Por Ordem da Cosa Nostra

"Manhunt" is a fantastic title for a fantastic Italian action/thriller with even more fantastic testosterone-laden characters and a fantastically dazzling level of excitement. Admittedly I'm slightly biased, as I'm a sucker for Italian cult cinema in general, but hey, apparently so are all my fellow reviewers around here! The second installment in Fernando Di Leo's Italian mafia trilogy is definitely on par with the other two, "Milano Calibro .9" and "The Boss", and I rated those respectively 10/10 and 9/10. The three films take place in similar locations and often even star the same cast members, but nonetheless they're entirely divergent and distinctly unique achievements. "Manhunt" mainly excels through a vastly simplistic yet hugely fascinating plot, but also through a handful of jaw-dropping shock sequences and perplexing performances. Two relentless American hit men arrive in Milan with the assignment to eliminate the guy who was supposedly responsible for a shipment of heroin gone missing. Basically a routine job, but the boss wants to set an example out of this case and instructs for the kill to be mighty and spectacular. One problem, however, the target Luca Canali is only a small time pimp wrongfully appointed as the culprit by the competition and he unexpectedly safeguards himself tremendously from the massive manhunt held against him. Mega-gifted director Di Leo masterfully illustrates the titular manhunt, as we gradually witness how Luca Canali transforms from a casual & presumptuous little thug into an almost likable and forcedly infuriated anti-hero. Mario Adorf gives away a stunning performance as Luca; a literally unstoppable man of steel – the dude crushes telephones and windshields with his bare head - who honestly has no idea what overcomes him but continues to battle for his survival nevertheless. His opponents, played by "Poliziottesco" veteran Henry Silva and Woody Strode, are convincingly menacing as well. The film is also stuffed with bestial showdowns and adrenalin-rushing chase sequences. The violence in "Manhunt" is uncompromising as hell and literally nothing or no one escapes the extreme brutality, not even children, women or adorable young kittens. Some of the settings are overly clichéd (like the topless dancing) and the nudity footage is a bit too gratuitous (random hippie orgies), but those are just insignificant little defaults in an overall first-rate 70's thriller. "Manhunt", as well as the aforementioned other two installments of Fernando Di Leo's mafia trilogy, is a definite must for action fanatics with nerves of steel.

Poor Mario Adorf. He just wants to pimp out his girls in Milan and give the cash to his ex-wife and his sickly young daughter. He's not a bad guy really, although he doesn't like it when guys try to rough up his girls. Mario's just getting on with his petty criminal life when all of a sudden he's being hunted down not only by the local crime boss, but by two hard faced American hit men too.

The hit men, Henry Silva and Woody Strode, have been sent to track him down and kill him in the most violent and brutal way possible as lesson from the US Mafia to those in Italy thinking of stealing heroin shipments. This might be all well and good, if in fact Mario had actually stolen anything. Instead the poor guy spends most of the film being hunted down like a dog while having no idea whatsoever why people want to kill him.

There's more pressure on Mario as the local don (Adolfo Celi) doesn't like the presence of two American gangsters on his turf and sends his men out to capture Mario. Every petty criminal in Milan knows that Mario's a marked man, so who can he trust? His hookers?

While this is a little thin story wise, the film itself is rather good. Henry Silva truly looks like a guy who would stab you in the face one minute then put the moves on your wife the next. Woody Strode is the straight man to all Silva's shenanigans, and Adolfo Celi nearly outdoes Silva in the hard-case gangster role, especially at near the end where the demented Mario finally confronts him. It's Mario Adorf that steals the show here as the clueless, but not helpless, Mario, as he jumps from being a flawed but caring father to a man who has been pushed about as far as someone can be.

Although the first half sets up all the characters and has a punch up or two, the film gradually gets more and more violent as you would expect, and of course it's standard practice to throw in a car chase too. This one goes from a car chase to a foot chase and even has Mario smashing his head through a windscreen in order to get at a gangster. From then it's non-stop until the gunfight in the scrapyard.

Funky soundtrack too. Loud, with it.

Two professional hit men from the States are hired to track down a small-time pimp Luca Canali in Milan, as this man was accused of the disappearance of a shipment of heroin between Milan and New York. Well that's what they are to believe by local crime boss Don Tressoldi. Their job is to brutally kill Luca and make a message of it. However Luca doesn't know why they want him and he won't go down too easy, as he tries to get to the bottom of it.

This confidently gritty 70s Italian crime thriller might start off slowly, but when it hits its strides. Boy it doesn't let up. What starts off talky where you are waiting for things to happen gets better as it moves along, where plot threads unfold and it suddenly becomes impulsively hazardous. There's one sensational car / foot chase sequence that packs brute force and never gives you a chance to catch a breath. It's very well done. Most of the action follows the same dynamic pattern. Thrilling, tough and intense with constant roughness. Fist fighting, scuffles and shootouts… as the sweat pours and the bruises are inflicted. Hear and see it! Not escaping is the seedy hook, brassily loud instrumental score, compact camera-work and authentic European locations.

Some well known players feature in the cast. Woody Strode and Henry Silva are the American assassins. Strode plays the quiet, steady head and Silva's a live-wire, womanizer. Complete opposites, but the same rather deadly and downright bad-asses. This shows in the lethal cat and mouse climax in a car scrap-yard with Mario Adorf's character. Adorf holds his own with a respectable turn, constantly making a slip when the manhunt begins, but after a tragedy hits. Now he's fuelled by revenge… going in head first. The script is just as jagged, as like the editing but there's a sardonic edge to it and the excessive melodramatics ups the emotions and motivations.

Hard-boiled, if bittersweet Italian crime entertainment.

I'm a big fan of Italian crime flicks, and I'm an especially big fan of this one as it's one of the best out there! The Italian Connection is a part of a loose trilogy by director Fernando Di Leo, the other two parts being the excellent Milano Calibro 9 and The Boss, which I've not seen yet. As good as Milano Calibro 9 is, this film is better and I'll be very surprised if it's topped by The Boss. Like many Italian cult films, this one has a list of a.k.a. titles as long as my arm. I saw it under the title 'The Italian Connection', but it's alternative title 'Manhunt' is probably the most suitable considering the plot. It's quite a simple tale of crime and revenge. First we are introduced to two American contract killers who are given the task of going to Milan to track down a pimp named Luca Canali who apparently stole a large amount of heroin from the killer's employers. However, it soon transpires that they've been misinformed when the local crime boss also wants to get his hands on Carneli, before it comes to the killer's employer's attention that it was really him that stole the heroin...

The main reason why this film works is down to the simple plotting. The plot itself actually has quite a lot of angles, but director Fernando Di Leo keeps the focus on one thing at a time and that ensures that the film is always thrilling and easy to follow. Fernando Di Leo is clearly very good at directing crime flicks, aside from the aforementioned trilogy of which this film is a part; he also has a handful of other crime flicks to his name, including the very good Kidnap Syndicate. This film is set up like a chase movie, we have the contract killer chasing our unlikely hero (the pimp) for the first part of the movie, then he's being chased the local crime boss' men and the story is given a nice twist in the final third. Cult actor Mario Adorf is great as the pimp Luca Canali; he makes an unlikely hero, but an engaging and interesting one. Henry Silva and Woody Strode are effective as the contract killers, while the cast is nicely topped off by Adolfo Ceri as Milan's crime boss. I would say that this is a fun film to watch, but it's also rather brutal; a sequence involving a cat in a scrap yard at the end sums that up. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to name The Italian Connection as one of my all time favourite Italian crime flicks, and this one therefore comes highly recommended.

Poliziottesco, a fusion of the words poliziotto ("policeman") and the same -esco desinence, indicates 1970s-era Italian-produced "tough cop" and crime movies. Recurring elements in poliziotteschi films include graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels.

With directors like Fernando Di Leo, these films replaced the spaghetti westerns. They saw their decline after erotica and horror took over in the late 70s.But it was the spaghetti westerns that gave Di Leo his training. He wrote the script for A Fistful of Dollars, and was assistant director under Sergio Leone in For a Few Dollars More.

The films of Fernando Di Leo had a great influence on later directors like Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.

Henry Silva(Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Above the Law) puts in one of his best performances in this film. He is excellent as a sleazy hit-man. Woody Strode (Spartacus, Kingdom of the Spiders) is very good as Silva's partner.

Lots of action, one car chase, and plenty of big naturals. Mario Adorf stole the show with his huge range of facial expressions.