Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9) (Blu-ray)

Fernando Di Leo’s Italian crime classic Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9, 1972) is presented here in a stunning 4K restoration. Small-time gangster Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin, The Godfather Part II) has just been released from prison. He tries to convince the police, the mafia, and his one-time associate Rocco (Mario Adorf, The Tin Drum), a sadistic hoodlum who enjoys sick violence and torture, that he wants to go straight, but everyone believes he has $300,000 of stolen money hidden somewhere. Caliber 9’s stylized violence, fast-paced action sequences, tight editing and plot twists prefigure the work of Quentin Tarantino and John Woo. The film also features a notable score by Luis Bacalov (Django) and the stunning Barbara Bouchet (Casino Royale) as Ugo’s go-go dancing girlfriend.

The restoration of Milano Calibro 9 was carried out in 2022 by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale from the negatives made available by Minerva Pictures. To reconstruct the version desired by the director, the title cards were reintegrated, recovered from a copy conserved in the archives of the Cineteca Nazionale.