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High Crime
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Blue Underground Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (27th August 2024). |
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The Film
 Vice-commissioner Belli (Hitch-Hike's Franco Nero) has been trying to stop the smuggling of drugs into Genoa via Marseille. When he is able to capture the operation's Lebanese contact, the man is prevented from identifying his Italian connection by a car bomb that also kills three of Belli's men and a little girl (an early appearance by Gothic's Natasha Richardson, daughter of Nero's girlfriend Vanessa Redgrave). While Belli wants to go after the suspected higher-ups, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (Asphalt Jungle's James Whitmore) is unwilling to divulge the contents of his top secret dossier without strong evidence. Belli, however, thinks that Scavino is kowtowing to the interests of Genoa's power set and focuses his own attack on supposedly-retired drug dealer Cafiero (That Obscure Object of Desire's Fernando Rey) to figure out who has supplanted him in the drug trade. Despite his ailing health, Cafiero has not retired and sends his trusted henchman Rico (The Wicked Caresses of Satan's Daniel Martín) to retrieve his stolen shipment resulting in a shootout. Even when the police intercept a call from Rico to executive Rivalta (Spasmo's Mario Erpichini), Scavino does not consider that enough proof so Belli goes after Rivalta's mistress Chicca (Baba Yaga's Ely Galleani) and her pimp (Patrick Still Lives' Paolo Giusti) for proof of Rivalta's involvement with the Lebanese dealer only for Rivalta to be murdered in broad daylight. When his killer turns up dead as well, Belli starts to suspect that there are reasons the killers always seem a step ahead of the investigation. When wealthy minister Griva (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock's Silvano Tranquilli) and his lawyer (Light Blast's Paul Costello) try to use their influence to steer Belli's investigation away from Griva's playboy brother (The Sensuous Nurse's Duilio del Prete) who occupies a figurehead management position in Rivalta's company, Belli's teams up with Cafiero, putting himself, Scavino, and everyone he cares about in the killers' crosshairs. The first poliziotteschi of one of that genre's mavericks Enzo G. Castellari (The Big Racket) following his equally-strong run of spaghetti westerns, High Crime's most obvious influence is William Friedkin's The French Connection – indeed, one of the video release titles was "The Marseilles Connection" – and it is really in this riff combined with the presences of Nero, Whitmore, and Rey along with Castellari's action staging that makes the film a major influence on the crime films to come while in itself not being a particularly great film. The script by Castellari and his regular writer Tito Carpi (Escape from the Bronx), along with Gianfranco Clerici (Cannibal Holocaust) – with uncredited input from Clerici's regular writing partner Vincenzo Manino (The New York Ripper) as well as a possible Spanish co-production quota credit for Leonardo Martín (The Violation of Laura) – competently moves from A to B to C but makes no real pointed statements about the corruption of power, just taking it as a given that drug dealing is just another side operation of a class whose only goal is to make more and more money while looking respectable. Belli's girlfriend (Tentacles' Delia Boccardo) and daughter (Castellari's's daughter Stefania Girolami) are all too obviously present to be abused and attacked, and Castellari relies a lot on flashbacks visual and aural reiterating things that have not gone unnoticed by the audience. In two instances, Castellari does employ non-linear editing to devastating and disorienting effect, but however much Nero invests in his role, character takes a back seat to the action. Fortunately, the film delivers in terms of action from the Rémy Julienne team car stunts to the final shootout in which stuntman-turned-actor Massimo Vanni (Zombi 3) gets a painful just desserts before an ambiguous ending (Lucio Fulci-regular Bruno Corazzari also has a prominent hitman role). After Ring of Death, this is the second film in which Nero plays a detective named Belli whose ultimate fate is subject to an alternate ending (see below). The cinematography of Spanish horror stylist Alejandro Ulloa (The Diabolical Dr. Z) is workmanlike here but the scoring of sibling pop music team Guido and Maurizio de Angelis (Torso) would turn out to be as influential in the Italian crime genre as the works of Ennio Morricone in the giallo and western genres. Although Castellari would only direct four crime films – including Street Law with Nero and the Fabio Testi duo The Big Racket and The Heroin Busters – before moving on with the genre trends of Italian exploitation cinema, he is as identified with the genre as some of the more prolific directors as much as he is with some of the better post-apocalyptic ripoffs. 
Video
High Crime has been in the works with Blue Underground since 2004 but ownership and element issues prevented the project coming to fruition. Italian and Japanese DVDs were poor substitutes since they were not English-friendly and non-anamorphic while current owner Studio Canal's 2021 French Blu-ray – which they also issued in the U.K. the following year – featured the shorter English export version (93:15) while the lack of the French co-production's dub track was also indicative of issues sourcing materials. In Germany, however, FilmArt were able to take advantage of a newer transfer from the uncut negative for their Blu-ray. Blue Underground's Dolby Vision 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 widescreen 4K UltraHD/1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 combo – and separately available Blu-ray-only edition – features a new 4K scan of the original camera negative with slightly darker grading than the Studio Canal that actually has the benefit of delivering more detail and texture, particularly when it comes to Nero's blonde look which is now better delineated from his skin tone which looked a bit yellowish on the other transfer. The last reel, however, which was subjected to editorial changes for the export version was missing from the negative and a print had to be used. It is during this section which includes the final shootout and the original ending. The final freeze-frame montage look quite grainy but this seems to have less to do with generational loss and more to do with the optical work. 
Audio
Audio options include English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono tracks – the English track does not revert to Italian at any point so it seems going by a casual comparison with the export version that the cuts consisted principally of shortening tops and tails of scenes and altering the ending – although there is some French dialogue during the climax in Marseille that goes untranslated by the English subtitles for the Italian track and the SDH subtitles for the English dub (French and Spanish subtitles are also available). The English track is the way to go since this is one of those Italian films where there actually was some sync-sound recording for the scenes featuring Nero and Whitmore. 
Extras
The 4K UltraHD disc and the Blu-ray share the film's alternate ending (2:52) recreated from the feature master and leaving Nero's fate unambiguous, the English export trailer (4:17), and a trio of audio commentaries. First up is an audio commentary by director Enzo G. Castellari and son Andrea Girolami, moderated by William Lustig recorded back in 2004. Castellari reveals that the success of Steno's film Execution Squad motivated producer Edmondo Amati (The Tempter) to approach him about something similar, with Castellari acknowledging the influences of both The French Connection and Bullitt. He reveals that the Genoan mafia was more cooperative than the police and that many of the extras were real passersby witnessing Nero chasing people. He also reveals that the opening explosion was one of the last things they shot in Genoa because they blew out windows of the surrounding buildings, and that they quickly moved onto Barcelona for the co-production quota shoot. Castellari reveals that he wanted Nero for the film but that he was difficult to get to because of his agent. Eventually, Nero's hairdresser was able to arrange a meeting; however, before that he considered American Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz for the role. Nero was responsible for getting expatriate American actor Mickey Knox (Stage Fright) on the set as dialogue coach for the film while Castellari used his own regular coach Paul Costello for the other Nero collaborations. Of the ambiguous ending, he reveals that Nero thought his character should die while Castellari thought he should live. He ended up shooting both endings but then mixing them together in the editing room for the effect. The disc also features an audio commentary by actor Franco Nero, moderated by filmmaker Mike Malloy recorded more recently so it is still very difficult for Nero to talk about Richardson's untimely death much less see her here onscreen as a child. He also discusses meeting Castellari through is hairdresser as well as discussing his input into the film including approaching Guido and Maurizio de Angelis and asking for a Quincey Jones-style score and casting Rey (he was not involved with Whitmore's casting but influenced the casting of other American co-stars in his other films. He also discusses the casting of lookalike Maurizio Merli in the sequel Violent Rome that he turned down and ended up being directed by Castellari's father Marino Girolami (Zombi Holocaust), doing his own stunts where possible, as well as his casting in Django Unchained after Tarentino nixed his original idea for a character, and even discussing his Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode playing a stand-in for Dominique Strauss-Kahn but in the vein of Silvio Berlusconi. Also recorded recently is an audio commentary by film historians Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani who discuss the long gestation of this release and the shortcomings of the past release, the three variations on the ending, the film's influences, and it sequel. More interesting is their comparison of the film set in Genoa with other examples of the genre set in Rome, Milan, or Turin – as well as comparing Whitmore to the other American actors who appeared more than once in similar roles in the other films in the genre – as well as the untranslatable dialect differences and the rhythms of dialogue in those dialects that translate awkwardly. They also note the shift in the genre from drug dealing to terrorism as well as the different approaches of left- and right-leaning directors (also noting that while Castellari has revealed himself right-leaning on social media, he is more apolitical as a filmmaker).  The Blu-ray side of the package also includes the bulk of the film's video extras starting with "The Genoa Connection" (25:13), an interview with Castellari and Nero also recorded back in 2004. There is a lot of overlap in the anecdotes between their commentaries and this interview but there is more context to some, noting the real-life historical figure of Commisioner Calabresi who inspired Whitmore's character, Nero walking off the film he chose instead because the gloating director bad-mouthed Castellari, and only accepted the film on the stipulation it would go into production in two weeks. The Blu-ray side of the package also includes the bulk of the film's video extras starting with "The Genoa Connection" (25:13), an interview with Castellari and Nero also recorded back in 2004. There is a lot of overlap in the anecdotes between their commentaries and this interview but there is more context to some, noting the real-life historical figure of Commisioner Calabresi who inspired Whitmore's character, Nero walking off the film he chose instead because the gloating director bad-mouthed Castellari, and only accepted the film on the stipulation it would go into production in two weeks. "From Dust to Asphalt" (28:17) is a newer interview with Castellari who discusses his career as an assistant to his father, how word that he actually directed much of Some Dollars for Django which was credited to Spanish director León Klimovsky lead to him getting to direct subsequent westerns where he got to experiment with his visuals, drawing inspiration from The Appaloosa. He moves on to discussing his move to crime films – noting the similarities between westerns and crime films – repeating some of the stories from the commentary. "Hard Stunts for High Crimes" (19:08) is an interview with actor/stuntman Vanni who recalls skipping parties and gatherings with friends to go to the gym which was in a building with a theater, watching movies and then trying out stunts and hanging out with an older group that allowed him to train with circus acrobats and get scouted for stunt work. He discusses his films with Castellari and Nero as well as his subsequent work where he went from stuntman to actor/stuntman to just acting sometimes. "Framing Crime" (20:33) is an interview with camera operator Roberto Girometti who started out working for a newsreel company, working on feature films on the side under cinematographer Angelo Filippini including Castellari's western Johnny Hamlet. He spent the majority of 1966-1969 in Africa doing a large project for RAI, returning to Italy in 1970 and getting involved in the student protests. Of High Crime he mainly discusses working on the car stunt rigs with Julienne and his and Castellari's cameos in the film. "The Sound of Onions" (22:36) is an interview with composers Guido and Maurizio De Angelis that might not have been shot specifically for he film as they discuss their pop career, how they got into film, relying on their instincts and each other as they came up with themes, as well as the number of projects that required actual theme songs including their Bud Spencer/Terence Hill collaborations. "The Connection Connection" (12:53) is a video essay by filmmaker Mike Malloy focusing primarily on the influence on the film of the Friedkin model, noting parallels in the plots and the casting, as well as a "six degrees of…" nature of interconnections with other films in the Italian and American genres. The disc also includes a poster and still gallery. Exclusive to the 4K/Blu-ray combo is a twenty-track CD soundtrack (presumably a future standard combo edition will drop the CD). 
Packaging
The discs are housed in with a reversible cover and a slipcover.
Overall
While not a particularly great film on its own, High Crime proved a major influence on the Italian crime film genre with its pairing of jobbing action director Enzo G. Castellari and superstar Franco Nero.
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