Noticias

The first film in Fernando Di Leo’s so-called Milieu trilogy, Caliber 9 explores the criminal underbelly of Milan, a city more typically associated with the modish institutions of high finance and haute couture. The film’s full Italian title, Milan Caliber 9, emphasizes the centrality of location, while also referring to a collection of stories by crime writer Giorgio Scerbanenco, several of which Di Leo loosely adapted for the film. Generically, Caliber 9 is a fascinating mashup of the gritty poliziotteschi genre and stylish neo-noirs in the vein of Jean-Pierre Melville. Its tight-lipped protagonist certainly seems patterned after Alain Delon’s buttoned-down hitman in Le Samouraï, right down to the brown trench coat.

Di Leo’s film opens with a brilliantly executed pre-credits sequence that details a laundered currency handoff gone wrong, as well as the mob’s violent reprisals, along the way providing a handy cross-section of Milan’s criminal demimonde,...

The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights:

‘The Life Ahead’ panel

“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.

‘It Was Spring Outside’

This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...

Italy’s Minerva Pictures — the company specialized in genre fare such as teen chiller “Shortcut” that recently made a U.S. splash — is launching world sales at AFM on “Mondocane,” a dystopian drama about the struggle of two 13-year-old orphan boys in a Southern Italian gangland.

“Mondocane” toplines Alessandro Borghi (“Devils”).

In “Mondocane,” Borghi (pictured) plays the leader of one of two gangs vying for control of the Southern Italian port city of Taranto which in a dystopian near-future that has become a no man’s land surrounded by barbed wire and abandoned by police. The film is being marketed as an “Oliver Twist tale in a ‘Mad Max’ setting,” Minerva Pictures international sales chief Francesca Delise told Variety.

Delise noted that for Minerva, “Mondocane” segues from the international success it saw with Alessio Liguori’s “Shortcut,” which despite the pandemic recently went out theatrically on almost 700 U.S. screens via Gravitas Ventures.

New works by Ferzan Ozpetek and Alessandro Rak are among the titles set to be presented on 12 December, with a co-production market featuring 13 projects. The 12th edition of the Italian Film Meetings – “De Rome à Paris” (read our news) will open with two professional days held on 12 and 13 December in Paris. The programme includes a Work In Progress session for French distributers, with 9 feature films set to screen on Thursday 12 December at the l’Arlequin cinema. Standing out among them is the Belgian co-production Caliber 9 by Toni D’Angelo, a work presented as a sequel to Milan Caliber 9 by Fernando Di Leo (1972). The story, which unfolds in the Lombardian city in the present-day, revolves around a brilliant criminal defence lawyer, raised by his mother in order that his destiny might be different to that of his criminal father. But the prime suspect...

Review by Roger Carpenter

Italian director Fernando Di Leo is best known for his violent poliziotteschi, or crime films, like Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Kidnap Syndicate, to name a few. However, like the majority of working Italian directors in the 70’s and 80’s, he worked in many genres including WWII pictures (Code Name, Red Roses), horror (Slaughter Hotel; Madness), and erotic dramas (Burn, Boy, Burn; A Wrong Way to Love). Seduction falls into this latter category.

Maurice Ronet stars as Giuseppe Lagan, a European playboy come back from Paris to settle his dead father’s affairs. He arrives in Catania, Sicily, and immediately rekindles his old friendship with Alfredo (Pino Caruso), a schoolmate of Giuseppe’s who is now a prominent jeweler in town. As they reminisce about their old flames, Giuseppe asks about Caterina (Lisa Gastoni), an ex-lover he’s never forgotten. It seems Caterina...

Featuring: John Saxon, Franco Nero, Henry Silva, Ottaviano Dell’Acqua, Leonard Mann, Richard Harrison | Written and Directed by Mike Malloy

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s, to give the film it’s full title, is a welcome and affectionate look at the Italian poliziotteschi films of the 1970s, films such as High Crime, Milano Calibro 9, Street Law and Napoli Violenta which, whilst heavily influenced by 70s Us cop and gangster films like Dirty Harry and The Godfather, also touched upon real Italian issues – the Sicilian Mafia and the Red Brigade – and amped up the sex and violence to often ridiculous levels.

Those film fans familiar with Italian genre cinema will know that Italian cinema has a reputation of hitching itself to the nearest bandwagon and bleeding it dry. If Italian filmmakers could find a fad that people liked they’d stick with it. From...

Tuesday, May 24th has several fantastic DVD and Blu-ray releases that should get horror fans excited, especially the highly anticipated Collector’s Edition release of Manhunter from the fine folks at Scream Factory. Arrow Video is also releasing a stunning limited edition set entitled Killer Dames, featuring two overlooked giallo cult classics, and for those of you American Gothic fans out there (like myself), the entire series is finally making its way to DVD this week.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases for this Tuesday include Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema Collection, Specters, Paranormal Sex Tape, and The Devil’s Woods.

American Gothic: The Complete Series (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, DVD)

Visit Trinity, South Carolina, a small town with more chills than charm. Sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole) won’t let anyone – including local doctor Matt Crower (Jake Weber) or the determined Gail Emory (Paige Turco...

To mark the release of Killer Dames on 23rd May, we’ve been given 2 boxsets to give away on Blu-ray. In The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, an age-old family curse hits sisters Kitty (Barbara Bouchet, Milano Calibro 9) and Franziska (Marina Malfatti) following the death of their grandfather Tobias (Rudolf Schündler, The Exorcist, Suspiria). […]

The post Win Killer Dames on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Mvd Entertainment Group looks to please Emilio P. Miraglia fans with Arrow Video’s May Us Blu-ray releases, including the Killer Dames box set collecting The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. Horror fans can also look forward to Arrow’s high-definition release of 1966’s Blood Bath that features all four versions of the Roger Corman-produced film.

Press Release: Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with several new titles in May…

Hired To Kill (Director Approved Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD)

No man on earth could get him out of prison alive. Seven women will try.

Release Date: May 17th

List Price: $29.95

Starring legendary actors Oliver Reed (Gladiator, The Brood) and George Kennedy (The Delta Force and the Naked Gun series), Hired to Kill is a hugely entertaining action flick featuring guns, girls and a plethora...

Stars: Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, Ivo Garrani, Philippe Leroy, Lionel Stander, Mario Novelli, Giuseppe Castellano, Salvatore Arico, Fernando Cerulli | Written and Directed by Fernando Di Leo

One of the things I love about Arrow Video releases is the ability they give me to extend my exposure to movies that are harder to find, especially world cinema releases. Fernando Di Leo’s Milano Calibro 9 is the latest Italian gangster film to be released by the company and brings on the gritty ultra-violence to the gangster movie.

When Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin) is released from jail he looks to lead a straight, the last thing he wants is to return to his life of crime. This is soon out of the question though when psychopathic hoodlum Rocco (Mario Adorf) informs him his former boss wants to see him. With $300,000 missing from a previous job all...

Arrow Video, the world's leading cult video label, has announced their Q2 line-up for 2014 and it is amazing as usual. In addition to titles that geeks already knew were coming, like Joe Dante's The 'Burbs, Brian De Palma's, Sisters, and the hotly anticipated artrotica and groundbreaking animation of Walerian Borowczyk, we also get some classic 70's Aip Vincent Price films, Chuck Norris's calling card, The Delta Force, '80s sex comedy classic, Porky's, Fernando Dileo's Milano Calibro 9, and lesser known werewolf feature, The Beast Within. In addition, Arrow continues beefing up their Academy line with Elio Petri's (The 10th Victim) L'AssassinoJust sign me up for an automatic bank draft already, because I need this discs like I need the air that I breathe. Take...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

After a night of good scotch, good cigars and even finer women, Detective Peter Linton kick starts month of Italian crime films from director Fernando Di Leo. Focusing on the titles in the Raro Video box set. To start off we are looking at Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9) a tale about an ex con who wants out but both the police and the mafia believe he has hidden a large sum of cash. A tale of lies, deceit and violence, this action packed ultra violent crime flick really packs a punch. Not only that but a technically brilliant film to boot. So join Linton in this celebration of one of the finest eras in the already prestigious history of Italian cinema… just be easy on the milk.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067429/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLL560XjOE...

Eurocrime!

Featuring: John Saxon, Franco Nero, Henry Silva, Ottaviano Dell’Acqua, Leonard Mann, Richard Harrison | Written and Directed by Mike Malloy

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s, to give the film it’s full title, is a welcome and affectionate look at the Italian poliziotteschi films of the 1970s, films such as High Crime, Milano Calibro 9, Street Law and Napoli Violenta which, whilst heavily influenced by 70s Us cop and gangster films like Dirty Harry and The Godfather, also touched upon real Italian issues – the Sicilian Mafia and the Red Brigade – and amped up the sex and violence to often ridiculous levels.

Those film fans familiar with Italian genre cinema will know that Italian cinema has a reputation of hitching itself to the nearest bandwagon and bleeding it dry. If Italian filmmakers could find a fad that people liked they’d stick with it.

★★★☆☆ If the titles Milano Calibro 9 (1972), Street Law (1974) and Napoli Violenta (1976) mean anything to you, then you might want to check out Mike Malloy's new doc Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s (2012), which affectionately documents Italy's decade-long love affair with the cop film genre. The film explores exactly why Italian directors suddenly started churning out this style of exploitation cinema and also what the public found so appealing about it.

Read more »...

We know you guys are always on the lookout for rare and unusual films so when we got the announcement that RaroVideo will be releasing Fernando Di Leo's Madness, starring Joe Dallesandro, in August, of course we had to share the news!

From the Press Release:

Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film boutique RaroVideo announces Fernando Di Leo's Madness (1980) DVD release on August 14, 2012.

The film stars Joe Dallesandro, better known as the “Little Joe” mentioned in Lou Reed’s hit 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side.” Dallesandro is considered by many to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, having starred in Flesh, Trash, and Heat among many others. A photograph taken by Andy Warhol of Dallesandro’s crotch bulge encased in a tight-fitting pair of jeans...

RaroVideo:Referenced in Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2, Uomini si Nasce Poliziotti si Muore (Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man, 1976) opens with an insane motorcycle chase that was filmed in rush hour in downtown Rome with no permission from the local authorities. To top it off, this is one of the most violent and unconventional Italian style action films of its time. The credit goes to the director, Ruggero Doedato, best known for his infamous and censored film Cannibal Holocaust, and the scriptwriter Fernando Di Leo, author and director of some of the best Italian gangster films from the 70s such as Caliber 9, The Boss and The Italian Connection. Never before in film history have we seen such nihilistic and pathological behavior...

Pale Flower Directed by: Masahiro Shinoda Written by: Ataru Baba, Masahiro Shinoda Starring: Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki I have practically no experience with Japanese New Wave filmmaking but it's clear that the influence of Pale Flower has seeped its way through the landscape of modern crime films (Jim Jarmusch's filmography comes to mind). After my first viewing I found Masahiro Shinoda's film to be as mysterious as it is cool with it's stark black and white photography, inspired visuals and complex characterizations. It also left me realizing that it might take a second viewing to totally grasp the subtleties of Pale Flower. The film stars Ryo Ikebe as Muraki, a Yakuza gangster fresh out of prison. Having been put away for murdering a member of a rival gang, he quickly realizes upon his release that the two factions have since called a truce, leaving him to adjust to the changes.

Grades: Caliber 9: B+; The Italian Connection: B+; The Boss: B; Rulers Of The City: B- During Italian cinema’s boom years of the ’60s and ’70s, producers specialized in cranking out action films that could export easily, even if that meant tackling genres that weren’t exactly locally grown—like Westerns. Writer-director Fernando Di Leo worked with Sergio Leone on the earliest spaghetti Westerns, then tried his hand at a variety of genres, having his greatest successes with erotic dramas and the two-fisted crime pictures known as poliziotteschi. Unlike the Westerns, the best Italian crime movies came packed with ...

0:00 - Intro 1:45 - Headlines: Justice League Movie in 2013, Arnold is The Governator, Monsters University, James Cameron Pushing Higher Frame Rates, Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy? 30:30 - Review: Source Code 50:45 - Trailer Trash: Green Lantern, The Hangover: Part II 1:02:30 - Other Stuff We Watched: Crimson Wing: The Mystery of the Flamingos, Moon, The Fighter, Catfish, Norm MacDonald: Me Doing Standup, Party Down: Season 1, The Staircase, Paradise Lost, Paradise Lost 2, Darkon, Encounters at the End of the World, Fair Game, The True Story of Wrestlemania, Krull, Celebrity Apprentice, Dragonslayer, IMAX: Hubble, Contact, Caliber 9, Dead Calm, Kill Zone 2:33:15 - Junk Mail: Episode 234 in 4 minutes, Unbreakable, Filing Criterion DVDs, Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace and Film Junk Touring, Movies You Are Embarrassed to Admit You Like and Jim Jarmusch, First Film You Obsessed Over and Sci-Fi World Building, Episode 104 in 2 Minutes...

In the 1970’s, the Italian cinema went through something of a late-stage renascence. Masters like Vittorio De Sica were still working, but you had new blood like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Bernardo Bertolucci handling the art-house circuit, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci leading with the Gialos, and Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci making their spaghetti westerns. The was a fruitful field of cinema – but like any culture that wasn’t born of America, many of their best films were mostly screened by their country, and that which came over was often horribly dubbed and marketed as schlock. Though a number of Fernando Di Leo films made their way stateside – partly because of B stars like Henry Silva, Woody Strode and Jack Palance – it took the attentions of people like Quentin Tarantino and interested parties to help get some of his films on DVD stateside with the correct audio and aspect...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection"

Directed by Fernando Di Leo

Released by RaroVideo

Fans of badass '70s cinema and the stoic Henry Silva rejoice! Underappreciated Italian crime master director Fernando Di Leo finally comes to the U.S. via this set of four films -- "Caliber 9," "The Italian Connection," "The Boss," and "Rulers of the City" -- that shows what made him an influence of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.

"The Absent" (2011)

Directed by Sage Bannick

Released by Passion River

Twin brothers are bonded by the experience of having their parents try to kill them for insurance money, only to become killers themselves in this slasher film from Sage Bannick.

"Be My Teacher" (2011)

Directed by Lakisha R. Lemons

Released by Maverick Entertainment Group

A student's (Derek Lee Nixon) flirtations with his English teacher (Lateace Towns-Cuellar) has serious...

70s Italian gangsters! It's a world where men speak with their glares and their fists and their bullets, and women do well to stay out of the way, preferably in bed, eager for sex. It's the world of Fernando Di Leo, and it's captured in a four-disc set coming to Region 1 DVD from Raro Video USA on Tuesday. Entitled Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection, the set features fine-looking transfers of Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Rulers of the City, all directed by Di Leo and starring a handful of American stars (Lionel Stander, Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Richard Conte, Jack Palance) alongside stalworth Italian actors (Mario Adorf, Gastone Moschin, Gianni Garko) and stark raving beauties (Barbara Bouchet, Antonia Santilli,...

<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="RaroVideo.jpg" src="http://twitchfilm.com/news/RaroVideo.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt;" width="190" height="158" /></span> <div>Exciting news for fans of international cult film with word that Italy's RaroVideo - one of the finest boutique video labels in the world - is coming to the Us. I have a handful of Raro titles in my collection at the moment and their reputation for delivering the highest quality product, both in terms of transfers and extras, is very well deserved in my opinion. Here's the official announcement:<br /><br /><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><i>Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian DVD label RaroVideo announces the company will begin distributing its acclaimed DVDs in the U.S. for the first time ever in February 2011 through E One Entertainment.</i><br /><br /><i>To launch RaroVideo in the U.S., the company will spotlight two powerhouse directors of Italian cinema with Federico Fellini's hard-to-find The Clowns (1970) and The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-disc set that...