Blue Underground
4K UHD Release: August 27, 2024
Video: 1.85:1/2160p (HDR10/Dolby Vision)/Color
Audio: English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Run Time: 102:55
Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Note: Some of the context and definitions in this review have been recycled from my review of Enzo G. Castellari’s The Big Racket (Italian: Il grande racket, 1976).
The head-strong Commissioner Belli (Franco Nero) uncovers brutal murders in Genoa that are linked to Europe's lucrative heroin trade. When he and his family become targets, the obsessive cop turns up the heat in his fight to take down the smugglers importing the deadly dope from France. How much will Commissioner Belli sacrifice to bust the Marseille Connection? (From Blue Underground’s official synopsis)
Enzo G. Castellari’s High Crime (Italian: La polizia incrimina la legge assolve; aka: The Marseille Connection, 1973) was sort of the Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italian: L'Uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970) of the poliziottescho genre in that, like Dario Argento’s film, it wasn’t the first of its kind or even the first movie in its franchise (it’s technically a sequel to Romolo Guerrieri’s Detective Belli [Italian: Un Detective, 1969]), but it was released at the perfect time and became so successful that it changed the trajectory of its genre, influencing countless imitators. Alongside Sergio Martino’s The Violent Professionals (Italian: Milano trema: la polizia vuole giustizia), which was released only ten days later, also in 1973, and earlier hits, like Stefano Vanzina’s (aka: Steno’s) Execution Squad (Italian: La polizia ringrazia, 1972) and the work of Damiano Damiani, Castellari’s film helped motivate perhaps Italy’s most dominant cinematic language of the next decade.
Poliziotteschi – a portmanteau plural of poliziotto/police and the suffix esco/esque (singular: poliziottescho) and sometimes called Eurocrime or ‘polizieschi all'italiana’ – was initially born out of the box office success New Hollywood crime films, such as William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971), Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry (1971), and Sidney Lumet’s Serpico (1973). What is often overlooked, however, is the manner in which Italian genre fads are defined by the Hollywood films that initially inspired them. In reality, Italian filmmakers were imitating other Italian filmmakers more than their Hollywood counterparts. For example, the spaghetti zombie craze was kicked off by George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (technically Argento’s recut, titled Zombi, 1978), but the rip-offs tended to emulate Lucio Fulci’s unofficial sequel Zombi 2 (aka: Zombie, 1979). Similarly, while The French Connection and Dirty Harry were at the heart of the poliziottescho fad, most filmmakers were actually replicating Castellari’s rendition of New Hollywood crime pictures*.
Poliziotteschi’s wild popularity is often attributed to a wave of crime and political angst known colloquially as Anni di Piombo or The Years of Lead. Anni di Piombo ran from 1969 and 1988, and was characterized by mafia warfare, political assassinations, and a failed neo-fascist coup. The anger and bitterness of the period was mirrored by increasingly violent movies that spoke to the audience’s fears, sometimes challenging their notions of authoritative corruption and, other times, fulfilling their reactionary demand to see fascist cops delivering vengeance to cartoonishly evil criminals. High Crime, in particular, highlights the era’s political turmoil (and arguably challenges its own plot’s right-wing message) with a factory union strike backdrop that is threatening to boil over concurrently to the already destructive mob war.
Castellari cut his teeth on spaghetti westerns, delivering a collection of good, but rarely innovative films – Any Gun Can Play (Italian: Vado... l'ammazzo e torno, 1967) and Johnny Hamlet (Italian: Quella sporca storia nel West, 1968), among others. He later found his niche in poliziotteschi and his enormous skill really sets High Crime apart from the increasingly similar rabble that followed. Despite obvious similarities to The French Connection (up to and including the hiring of actor Fernando Rey), Castellari actually avoids Friedkin’s jittery verité intensity, evoking instead comparisons to Peter Yates’ Bullitt (1968) and Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway (1972). There were other filmmakers that thrived while specializing in poliziotteschi, (Umberto Lenzi and Fernando Di Leo come to mind), but few could match Castellari’s crisp action and deliberate artistry, exemplified here by the bone-crunching opening car chase and stylish final shoot-out.
High Crime’s ruthless violence set the stage for a truly brutal era of poliziotteschi and Commissioner Belli’s Popeye Doyle-esque obsession, Paul Kersey-esque fury, and disregard for proper regulations really resonated with audiences. The character was so popular that the industry created a knock-off version of him when Nero lost interest, named Commissioner Betti as portrayed by lookalike Maurizio Merli**. Betti first appeared in Marino Girolami’s Violent Rome (Italian: Roma violenta, 1975) and Merli continued playing him and other equally Belli-esque Inspectors Tanzi, Olmi, Murri, Mariani, et cetera, in dozens of films over about a six-year period.
Nero became a superstar following the release of Sergio Corbucci’s Django in 1966 and skipped town for a brief stint in Hollywood. After returning to Italy, Nero wasn’t particularly interested in westerns, opting to only make a few between proto-polizio collaborations with Damiano Damiani, including The Day of the Owl (Italian: Il giorno della civetta, 1968), The Case is Closed, Forget It (Italian: L'istruttoria è chiusa: dimentichi, 1971), and Confessions of a Police Captain (Italian: Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica, 1971). Damiani’s work largely predated the poliziottescho craze, but was still a vital component in its eventual dominance, especially Confessions of a Police Captain***, all of which positioned Nero as the genre’s biggest name before High Crime was even released.
Nero and Castellari reteamed for another genre blockbuster, Street Law (Italian: Il cittadino si ribella), in 1974 then returned to westerns together for Cry, Onion! (Italian: Cipolla Colt, 1975), a not very funny comedy, and a truly transcendent late-stage classic known as Keoma (1976). The duo also made the tepid action adventure The Shark Hunter (Italian: Il cacciatore di squali, 1979) – Castelari would also make a more direct Jaws rip-off without Nero known as The Last Shark (Italian: L'ultimo squalo, 1981) – and their final film was a return to French Connection-esque poliziottescho thrills for Day of the Cobra (Italian: Il giorno del Cobra, 1980).
* It’s worth noting that New Hollywood crime movies, including The French Connection and Dirty Harry, were themselves inspired by French Nouvelle Vague-era crime movies and the work of Jean-Pierre Melville. In turn, Nouvelle Vague was in part inspired by Italian Neorealism and classic Hollywood cinema. And so on.
** Merli is an interesting character, who owes his career to a passing resemblance to Nero. He originally replaced the star in Tonino Ricci’s sequel to Lucio Fulci’s first two White Fang movies, White Fang to the Rescue (Italian: Zanna Bianca alla riscossa, 1974). Eventually, his stardom arguably eclipsed the far less prolific Nero.
*** If High Crime is the the Bird with the Crystal Plumage of the poliziottescho boom, then Confessions of a Police Captain might qualify as the genre’s version of Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace (Italian: Sei donne per l'assassino, 1964) – an enormously influential film that was nonetheless unable to kickstart a fad on its own.
Bibliography
Cinema Italiano: The Complete Guide from Classics to Cult by Howard Hughes (I.B. Tauris, 2011)
Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980 by Roberto Curti (McFarland & Company, 2013)
Video
Surprisingly, despite being such a popular and influential title, and a stateside VHS release from Parade, High Crime never made it to English-friendly DVD. Only Italian and Japanese companies put out discs. Two Blu-rays were issued in 2021, the first from German studio FilmArt and the second from Studio Canal in France, though that version was missing several minutes from the end of the film. Blue Underground’s same-day worldwide 4K UHD and American BD releases features what the company is calling a brand-new 4K master (they don’t specify negative or print source, but I’m guessing negative) complete with a 2160 and Dolby Vision HDR upgrades. It is also uncut and includes the alternate ending as an extra in 4K (see below).
I do not have access to those earlier Blu-rays for comparison, nor am I able to get screencaps from the UHD. The images on this page are taken from the included Blu-ray (also available separately) and here for illustrative purposes, featuring the same basic color timing and general cleanliness as the sharper, HDR-boosted 2160p transfer. The UHD image emphasizes natural detail and texture, appearing clean, but not too clean, in an effort to preserve High Crime’s intended rugged look. Some neutral hues and skin tones skew a bit pink or orange, depending on the scene, but there is a general consistency to the colors and the HDR helps improve the vibrancy of red, blue, and green highlights. The image quality does dip a bit during the climax, leading to more noise, overamped whites, mushier detail, and a bit of wiggle. I suppose this makes sense, since the last five or so minutes were entirely missing from the French BD. Blue Underground must have been forced to rely on a lesser source for those sequences, which I vastly prefer to the alternative.
Audio
High Crime is presented with Italian and English dub options, both in their original mono and uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. As per usual, Italian films from this period were largely shot without sound with international casts and dubbed into multiple languages in post (in this case, English seems to have been the preferred language on set). I don’t know which of the leads dubbed their own performances, but Nero claims to have dubbed both languages and American actor James Whitmore recorded his own English dialogue (Anthony La Penna offers his always reliable baritone to Fernando Rey for the English dub). Either way, the English track has a decent volume advantage over the Italian track, which suffers from a touch of squeeze in dialogue and effects.
Guido and Maurizio de Angelis, aka: Oliver Onions’ funky, driving, rock ‘n roll score sounds basically identical on each track. It is, of course, limited by its lack of stereo enhancement, but is still a rich and crisp experience that includes neatly separated instrumentation and surprisingly round bass.
Extras
Disc 1 (4K UHD)
Commentary with Enzo G. Castellari and Andrea Girolami – This newly recorded commentary with the director and his son is moderated by Maniac (1980) director and head of Blue Underground, Bill Lustig. It’s a pleasant, jovial track between friends that Lustig keeps moving with good questions and comments. For his part, Castellari’s hasn’t forgotten much about the production, despite the fifty-year interim between then and now.
Commentary with Franco Nero – This second new track seems like a big deal to me, because I don’t recall Nero ever working on a commentary track before. This one is moderated by Lustig and filmmaker Mike Malloy, director of the documentary Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s (2012), and feels a bit more like an uncut interview than standard commentary, which isn’t a problem, especially considering that there are two other tracks to choose from. Franco is full of anecdotes, and, like Castellari, it is impressive how sharp his memories are. There is also a touching moment where he is audibly weeping after seeing his late step-daughter Natasha Richardson’s childhood cameo.
Commentary with Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani – The final Blue Underground exclusive commentary features Howarth, the author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films (Midnight Marquee Press, 2015), Mondo Digital head Thompson, and prolific retrospective featurette director Ercolani. This is the track of choice if you’re looking specifically for expert factoids, larger industry/genre context, and general cast & crew information. Fantastic work from all three participants, who more or less equally share the time.
Alternate ending (2:52, 4K)
English export trailer
Disc 2 (Blu-ray)
Commentary with Enzo G. Castellari and Andrea Girolami
Commentary with Franco Nero
Commentary with Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani
The Genoa Connection (25:13, HD) – In this pair of Italian language interviews, Castellari and Nero discuss the poliziottescho movement, the real world events and films that inspired it (with special focus on The French Connection), casting Nero at the height of his stardom, working with the rest of the cast & crew, Nero bringing musical suggestions to the de Angelis brothers, both men’s daughters appearing in the film, and some of the duo’s other collaborations, including the unmade The Angel, the Brute and the Sage (which probably puts the time of this interview around 2011).
From Dust to Asphalt (28:17, HD) – In this re-edited archival interview, Castellari speaks more about his wider career, sharing anecdotes from a number of films.
Hard Stunts for High Crimes (19:08, HD) – Actor/stuntman Massimo Vanni chats about idolizing actor Giuliano Gemma, becoming a stuntman at a young age, familial connections to the Castellaris, working with Nero and Castellari on High Crime, and playing supporting roles.
Framing Crime (20:33, HD) – Camera operator Roberto Girometti also looks back on his larger career and industry connections, before going into his work on High Crime under cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa.
The Sound of Onions (22:36, HD) – Composers Guido and Maurizio De Angelis discuss their move from rock and pop into film composition and the process of writing music for movies.
The Connection Connection (12:53) – Mike Malloy explores the, um, connections, between The French Connection, High Crime, and other poliziottesci in this featurette that includes clips from Eurocrime and which is very similar to his featurette about Maurizio Merli on Cauldron’s Blu-ray release of Stelvio Massi’s Convoy Busters (Italian: Un poliziotto scomodo, 1978).
Alternate ending
Poster and Still Gallery
English export trailer
Disc 3 (CD)
Original soundtrack by Guido and Maurizio de Angelis (20 tracks)
The images on this page are taken from the included BD – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.