Darkling_Zeist Masterful genre Director, Fernando Di Leo mines euro crime gold with 'La Mala Ordina', which proves to be yet another a satisfying, full bore actioner with everyone's favourite concrete-haired heavy, Henry Silva teaming up with the towering, Woody Strode as two quick-fisted, slow- witted NY hoods whose demonstrative presence amongst the Italian underworld engenders a deadly schism betwixt the two rival factions; the Italian contingent bristling in vociferous indignation as the arrogant, Silva and Strode throw their considerable cumulative weight around. And it has to be said that, Armando Trovajoli's grittier than gunpowder crime funk score is a break heavy delight; a veritable phat bass'd motherlode for beat junkies and audiophiles alike.

Red-Barracuda The Italian Connection is yet another movie that proves conclusively that Fernando Di Leo was the master director of the poliziotteschi. These action-thrillers were Italy's answer to the violent crime films that emerged in America in the early 70's. Di Leo made several and this one may very well be arguably the best. Its story is underpinned by a shipment of heroin that is stolen en route from Milan to New York. A couple of American mafia hit-men are dispatched to Italy to find and kill the pimp who is accused of the theft. This man is innocent of this crime, however, and he proves to be a surprisingly resourceful opponent.One of the main strengths of this movie is its cast. Everyone suits their roles very well. Mario Adorf is particularly excellent as the pimp who becomes the unlikely hero. Adorf puts in a very energetic performance that really drives the film. Poliziotteschi veteran Henry Silva and Woody Strode are suitably mean as the mafia killers, seemingly their pairing was the reason Quentin Tarantino cast John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson as the legendary hit-men in Pulp Fiction (for this alone The Italian Connection deserves a footnote in film history). Rounding things off we have Adolfo Celi (Danger: Diabolik) as the mafia don and Femi Benussi (Hatchet for the Honeymoon) gets substantially naked in a role as a prostitute.Like most of these types of movies there is a lot of moral ambiguity here. There are no heroes in the truest sense. The identification figure is a low level pimp after all. This makes it a crime film in the truest sense. But it is also a very good action flick. Of particular note is a spectacular chase sequence where a van fires through town with a man hanging off the front while head-butting his way through the windshield! There is, overall, a healthy dose of violent action in general in this one, climaxing in a great scene in a junk-yard.Along with Milan Calibre 9 and The Boss, this is a top level example of this kind of movie from Fernando Di Leo.

Witchfinder General 666 The second film in Fernando Di Leo's 'Milieu' trilogy, "La Mala Ordina" aka. "Manhunt" of 1972 is, in my opinion just not quite as brilliant as the foregoing masterpiece "Milano Calibro 9" (also 1972) and its brilliant successor "Il Boss" (1973), and yet this is an excellent and breathtaking crime epic that no lover of Italian genre-cinema could possibly afford to miss. The tough-minded and violent film, which has been released under many aka. titles such as "Hit Men", "Hired To Kill", "The Italian Connection" or even the absolutely inappropriate title "Black Kingpin", is breathtaking from the beginning to the end and profits from a brilliant cast. The plot revolves around Luca Canali (Mario Adorf), a small-time pimp, who suddenly has to fear for his life when he is framed for the disappearance of a shipment of heroin. Canali, who has no clue who the real thieves are, is soon mercilessly hunted by both the local mafia and two contract killers sent by the American mob (Henry Silva and Woody Strode)...The role of Luca Canali fits Mario Adorf perfectly. I'm a fan of Adorf in general, he was always best in roles of the kind, and he delivers an excellent performance here. Henry Silva (one of my favorite actors) and Woody Strode (another great actor) are easily equally brilliant as the two American hit men, who are ultra-tough, but also responsible for the humorous scenes in the film, as Silva is constantly hitting on everything female while Strode is dead-serious and hardly says a word. The rest of the performances are also good, Adolfo Celi, who is probably best known for playing James Bond villain Mr. Largo in "Fireball" plays the Milan mafia don, and the female cast is entirely nice to look at. The story is not quite as convoluted as it was the case in "Milano Calibro 9", but "Manhunt" is still a tantalizing and uncompromising from the beginning to the end, and filled with non-stop action and brutal violence. The score is also great, and the camera-work ingenious. To me personally, "Manhunt" is not quite as brilliant as "Milano Calibro 9" and "Il Boss". These two films, however, are in my opinion easily two of the greatest gangster films ever brought to screen, and even though slightly inferior, "Manhunt" is still an awesome piece of crime cinema that is excellent in all aspects and easily surpasses most famed American gangster-classics. Excellent film-making, an absolute must-see for every fan of Italian genre cinema.

matt-201 Now released under the absurdly named Mack Video as the absurdly named BLACK KINGPIN, LA MALA ORDINA, once known as MANHUNT, shows the Italian seventies policier director Fernando DiLeo in peak form. The Italian cops-mob-and-corruption movies often had a neorealist tincture, not far from such British cousins as GET CARTER or THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. (The best in this vein is the dark, harrowing VIOLENT NAPLES.) But some of them were as ripe and over-the-top as concurrent works of Italian horror; and this saga of a small-town pimp pursued, God knows why, by Mr. Big and two Vincent-and-Jules-looking U.S.-made button men, looks like the product of some torrid motel-room coitus between Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. The faces are sweaty, the beatings (to evoke Roger Ebert's memorable phrase) suggest the sound of ping-pong paddles smacking naugahyde sofas--the only thing that's missing is the groan of an Ennio Morricone score. An evening of Shane Black quips it ain't, but ninety minutes of top-shelf hardboiled groove it is.