Made during the infamous Italian Years of Lead (a decades-long period of political turmoil and heavy street violence), High Crime is a dark, cynical poliziotteschi with a great cast, some terrific action sequences, and a wonderful score. Unfortunately, it is tied to a script that is derivative and full of crime-drama cliches. It is often called the “Italian French Connection” and it bears more than a passing resemblance to that film.
Buy High Crime 4K UHDFranco Nero stars as Vice-Commissioner Belli, a tough, no-nonsense cop working the mean streets of Genoa. He’s the type of cop who wants the clean the streets of scum and thinks laws and ethical rules are keeping him from doing it. His boss, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (James Whitmore), constantly has to calm him down. He wants to arrest the big fish, not just the small street-level crooks. But those guys are politically connected, to take them down you need hard evidence and a lot of patience.
The film begins with a spectacular car chase through the winding streets of Genoa. The chase ends with the bad guy being caught, but then his car explodes and some different bad guys blast the cops (except for Belli who survives) to smithereens. It seems there is a new gang in town, and they’ve been taking out the trash. Belli has a chat with Cafiero (Fernando Rey), an old-school gangster who is supposedly retired and thus more willing to talk to cops. But he might not be as retired as he claims and when he lends Bellie a hand in terms of information, it might not just be for altruistic reasons.
The more criminals Belli arrests or kills, the more they pop up in other places. It is a hardened, violent game of whack-a-mole. But the guys at the top, the bosses are never touched. They aren’t even known. At least to Bellie and Scavino. The film lets us know the bosses are titans of industry and CEOs of legitimate businesses. Guys who have their hands in a lot of pockets and who know how to pay off the right people.
Scarvino has a secret book – a dossier of who’s who, and who is connected to whom. He’s been collecting information for years, but he doesn’t think it is enough. Belli convinces him otherwise but just before he can take it to the prosecutors…well, I won’t spoil what happens, but if you’ve seen more than a couple of similar films, you’ll be able to figure it out. It’s like how Belli has a young daughter whom he dotes on. You just know something is going to happen to her long before it does. Most of the plot points have been scrabbled from other movies.
The actors elevate the material. I love Nero in just about everything and it is always wonderful to see Whitemore in films before he became a household name with The Shawshank Redemption. What makes the film worth watching is the handful of well-directed action sequences. There is the aforementioned car chase, and several other shoot-outs and foot chases. Director Enzo G. Castellari utilizes some nice camera placements and plenty of slo-mo. He intercuts the action with flashbacks that help give gravity to what’s happening with the action. Complementing everything is the very 1970s and oh-so-funky score from Guido & Maurizio De Angelis.
Blue Underground’s release of High Crime includes a native 4K UHD disk, a Blu-ray disk of the 4K transfer, and a CD with the film’s soundtrack. I watched the native 4K disk and it looks great. I’m new to UHD releases and have been somewhat skeptical of the need for the upgrade. I can’t say this release makes me a firm believer, but it undeniably looks terrific. You wouldn’t use this disk to show off the power of 4K UHD, but for an obscure Italian film, more than 40 years old, the transfer here is quite impressive. The disks are loaded with extras including three audio commentaries (one with the film’s director; one with Franco Nero, filmmaker Mike Malloy, and Bill Lustig; and one with film historians Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani). There are interviews, making-of featurettes, essays, and more.
