Blazing Magnum (1976)

"Cracking EuroCrime Picture With Spectacular Car Chases"

Who knew the Canadian police enjoyed such exciting over the top car chases? Well now you can see for yourself as Alberto De Martino's BLAZING MAGNUM aka UNA MAGNUM SPECIAL PER TONY SAITTA aka STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM aka TOUGH TONY SAITTA gets a Blu-ray release from Studio Canal.

While in the middle of an over the top car chase tough Ottawa cop Tony Saitta (Stuart Whitman) is contacted by his sister Louise (Carole Laure) with something important she needs to tell him. Unfortunately Tony is too busy mercilessly gunning down bad guys to take her call and pretty soon she's dead by poisoning. 

Ignoring all the rules of actual policing (but abiding by all the rules of crazy Italian cop movies) Tony investigates Louise's murder himself with the aid of sidekick  John Saxon. Was she murdered by the doctor (Martin Landau) she was having an affair with? Or is something altogether more complicated going on? As another body turns up it becomes less clear but Tony's determined to get to the bottom of it even if he has to beat up every transvestite and visit every well-stocked and spacious sex shop in town.

BLAZING MAGNUM is an amazing, extreme, and above all supremely entertaining example of the Italian cop movie (it was a co-production between Italy and Canada). Whitman's Tony Saitta is the most two-fisted example of a policeman imaginable, never bothering to check he's got the right guy when he can just beat the hell out of them / drown them in a sink / shove them through a plate glass window. The movie opens with a really good car chase but that's nothing compared to the one we get in the middle of the picture, all organised by the master of such things, Remy Julienne (THE ITALIAN JOB et al).

As well as all the action, De Martino stages at least one fantastically suspenseful sequence involving Tisa ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS Farrow as a blind girl who doesn't realise the floor to ceiling windows on the second floor of her apartment block have been removed, and the whole film moves at such a breathless and perfectly executed pace it's a real surprise that this one isn't better known.

Studio Canal's Blu-ray comes with a 22 minute piece on the movie by Kim Newman who extols its virtues and I agree with every complement he gives this one. There are also extracts from an audio interview with the director from 2012 conducted by Eugenio Ercolani which covers the movie and some of De Martino's career. Top stuff.

Alberto De Martino's BLAZING MAGNUM (aka all those other titles up there) is out on Blu-ray from Studio Canal on Monday 11th September 2023

Revolver (1973)

"A Cracking Oliver Reed Performance"

Following releases by Arrow, 88 Films and Fractured Visions, Eureka are also getting in on the poliziotteschi act by releasing Sergio Sollima's REVOLVER, which is out now on Blu-ray in a 1080p presentation from a 4K restoration.

Anna Cipriani (Agostina Belli), wife of prison warden Vito Cipriani (Oliver Reed) is kidnapped by a gang who demand the release of prisoner Milo Ruiz (Fabio Testi), but Milo seems to have no idea who would want to do this. Vito grudgingly arranges for Milo to escape but picks him up outside the prison and together the two form an unlikely team trying to puzzle out what's going on. Could it be to do with that politician we saw assassinated at the beginning in the film's only bit of unintentional hilarity?

Lacking the kind of outrageous stunts and car chases that make the best of the poliziotteschi genre so entertaining, Sergio Sollima's film goes for social commentary and the idea that even people like Vito are pawns in the machinations of people much higher up. Unfortunately this makes for a rather bland film. Thank goodness, then, for Oliver Reed, who delivers a fantastic, riveting performance that alone makes REVOLVER a must-see. He won't let you take his eyes off him when he's on-screen and more than makes up for the somewhat more wooden performances of his co-stars.

REVOLVER is presented on Eureka's Blu-ray in both Italian and English language versions. In terms of special features, the first thing worth pointing out is that there are two sets of subtitles, because the menu doesn't, so toggle around with your subtitle control to get the one you prefer. One is a direct transcription of the English language dub, the other is newly translated from the Italian. 

Other extras include the always listenable Stephen Thrower talking about both the film and the career of Sergio Sollima for just over twenty minutes, a new Kim Newman - Barry Forshaw commentary track, an archival commentary with Fabio Testi, trailers and radio spots. The first 2000 copies come with an 'O' card slipcase and a booklet with essays on the making of the film and Ennio Morricone's Eurocrime soundtracks.

Sergio Sollima's REVOLVER is out on Blu-ray from Eureka now

Silent Action (1975) aka La Polizia Accusa: Il Servizio Segreto Uccide

 

"A Cracking Example of Mid-1970s EuroCrime Cinema"

One of the 'have a go at anything' heroes of Italian exploitation cinema, Sergio Martino is best known to cult film fans these days for his giallos, the most famous of which is probably 1973's TORSO. But he also worked in many other popular genres including poliziotteschis (or Italian crime thriller). SILENT ACTION, one of the best of Martino's poliziotteschis, is about to get a Blu-ray release from Fractured Visions.

Luc Merenda is Giorgio Solmi, a police inspector called in to investigate the brutal clubbing to death of an electrical engineer and part-time blackmailer. His investigations lead him discover a link with the several faked 'suicides' that we've seen open the film and a plot to bring down the government.

SILENT ACTION is a brisk, well-paced, highly entertaining thriller that boasts several highlights, including a splendidly edited and choreographed car chase in the middle of the film and an explosion and gun-battle-filled climax that looks like it cost a lot more than it likely did. Being a mid-1970s film there's a heavy dose of cyncism, plenty of double-crossing, and you're never quite sure who's on whose side right up until the final frame. That Italian title translates as THE POLICE ACCUSE: THE SECRET SERVICE KILL, by the way. 

Fractured Visions' transfer of SILENT ACTION looks excellent with a 2K restoration of nice clean print that includes both Italian and English dialogue tracks. as well as a commentary track by Mike Malloy on the fandom surrounding EuroCrime cinema that's original, enlightening, and well worth a listen. Extras include a brief Martino interview as well as interviews with star Merenda and composer Luciano Michelini. There's also an archival featurette about co-star Tomas Milian ported over from a NoShame DVD and another archival interview with Luc Merenda.

The package also comes with a CD of Luciano Michelini's very pleasing mid 1970s lounge-style score over 25 tracks lasting a total of 58 minutes. For the soundtrack obsessives out there it's the same as last year's Digit movies release and if you don't have it this is an excellent bonus. I'll admit I'm not familiar with the composer's work but this is excellent and in places reminiscent of George Martin's style of scoring for the 1973 James Bond film LIVE & LET DIE. If you're in any doubt get someone to play you track 10 (which accompanies the car chase sequence) and then say you don't need this in your soundtrack library. It's altogether an excellent package from Fractured Visions and I hope we get to see more of this sort of thing from them. 

Sergio Martino's SILENT ACTION is out on Blu-ray in a Limited Edition (of 3000) two disc package on Monday 12th April 2021. Here's the trailer:

If you're planning on buying the disc then I'd recommend supporting Fractured Visions by ordering it direct from their site at the link below:

Order SILENT ACTION from Fracture Visions

The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)

"Warning: May Dispel any Lurking Nostalgia for the 1970s"

Sergio Martino's 1975 Italian crime thriller ( = poliziotteschi) gets a 2k restoration dual format release from Arrow Films. 

Rollercoaster Of Crime!

At a wedding that looks as if it was gatecrashed by the film-makers, a girl is pursued and eventually killed by a man in sunglasses so shiny we can see the camera crew. Undercover, no-nonsense, SWEENEY-like (ie extremely violent) cop Paolo Germi is already on the case as it turns out the girl was a member of an underage prostitution ring.

Fashion!

His investigation leads him from sleazy dives to a corrupt group of rich businessmen, while a killer is busy bumping off anyone who might be a threat to them. 

Women!

Featuring some of the most horrible fashions / locations / wallpaper / spectacles / prostitutes ever seen in 1970s exploitation cinema (and that really was the decade of tat), Sergio Martino's picture is far more a brutal, amoral crime thriller along the lines of movies like Fernando di Leo's MILANO CALIBRO 9 (1972) or British equivalents like Douglas Hickox's excellent SITTING TARGET (also 1972) than any of Martino's slicker, more stylish gialli.

J&B in a box at the back!

So if you're looking for beautiful women, black-gloved killers, lashings of J&B, a daft psychological back story and perhaps the odd puppet you'll have to look elsewhere. However, if your tastes run to amoral brutal cops, ladies with ridiculous hair and awful underwear, and chase sequences that look very unsafe indeed (especially the one on the rollercoaster) then you'll love this. And I'll admit a big cardboard box of J&B does make an appearance in one scene. 

More fashion!

Arrow's dual disc set comes with new interviews with director Martino and DP Giancarlo Ferrando, and a new audio commentary track from Troy Howarth. You also get a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and a reversible sleeve. 

Sergio Martino's SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR is out on dual format from Arrow on Monday 11th September 2017