This 88-minute movie from 1972 was made by one of the top directors of the genre, Fernando Di Leo, and it is almost non-stop action.
The story is simple. Local gangsters transferring a large amount of cash get ripped off, but cannot figure out how the package of money got switched with a bundle of blank paper. Their only clue is Ugo, played by Gastone Moschin, an unsmiling, man of few words who was in on the transfer. But Ugo will not help them. All he wants to do is get away from the mob and the cops, and disappear with his beautiful girlfriend, played by Barbara Bouchet.
Director Di Leo excelled in the action sequences, but the overly talky police-station scenes are stagnant. Fortunately there are not many of them.
This kind of violent, low-budget production has some disturbing moments and is definitely not for everyone.
“Caliber 9” is available from Criterion.
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One to keep an eye out for, however unlikely it is that I cross paths with it.
ReplyDeleteDon't think I have seen any Italian crime flicks though it's always a treat to watch these films from the sixties and seventies.
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