The Italian Connection

In the 1970s the crime film flourished in Italy as the country went through years of political and social unrest, the so-called ‘Years of Lead’. Italian movie producers would capitalise on these times by producing cheap, violent movies about national organised crime and corruption, establishing the genre of the poliziotteschi. One of the most celebrated poliziottesco directors was Fernando Di Leo, a director as concerned with telling entertaining stories as he was with creating socially relevant backdrops. In Di Leo’s The Italian Connection, the New York mob dispatch two hitmen (Henry Silva, The Boss and Woody Strode, Once Upon a Time in the West) to apprehend pimp Luca Canali (Mario Adorf, Milano Calibro 9), who they believe to have stolen a shipment of heroin. The local mob also join the hunt, but despite being outnumbered Luca refuses to go quietly and fights back against his pursuers, leading a thrilling series of chases and shootouts, and a trail of bloody destruction. A noted influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, this is the poliziottesco at its most entertaining and action-packed.