Revolver

Revolver (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oliver Reed plays Vito Cipriani, a cop turned prison warden who gets a phone call on day telling him that his wife has been kidnapped. If he wants to see his wife again he must help Milo Ruiz (Fabio Testi) escape from prison. The warden and convict manage to get away from the cops but soon they are both trying to figure out who kidnapped the wife.

REVOLVER has two great lead performances as well as a marvelous score by Ennio Morricone but there are all sorts of issues with the screenplay that keep it from being a much better film. I thought the story itself was rather weak and there just wasn't enough here to carry the 110-minute running time, which led the film to running out of gas towards the final act. Unlike a lot of EuroCrime pictures, this one here doesn't have a great amount of action and instead goes for more character development.

I thought the character development was handled quite well and it works because we've got two great actors turning in great performances. Reed is pitch perfect as the warden who soon finds himself willing to turn on his darker side if it means he gets his wife back. I really liked the frantic way Reed played the character and he didn't have to go over the top. Testi gave a very good performance as well and I thought the two had great chemistry together. The screenplay offers both actors some emotional scenes and they both pulled them off wonderfully.

As I said, the performances and the brilliant score make the film worth watching but I really wish there was more to the story than what we got. What action scenes are here are well directed by Sergio Sollima. REVOLVER falls just short of being a good film but it's certainly worth watching.

I may be cynical, but sometimes I look at my collection and see 50 copies of the same movie. Explosions, love interest, conservative "twist" ending, cut! Revolver may be just as derivative of 1970's flicks as the explosion fests of the 21st century are today, but for some reason it was refreshing to watch. I can't see anyone lavishing "rabid fanboy" praise on it, but Revolver was enjoyable, moving at times, and had two great performances. If you thirst for a change of pace, but want to retain the comfortable action standbys of guns and violence, Revolver may be right up your alley. The fantastic extras don't hurt either.

I've never seen a movie quite like this. The best descriptor I can muster is "spaghetti thriller". It's a seventies crime drama with a bit of Dirty Harry, a helping of Reservoir Dogs, a few drops of eau de western, a scoop of melodrama, and a dash of political commentary. Though it oscillates between boredom and epic, Revolver delivers the kind of entertainment that today's movies can only parody. If you buy into the characters, you'll be treated to a satisfying drama. If modern sensibilities prevent that, you can at least enjoy the campier aspects (bad lip synch, fur coats) and delight in the commanding score. The score alone is worth it.

Were it not for the truly shocking dubbing on the version I saw, this could have been much more enjoyable to watch. One you get used to that, though - it isn't half bad. Oliver Reed is "Cipriani" a cop turned prisoner governor whose wife is kidnapped. In order to secure her return, he must arrange for one of his prisoners "Milo" (Fabio Testi) to be delivered to a gang on the outside. This he duly arranges, but of course that's only the start of the shenanigans for both of them as they try to get to the bottom of who wants what from whom..and why? It has plenty of action, but it's also a little more sophisticated that you might expect. There is genuine intrigue to the story, and Reed comes across well as the man of some integrity, torn between many years of loyalty to his country and saving his wife from the hoodlums who appear to reach high into the upper echelons of Italian - and French - government. It is quite derivative - you could see a Clint Eastwood or Gene Hackman in the Reed role quite easily, but I think that says much for the usually underrated Reed's performance which is strong. I was a bit disappointed by the rather weak denouement, but all told I did quite enjoy watching the film. Just needs someone to re-synch the audio.

Oliver Reed rages at most of Italy and some of France and with good reason - his hot young wife has been kidnapped! He's the warden of a prison in Milan and someone wants him to release Milo (Fabio Testi) for reasons unknown. Even Milo doesn't seem to know why he's being released, no matter how many time Reed beats him up. Maybe it has something to do with that high profile assassination at the start of the film? But then, what does that have to do with that rock star guy?

Reed has to break some rules to get Testi out, but this is no simple case of doing a swap and getting his wife back. After beating the crap out of each other several times, they have to learn to rely on each other to get to the truth of the matter, which will take them through the alps while trying to outrun a massive manhunt.

There's too many twists to ruin so let's not go any further with the plot and let's talk about Oliver Reed. His red-faced rage at every single person involved in the kidnapping is a joy to behold (and drink fuelled by the sounds of it). He screams, swears, threatens, berates, assaults and even shoots his way through the film, and yet can still be loving and tender to his wife or calm when trying to subdue a suicidal inmate (a quick cameo by Sal Borghese). My favourite bit was when he was trying to convince a work colleague that nothing was wrong when at that exact moment the kidnappers call. The look on his face is priceless.

Fabio Testi does good as Milo, a crook resigned to his life of crime who can't think of anything else but a big pay-off. Yet he too has a soft side, seen in the film's strong start as he carries the dead body of a friend along a canal to Ennio Morricone's moving soundtrack. In fact, by the end of the film he's as greatly changed as Oliver Reed's character too, as he does begin to see life outside of crime. Yet another good Euro-crime film that starts off making you wonder why you're being hit with seemingly unconnected scenes that all ties together nicely at the end, if you don't think about it too hard. It's also nearly two hours long so be prepared for that.

If you are a fan of Sergio Sollima then I don't have to tell you that you will enjoy this film. I am so glad that I have discovered Italian action films from the 1960s and 1970s. I only wish that I could see some of these films on the big screen. There is something special about these films.

Revolver takes the viewer on a sort of chase. There is elements of mystery and action, but during the course of the film the relationship between the two

characters, played by Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi, evolves in a way that brings in drama into the story. Like Sollima's other films, there is fast paced action, violence, and a little bit of sex.

There is a gray area between who is good and bad, and that is something

Sollima has stated in interviews. In fact he has said that he has always been a fan of bad guys because sometimes the good guys mess things up more in the

end then the bad guys. He shows that in Revolver.