The Opium Connection

This movie has small-time hood Ben Gazzara crossing the underbelly of Europe, from Turkey to Sicily, to promote a huge score of heroin for him to sell in New York. There's an able air of lurking menace throughout this well-produced movie by Ferdinando Baldi amidst the tangled and competitive world of drug smuggling.

Lots of beautiful location shooting in Turkey, Sicily and New York City -- although if the New York shots are any indication the editors cut for maximum impact rather than geographical reality.

In "The Sicilian connection" , released in Italy as "Afyon Oppio" stands out Ben Gazzara as Coppola who turns in a terrific performance, so it's too bad he didn't stick around to dub himself . In the great tradition of American thrillers , and really influenced by William Friedkin's French Connection , in which is blatantly inspired , this acceptable movie concerns an undercover hood who travels across various countries to do dirty business with drug chieftains , including the unholy alliances Coppola must form to make the deals work. An unorthodox attempting to set up an opium/morphine/heroin route following the Turkish/Sicilian connection about a smuggling ring connected with New York City , while narcotics police going after him . Stars an American underworld up-and-comer relocating to Europe and immersing himself in the risked and mysterious world of heroin production , describing little by little the complex operations such as dead person is stuffed with heroin bags and ship transporting the dope . Along the way , he becomes involved with old-school Sicilian dons , treacherous Manhattan-based crime boss , among others. Ben Gazzara Smashes the Pipeline from the Poppy Fields of Turkey to the Sidewalks of New York! The time is just right for an out and out thriller like this ! . When Giuseppe 'Joe' Coppola cuts loose, anything goes!

In this decently rated film there is noisy action , suspense , thrills , violence and being extremely entertaining . This obscure European drug trafficking thriller stars Ben Gazzara who gives a very fine acting as Joe Coppola, an ambitious , non-conformist New York mobster who travels from Turkey, through Sicily to N. Y . His companions and other nemesis are Jess Hamn , Corrado Gaipa , Luciano Rossi , Bruno Corazzari , Steffen Zacharias , playing perfectly their roles as cunning and elegant villains . Director/writer Ferdinando Baldi and co-writer Duilio Coletti provide a cynical and bleak look at the dark side going throughout the underworld drug trafficking . The film is interest enough , that's why it shows the long and sinister world of the drugs market , depicting step-by-step a vast network of intermediaries with various elaborate ploys , including shipping agents , hidden laboratories , processing in dead bodies, frozen fish shipments , caves , nasty importers , etc. Including scenes in documentary-style about Turkish women cutting the poppies and its transport to the shady destinations. In addition , depictions of religious hypocrisy such as the particular Sicilian burial at the beginning and the greedy NYC one-percenters pretending to be a Bible study group when their deal gets busted by the police officers . It is slight on action packing some brief car pursuits , but heavy on the methodical , and in fact there's a few crossfire and a rather hapless attempt at a French Connection-style car chase at the highway that starts in Manhattan to New York outskirts . The supporting cast has a ton of familiar Eurocult faces from Spaghetti , Peplum , Giallo , Poliziesco and Italian Gothic , such as : Luciano Catenacci, Teodoro Corrà, Luciano Rossi, Bruno Corazzari , Romano Puppo, Carlo Gaddi , Giuseppe Castellano, Jess Hahn and three Eurotrash goddesses : Silvia Monti, José Greci and Malisa Longo.

Also with a peculiar and screeching musical score by Guido and Maurizio de Angelis . And cinematography by cameraman Aiace Parolin is pretty good with a lot of aerial shots of the NY skyscrapers , Twin Towers, and perhaps the best Times Square location edition in all of Eurocult cinema , everyone on the streets looking directly at the camera, and theater marquees boasting new and old titles. This film was well produced by Joseph Green Pictures for its 1975 grindhouse and drive-in run in the US . The motion picture was compellingly realized by Ferdinando Baldi . Direction by Ferdinando Baldi is well crafted, here he is more cynical and violent and inclined toward humor and packs too much action . Baldi makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , moving shootouts and bemusing scenes . Baldi was a craftsman who directed all kind genres but especially Western such as "Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket" , "Django, Prepare a Coffin" , ¨Adios Texas¨ , ¨Rita in the West¨ and of course ¨Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria" or USA original title "Forgotten Pistolero" at his best , furthermore the successful The treausere of the for . ¨Sicilian Connection¨ is an outlandish , surprising and uneven story but will appeal to Italian thriller aficionados . Rating : 6.5/10 , riotous Poliziesco in which there's action violence and excitement enough .Eurotrash connoisseurs won't be disappointed. This exploitation material is worthy of some attention after all these years.

Movie with mobsters. Mobsters who trafficked drugs. From opium grown and harvested in Turkey, chemically treated in Sicily, the best quality pure heroin in the entire history of drugs, 99% pure, is obtained. And then it is delivered "secretly" to the very city where until 2001 two twin towers stood tall, as a symbol of capitalism. Watch the film, you will see them again for a few moments, when Coppola (Ben Gazzara) dresses up as a diver and dives to retrieve the "goods". The film begins spectacularly with a previous shipment of drugs hidden inside a corpse. It continues with many impressive figures of mobsters who appear in Coppola's way, some women also appear, one of them even naked, and finally, the cards are laid face down, the moment of truth. Not before witnessing an "assassination" in the style of Harvey Oswald-Jack Ruby. There is also a car chase, quite successful, original, ingenious filming. Apart from Ben Gazzara who has the main role and is very good, especially when he gets beaten up and is shot (in 2 occasions, the last one for good), Luciano Catenacci stands out, the most convincing Italian actor in mobster roles, thanks to his face, see especially "Confessions of a Police Captain" Original title: "Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica" (1971). Jess Hahn in a unique role as a large producer of opium. Ferdinando Baldi did a good job, so I will be more generous than the others and give it 8 stars.

A typical Italian crime film, heavily influenced by THE FRENCH CONNECTION to the extent that it looks and feels like a great big rip-off. It starts off with a bang with an excellent and sadistic murder sequence before slowing down to a crawl for the rest of the running time. American import Ben Gazarra heads off to Turkey and gets involved with a local smuggling ring, and the usual twists follow. Not bad, but not one of the best.

Sicilian Connection's basic idea is to follow a large shipment of opium from turkey to Italy and then, finally, to America. Joe Coppolla, a small-time dealer trying to make it big-time, is the egocentric and unsympathetic lead character and owner of the shipment. Will he succeed in selling the drugs or will the police or the mafia get to him first? Wooden acting, awful dubbing, uninspired camerawork and bad direction made me not care at all...

If you're a fan of Italian crime movies and seen all the classics (like Castellari's fantastic movie High Crime), this might do the trick. In fact ANYTHING would to the trick. Sicilian Connection is for italian crime buffs what warm, cheap beer might be for an alcoholic: It will take the urge away for a while, but it won't give you any real satisfaction. Addicts take note, others better stay far, far way.

3/10