolfo Celli (Mr. Largo in OO7's Thunderball), the editing is fast and rhythmic and it contains only one car chase but this one has it. The films owes its quality largely to the German-Italian actor Mario Adorf (already playing in one other Di Leo Film "Milano Calibro 9") - Adorf is witty, has a face with a thousand expressions and perfectly impersonates the change of small-town-pimp into a revenge-driven killing machine - without overdoing it. Unlike other films of this genre this one is tightly bound by a reasonable script, logical development of the characters and a rough, greasy camera-style. Editing is superb in timing, no frame is wasted for stupid dialogues or the typical 70ies mood shots (you see a scenery with someone walking and nothing happens). This film is perfect for exploring this genre.

Recommended, but look for the Italian version

[lazarillo · 29 August 2008]

Two vicious hit men (Henry Silva and Woody Strode) are sent by the New York mob to Milan, Italy to "make an example" of a small-time pimp (Mario Adolph) who is believed to be responsible for a missing shipment of heroin. The two hit-man have the support of the local Milan mafia don (Adolf Celli), who may know more than he's telling about the missing heroin, but their target turns out to be much more wily and dangerous than they could have possibly anticipated.

Although this Ferdinand de Leo crime thriller is regarded as a minor masterpiece of the genre, it has only been released in America so far on a crappy VHS tape which really hampers the enjoyment. It's full-frame, horribly cropped with the kind of muddy, off-color transfer that gives third generation bootlegs a not-so-bad name. The dubbing could charitably be described as indifferent--it's like they pulled random English speakers off the street and had them read from cue cards. The women in these movies are typically just sex objects, but still you would think that an actress of Femi Benussi's stature in Italian exploitation films (maybe a rung below Edwige Fenech and Barbara Bouchet) would at least get CREDIT for the important role of the protagonist's ill-fated, former prostitute girlfriend. (And her patented long, butt-naked nude scene would probably be a little more enjoyable if the ample skin she shows wasn't bluish-gray due to the lousy transfer). Perhaps most ridiculous though, the whole thing is presented as a "blaxploitation" film due to the presence of African-American actor Woody Strode (who's obviously dubbed by a white guy) even though the real protagonist here is a white Italian.

The action scenes are very effective though despite the transfer. It's also a pretty good basic story. I like these movies where there's a criminal anti-hero taking on the mob rather than the usual vigilante cop. The Italian crime thrillers certainly have their share of vigilante cops (the genre was largely inspired by "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection"), but even these films at least acknowledge that that there's moral ambiguity in the world and that violence isn't always a clean solution for every problem. Overall, I would recommend this, but if you're going to get it at all, it probably would be worth seeking out a widescreen Italian version with English subtitles. Avoid the laughable "Black Kingpin" version.

"Do your best to look like a couple of gangsters."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 26 October 2012]

Wow, the accolades paid to this film by the reviewers on this board make me wonder if any of them had seen "The Godfather". That film came out the same year and by comparison, there is no comparison. But for what it is, "Manhunt", the title I saw this under, is a perfectly low brow take on Italian gangsters ruffled by a pair of American hit-men sent to make good on a six million dollar stash of missing heroin. I'm not familiar with director Fernando di Leo or his acclaimed trilogy, but this is passable enough if you've got the time to spare. Effective as the framed pimp Luca Canali, Mario Adorf delivers a believably crazed performance when up close and personal with fellow thugs who get in his face. Particularly effective is his head-butting style, which at one point takes out a menacing telephone that happened to get in the way. If you like your Italian crime films sprinkled with some skin, this one delivers on that score as well, with gratuitous amounts of go-go strippers who appear to be above the pay grade for this flick, so that's just an unexpected benefit. What made it for me was the well cast duo from the States, Henry Silva and Woody Strode in a two decade early preview of Travolta and Jackson in "Pulp Fiction". If you made it this far, stick around for the junkyard scene with the swinging steel jaws as the gangsters shoot it out with THE gangster. It's not pretty, but it is cool. Very cool.

Great gritty cheese

[monstermonkeyhead · 10/10 · 10 February 2005]

The other two comments I've seen here are completely accurate. I only want to implore you to see this some more. So far, I've yet to see Henry Silva in a better role. His role in the more recent Ghost Dog was super, but here he is even better. He's great in this as a wild, tough, and sleazy hit-man. The way he skulks around like a bad asp is totally cool. This movie also boasts some righteous potty mouth dialog, worthy of a Sopranos episode. The only possible drawback to this movie is the dated special effects (of people punching each other or getting shot) that come off as being pretty silly at times- but honestly, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. This is right up there with Street Law as a classic of 70's Italian-made violence. See it!

More Hard-boiled madness

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 1 December 2017]

Poor Mario Adorf. He just wants to pimp out his girls in Milan and give the cash to his ex-wife and his sickly young daughter. He's not a bad guy really, although he doesn't like it when guys try to rough up his girls. Mario's just getting on with his petty criminal life when all of a sudden he's being hunted down not only by the local crime boss, but by two hard faced American hit men too.

The hit men, Henry Silva and Woody Strode, have been sent to track him down and kill him in the most violent and brutal way possible as lesson from the US Mafia to those in Italy thinking of stealing heroin shipments. This might be all well and good, if in fact Mario had actually stolen anything. Instead the poor guy spends most of the film being hunted down like a dog while having no idea whatsoever why people want to kill him.

There's more pressure on Mario as the local don (Adolfo Celi) doesn't like the presence of two American gangsters on his turf and sends his men out to capture Mario. Every petty criminal in Milan knows that Mario's a marked man, so who can he trust? His hookers?

While this is a little thin story wise, the film itself is rather good. Henry Silva truly looks like a guy who would stab you in the face one minute then put the moves on your wife the next. Woody Strode is the straight man to all Silva's shenanigans, and Adolfo Celi nearly outdoes Silva in the hard-case gangster role, especially at near the end where the demented Mario finally confronts him. It's Mario Adorf that steals the show here as the clueless, but not helpless, Mario, as he jumps from being a flawed but caring father to a man who has been pushed about as far as someone can be.

Although the first half sets up all the characters and has a punch up or two, the film gradually gets more and more violent as you would expect, and of course it's standard practice to throw in a car chase too. This one goes from a car chase to a foot chase and even has Mario smashing his head through a windscreen in order to get at a gangster. From then it's non-stop until the gunfight in the scrapyard.

Funky soundtrack too. Loud, with it.

deeply immersive, knuckle sandwich-packed, Berretta blasting, Mafia mashing actioner!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 10/10 · 23 January 2014]

Iconic italian director, Fernando Di Leo once more successfully mines Euro-crime gold with his outstanding poliziotteschi masterclass, 'La Mala Ordina' (1972), which excitingly proves to be yet another breakneck paced, wholly satisfying, deeply immersive, knuckle sandwich-packed, Berretta blasting, Mafia mashing actioner with everyone's favourite concrete-haired heavy, Henry Silva, dynamically teaming up with the toweringly charismatic, Woody Strode, as two quick-fisted, slow-witted NY hoods, whose demonstratively aggressive presence amongst the Italian underworld swiftly engenders a deadly schism betwixt the two rival factions; the equally bellicose Italian contingent bristling in vociferous indignation as the arrogant, Silva and Strode persistently throw their not inconsiderable cumulative weight around in a body-bag stuffing series of zestfully rendered beatdowns! The truly exemplary poliziotteschi, 'La Mala Ordina' remains an audaciously adrenalized, balletically blood-spattered Euro-crime masterpiece! It simply CANNOT be overstated just how groovy, serially scintillating sound master, Armando Trovajoli's score is; Travajoli unleashes a propulsive, rump-rockingly righteous, grittier than gunpowder, break-heavy, crime-funk delight! A veritable phat bass'd mother lode for rabid beat-seeking junkies, and slick Rick audiophiles alike!

A typically fine and hard-hitting Italian crime thriller doozy by Fernando Di Leo

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 4 August 2009]

Hearty, but tough and resourceful small-time pimp Luca Canali (an excellent performance by Mario Adorf) gets framed as a fall guy by the flinty, ruthless Don Vito Tressoldi (superbly played by Adolfo Celi) for the disappearance of a shipment of heroin. Tressoldi hires volatile hit-man Dave Catania (a splendidly slimy Henry Silva) and his more low-key partner Frank Webster (the always formidable Woody Strode) to rub Luca out, but Luca proves to be a surprisingly worthy adversary who vows revenge on the mob after they kill his wife and daughter. Director/co-writer Fernando Di Leo delivers an exceptionally fierce, gripping, and stirring crime yarn that benefits substantially from a hard, gritty, no-nonsense tone, shocking outbursts of ugly and savage violence, a constant snappy pace, a generous sprinkling of tasty female nudity, and a positively ferocious take-no-prisoners attitude. Better still, there's no needless filler or silly humor to detract from the jolting harshness of the taut and arresting narrative. The uniformly sound acting from a top-drawer cast rates as another major asset: Adorf makes for a likable anti-hero and redoubtable brute force of nature as Luca, Celi totally oozes as the treacherous Don Vito, Silva and Strode as utterly convincing as a pair of very dangerous and threatening dudes, Luciana Paluzzi adds class as elegant escort Eva Lalli, and Femi Benussi acquits herself well in a sizable supporting part as whiny hooker Nana. Franco Villa's polished cinematography makes nice occasional use of tilted camera angles and whiplash pans. Armando Trovajoli's funky, jazzy, syncopated score likewise hits the spot. The climactic shoot-out in a junkyard is simply fantastic. Well worth seeing.

Be patient, and the movie will pay off

[Wizard-8 · 2 July 2017]

I must confess that when it comes to Italian genre cinema, my tastes usually go to spaghetti westerns. But I do try on a regular basis to sample other kinds of Italian movies, including crime/gangster movies. What attracted me to watch "The Italian Connection" was the presence of Henry Silva and Woody Strode. Well, they are in fine form, though I wish the movie gave them a little more to do, since they spend a lot of the movie just waiting around. A bigger problem was that the first thirty or so minutes of the movie are pretty slow and drab, so much so that I thought about giving up on the movie. But I'm glad I didn't, because after that first half hour, the movie really jumps into gear. Lead actor Mario Adorf does a great job, not coming across as a stereotypical tough action star, but instead someone driving by desperation and vengeance. Seeing this unlikely character get into gunplay and other action is really exciting, because you'll keep wondering if he'll prevail. And the action scenes are great, most notably a fantastic long chase sequence alternately on foot and with vehicles that beats many action sequences coming out of Hollywood at the time. The very ending feels kind of unfinished and will have you asking, "Well, what now?" - which the movie does not answer. But that's a minor quibble. I've got four more crime movies by director Fernando di Lio on DVD waiting to be watched, and I can't wait to sample them.

The spaghetti-Western CHARLEY VARRICK?

[matt-201 · 25 July 1999]

Now released under the absurdly named Mack Video as the absurdly named BLACK KINGPIN, LA MALA ORDINA, once known as MANHUNT, shows the Italian seventies policier director Fernando DiLeo in peak form. The Italian cops-mob-and-corruption movies often had a neorealist tincture, not far from such British cousins as GET CARTER or THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. (The best in this vein is the dark, harrowing VIOLENT NAPLES.) But some of them were as ripe and over-the-top as concurrent works of Italian horror; and this saga of a small-town pimp pursued, God knows why, by Mr. Big and two Vincent-and-Jules-looking U.S.-made button men, looks like the product of some torrid motel-room coitus between Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. The faces are sweaty, the beatings (to evoke Roger Ebert's memorable phrase) suggest the sound of ping-pong paddles smacking naugahyde sofas--the only thing that's missing is the groan of an Ennio Morricone score. An evening of Shane Black quips it ain't, but ninety minutes of top-shelf hardboiled groove it is.

Great cast and stylish directing though the film never lives up to its promising premise

[Aylmer · 6/10 · 27 December 2020]

The opening of this film indicates that we're going to follow a couple of hard-nosed American hitmen on a trip to Milan to murder a pimp. There's a lot of intrigue right away as we wonder what's this pimp done to earn the wrath of a New York crime boss and how are these two assassins going to find their way around Italy. On top of that, Woody Strode and Henry Silva are a perfect match for each other in terms of attitude, charisma, and macho screen presence. It feels like this movie is going to be a fun ride.

Unfortunately, once they get to Italy, the two simply hang around a hotel and a nightclub for nearly the entire movie. Writer DiLeo thought it would be a better idea of focusing the bulk of the movie around the pimp (played well by Mario Adorf) as he runs afoul of the local mob and goes on a killing and slapping spree. The hit men only re-emerge for the climax in a junk yard that really needed some better gore when a particular character gets killed off in a way that should be a real show-stopper.

Upon first viewing 20+ years ago, I had to admit I was mightily disappointed with the waste of potential. I was also let down by Silva's character coming off as a bit of a reckless hedonist when it would have been much more fun to see him and Strode unemotionally and brutally work their way around Milan to get to their target. You can see where Tarantino was inspired with PULP FICTION as well as any number of crime films featuring a "salt and pepper" team. Silva and Strode had good enough chemistry to be cast together again in several other films though most were far worse than this one.

On the plus side, there's many beautiful actresses on display and rampant nudity among them. Adolfo Celi as the mob boss has a great scene where he fearlessly stares down the barrel of a gun and most of the dubbing fits pretty good for an Italian crime movie of the era. The musical score by Armando Trovajoli, though dated and simplistic, is as much of a funky ear-worm as you'll ever hear and will never forget even decades after watching this film.

Overall it's a fast-paced action film with many good sides to it, but you'd be better off sticking with a Castellari or Umberto Lenzi movie for a more satisfying eurocrime experience. DiLeo did much better with MILANO CALIBRO 9 made around the same time.

This Manhunt is Breathtaking And Without Mercy!

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 9/10 · 30 April 2008]

The second film in Fernando Di Leo's 'Milieu' trilogy, "La Mala Ordina" aka. "Manhunt" of 1972 is, in my opinion just not quite as brilliant as the foregoing masterpiece "Milano Calibro 9" (also 1972) and its brilliant successor "Il Boss" (1973), and yet this is an excellent and breathtaking crime epic that no lover of Italian genre-cinema could possibly afford to miss. The tough-minded and violent film, which has been released under many aka. titles such as "Hit Men", "Hired To Kill", "The Italian Connection" or even the absolutely inappropriate title "Black Kingpin", is breathtaking from the beginning to the end and profits from a brilliant cast. The plot revolves around Luca Canali (Mario Adorf), a small-time pimp, who suddenly has to fear for his life when he is framed for the disappearance of a shipment of heroin. Canali, who has no clue who the real thieves are, is soon mercilessly hunted by both the local mafia and two contract killers sent by the American mob (Henry Silva and Woody Strode)...

The role of Luca Canali fits Mario Adorf perfectly. I'm a fan of Adorf in general, he was always best in roles of the kind, and he delivers an excellent performance here. Henry Silva (one of my favorite actors) and Woody Strode (another great actor) are easily equally brilliant as the two American hit men, who are ultra-tough, but also responsible for the humorous scenes in the film, as Silva is constantly hitting on everything female while Strode is dead-serious and hardly says a word. The rest of the performances are also good, Adolfo Celi, who is probably best known for playing James Bond villain Mr. Largo in "Fireball" plays the Milan mafia don, and the female cast is entirely nice to look at. The story is not quite as convoluted as it was the case in "Milano Calibro 9", but "Manhunt" is still a tantalizing and uncompromising from the beginning to the end, and filled with non-stop action and brutal violence. The score is also great, and the camera-work ingenious. To me personally, "Manhunt" is not quite as brilliant as "Milano Calibro 9" and "Il Boss". These two films, however, are in my opinion easily two of the greatest gangster films ever brought to screen, and even though slightly inferior, "Manhunt" is still an awesome piece of crime cinema that is excellent in all aspects and easily surpasses most famed American gangster-classics. Excellent film-making, an absolute must-see for every fan of Italian genre cinema.

Well Worth a Watch

[eldontyrrell · 8/10 · 17 December 2020]

+1 on the other favorable reviews already here, for they've all touched upon what's worthwhile about the movie: rather decent writing, acting, and scenery for the genre and time. Car chase, foot chase and fist fights (obviously) pre-CGI, so bravo, players.

One thing I hadn't seen mentioned, however, and only a minor spoiler alert here: what a bunch of nincompoops are the stud-muffin, big-time hitters that "Cy" Cusack sends after our erstwhile hero!

Woody Strode isn't given much to do, other than to play straight-man and come to Henry Silva's aid, but boy, does Hank drop the ball or what? I don't mean the progressively louder dress shirts that he sports; hey, that's the era, and them's the style, not to mention that I kinda really *liked* one of them. But good grief -- he repeatedly throws away good money in exchange for bad info, wastes time staking out places that his target never visits, and even gets his pocket picked by a bunch of streetwalkers (subsequently needing Strode to save from getting an ass-whuppin' by their, uh, managers). He might as well have carried a picket sign saying "WE ARE ASSASSINS AND WE WANT TO KILL LUCA CANALI!"

That said, I'd definitely watch it again. Don't pay to do so, but by all means do not avoid, either.

Pumping Italian mafia revenge classic

[Leofwine_draca · 10/10 · 21 August 2016]

A pumping soundtrack. An appealing cast. A profanity-strewn script. A pace that never lets up. Oodles of hard-knuckle thrills and incredibly sadistic action. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, what we have in our hands is MANHUNT IN MILAN, another top-notch Italian crime thriller which plays like a pasta version of CHARLEY VARRICK. MANHUNT IN MILAN is proof of the fact that the Italians are in their element when staging elaborate high-speed car chases through beautiful sun-bleached city locations or fast shoot-outs where, if you blink, you'll no doubt miss a death or two. This is a great viewing experience that easily rivals the work of Umberto Lenzi and Maurizio Merli in their later great collaborations in the genre.

This sleazy film takes time in introducing the leading anti-hero character of Luca Canali, a good-natured pimp who nevertheless likes to hang out at dodgy clubs and surround himself with naked Italian women. Canali is played to perfection by Mario Adorf as a greasy, loud-fashioned yet kind and initially gentle man who is pushed to the edge as he finds himself pursued across his home city by a series of increasingly violent hit men, who work for big-name gangster Don Vito, played by one-time Bond villain and genre regular Adolfo Celi who excels at this kind of thing and pulls the part off perfectly. The stakes are raised when Adorf's ex-wife and child are brutally murdered by the Mafia and he arms himself to take revenge.

The various thrills are handled spectacularly by director Fernando Di Leo (an action specialist who also gave the world CALIBRE 9 - also with Adorf). The pacing is slow to start off with but gradually builds up into breakneck speed, culminating in a huge city-wide chase sequence at around the hour mark which is truly amazing stuff. Stuntmen risk their lives, vehicles are totalled in milliseconds, and you'll be swept away by the rhythmic music that perfectly accompanies the action and makes the whole thing madly exciting. Definitely one of the best chases I've seen in the movie and, trust me, I've seen a lot. The finale, in which Adorf faces off against the two hit men in a junkyard, is highly suspenseful and ends with a fine imaginative payoff for the villains.

When it comes to the violence, Di Leo doesn't hold back, with women being savagely beaten, point-blank gunshots to the head, and all manner of beatings and stabbings along the way. The main reason the film works, however, is that it never loses touch with characterisation, instead fleshing out Silva and Strode from being one-dimensional villains into understandable, even somewhat likable real people. Along with Adorf and Celi, Silva and Strode (great-sounding pair, that) put in excellent portrayals of ruthless hit men. Silva is fine as the smarmy womanising partner whilst Strode is at his best playing it tough and silent. The supporting cast are also fine with lots of familiar faces in minor parts, these include Luciana Paluzzi as the fragile female lead and PUZZLE's Bruno Corazzari playing yet another sleazy low-life. The cast, the pacing, the surprising depth and the action combine to make MANHUNT IN MILAN one of the Italian gangster flicks to beat and a highlight of the Italian film industry. See it!

The kind of film Tarantino would love to gab about

[chaos-rampant · 14 June 2009]

This is the second film from Ferdinando Di Leo I've seen and I must say I'm as unimpressed as I was after seeing Milano Calibro 9. While Di Leo might be the kind of director Tarantino loves to gab about, and some of the directors QT loves to gab about deserve all that gabbing, Di Leo's films sure don't seem to be worth much. Which is too bad because, unlike Umberto Lenzi who made fullblown caricatures of hardboiled street violence, Di Leo seems to shoot for more.

So a bunch of interesting ideas that we're already familiar from prior genre knowledge, the occasional twist to a story that is not very original or astounding, decent action set-pieces, but everything constantly undermined by bad acting and lamentable directing. Di Leo was probably a better writer than he was a director and he wasn't a great writer to begin with. Unlike the gritty, hyperkinetic realism of Kinji Fukasaku, a product of conscious artistic decision deployed with conviction as part of a larger commentary on the bleak situation of postwar Japan, Di Leo's gritty is a jumbled heap of jagged editing, awkward pans and zooms, needless cuts and cramped frames that show a director practically making it up as he went along.

Mario Adorf chews every scenery in a 3 mile radius but he does show considerable physical skills in his action scenes. Woody Strode's strong silent type on the other hand earns points for simply being strong and silent - and staring like he means it. The story of two American hit men chasing a flamboyant pimp around Milan to plant half a dozen bullets in his head for stealing drug money is half-interesting but the execution, when it doesn't erupt in outbursts of slaps and punches, leaves a lot to be desired.

A hokey escapade of violent shootouts with too many coyotes and not enough roadrunners.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 15 December 2022]

This extraordinary gun battle has American hitman battling Italian mobsters all in an attempt to kill a pimp whose criminal activities in Italy have upset the dons of the mafia in the United States. Mario Adorf is the intended target, sought out by Henry Silva and Woody Strode which results in violent hits that have women being tortured relentlessly before being killed (a few by being shot and run over by a car before they die), the battles that occur between the Italian mafia and the American hitman, and eventually a battle that has Adorf doing his best to stay alive. There's very little dialogue after the plot is set, and it becomes a silly constant round of gunfire and the same music being played over and over in some pretty trashy locations. It's enjoyable simply because it's so silly, but also very unpleasant because of the way it seems to enjoy the way it dispatches various members of the cast. The final battle takes place in a junkyard and has some interesting twists and turns.

When the actors do speak, some of the dialogue is extremely silly, especially when one of the American hitmen says to a rather unpleasant looking Italian criminal that the next time he sees him, he'll have a bone for him, indicating that the guy is an absolute dog. The response is hysterical. The dubbing is horrible, with the daughter of Adorf having a hideous cartoon like character voice, obviously an adult actress speaking in a high pitched squeal. This obviously will not appeal to the more sophisticated fans of Mafia movies, coming out on the heels of "The Godfather" and obviously influenced by its success. It's obviously one of those films that most people will enjoy watching but will be in agreement with most others that it was pretty bad even though it was a lot of fun in many ways.

good but not great

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 29 July 2009]

Stars Henry Silva and Woody Strode as two hit men who are dispatched to Italy to find a low level mobster who had "lost", really stolen, 6 million in heroine and who resold it. They are told to make his death as painful and public as possible. The trouble is that target has a knack for getting loose and despite the best efforts of all involved things go far from smoothly.

Good but not great mob story has the advantage in that in keeps moving. Once things are set in motion the film just goes. You want to see how this is going to come out and to me makes it worth a bowl of popcorn and a soda, even if you won't need to see it again.

Rousing entertainment.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 29 May 2023]

Mario Adorf is aces as Luca Canali, a small-time Milanese pimp framed for a major heroin theft, and then pursued by American hitmen David Catania (Henry Silva) and Frank Webster (Woody Strode). Luca finds precious few people actually willing to help him, as lots of people are obviously out to get him, not just the assassins. Knowing that he's an otherwise insignificant individual, Luca takes on all comers while trying to figure out why he's so popular all of a sudden.

"The Italian Connection" takes on additional significance today knowing that the too-cool-for-words Silva & Strode were an influence on the Jules & Vincent characters in "Pulp Fiction". But there is more to this rip-roaring "poliziotesschi" than this footnote. It's a solidly diverting action-drama with some very stimulating set pieces (including a major chase and a finale in a junkyard). It's brutal and nasty and shows no favoritism when it comes to killing off characters. It also benefits from a variety of truly beautiful women (including Luciana Paluzzi, Femi Benussi, and Sylva Koscina) and an engaging lead performance by Adorf, who gives his protagonist amiability and true resilience. This is a guy who's not going to go down easily.

"The Italian Connection" may take some time before it really kicks into gear, but the payoff is worth it. This is one of the most purely FUN poliziotesschi that this viewer has seen, and newcomers to the genre are advised to seek it out.

Eight out of 10.

Randomly choosen to take the blame!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 26 June 2019]

Mario Adorf was one the most prolific and impressive Swiss-Italian actor, he already worked with DiLeo on Milano Calibre 9 in same year, a summarized plot, when the New York's mob Boss received a wrongly information that who stolen a valuable shipment of the drugs from Milano to New York was made by an unknown cheap pimp, they provide couple best American hired gun to kill him at Milano, a top notch casting , in the same picture gathered many actors & actress as Mario Adorf, Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Adolph Celi, Luciana Paluzzi and Sylva Koscina a true high profile, the scary and daffy Luca Canali becomes wildest after they try to take him to a friendly conversation on Head office's of the Milano's mob Boss (Adolph Celi) to trim possible edges, intense and no stopping action may define the picture, an effusive performances allowed by everyone involved, Fernando DiLeo made an priceless polizioteschi genre as they named in Italy !!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8