Gang War In Milan aka Milano Rovente (1973)

[GlacierTuba]

It’s been a while since I’ve watched a poliziotteschi film by director Umberto Lenzi. A director probably revered more for titles like Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive, than his less sensational stuff, such as The Cynic, The Rat And The Fist, the last 1970’s Italian crime action flick I’d seen by him, released in the UK & Ireland on 88 Films Blu Ray, and a rather good cinema viewing experience to boot.

His first ‘polizio’ effort, Gang War In Milan, is a title I hadn’t seen before, but was well aware of thanks to the wonderful (if patchy) Raro Video, a label originating from Italy with a presence in the USA (which has oddly disappeared if you look up their web site, that now shows as expired) and now, thanks to Radiance Films, is now present in the UK as a partner label.

Gang War In Milan is a bit of an oddity in that it’s core elements are fairly standard for a ‘polizio’ film. Rival gangs come to blows, a war ensues and police are out to catch the big fish.

Except Gang War In Milan isn’t really about the thrill of the police chase. Instead, the story centres around a big time pimp, initially looking for revenge after one of his girls is found murdered in his swimming pool – I’d just like to take a moment here to reflect on the absolute magnificence and sheer majesty of the wall tiles in the swimming pool. The opitimy of 1970’s decor and a chefs kiss of style!

A flip through the informative, albeit somewhat brief, packed in booklet reveals that Lenzi believed the film was a commercial failure due to the fact the the film centres around a pimp as it’s main character, and that audiences found it difficult to root for, well, in my words, an arse****.

I think Lenzi has a point here, and is right to be critical of his work, going so far as to make comment on what he thought might have been a better type of main character for the film instead.

While I initially agreed with this point, reading the booklet after viewing the film – I found as the film progressed, I questioned in my mind why the heck I am supposed to be rooting for a pimp. It was only when the film reached it’s climax that the twisted notion of centring the film around an arse**** became more apparent and my feelings toward the character and the unravelling of the story at it’s climax made more sense.

And what a climax! As key exposition is revealed in the dying embers of the film, Gang War In Milan becomes almost gialloesque in it’s method of reveal. In fact, at some points in the film I likened it to Scarface – which made me question if Gang War In Milan might have been an influence on said film? The plot has some lovely little twists and turns and toys with your emotions just when you think you’ve had an A-Ha! Moment, right up until the end credits appear.

In comparison to the aforementioned more notiorious Lenzi titles I felt a little puzzled at the 18 rating. Yes, there is some sexualised violence – nothing I can recall that might not be appropriate at a 15 rating – and viewpoints and language that are absolutely inappropriate and non-inclusive in 2024. Still, I think an 18 rating for Gang War In Milan is a little excessive.

Regarding action in general, Gang War In Milan feels somewhat contrasting. On the one hand it’s more action-lite and is more focused on the tactical elements and one-upmanship power plays of the rival gangs as opposed to something like the balls out, high octane and cordite hyperdeath on display at the climax of Mario Merola uberfilm Napoli La Camorra Sfida La Citta Risponde.

On the other hand, and being made in 1973, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as action-anaemic as the brilliant but very much a slow boiler, and original poliziotteschi film, La Polizia Ringrazia aka The Police Say Thank You aka Execution Squad aka Das Syndikat.

It’s kind of somewhere in the middle of the polizio action specturm, but don’t assume this does the film a disservice. I felt it was very well written, particularly the climax and very well acted with a decent cast who you feel no empathy for but have this odd compulsion to see what might be coming to them.

There is a very nice jazzy score on offer here which sounds fairly crisp and clean given the disc utilises the original Italian mono track – which I should add, in my opinion, is one of the clearest sounding mono tracks I’ve ever heard. I felt it was nicely balanced out, no clipping or screeching audio or speech muffled through the channel. I think this is a very decent sounding effort.

Image-wise, as I’ve stated before, I don’t have the knowledge or expertise to sit there arguing for 936,427 hours with the entire Internet, agonising over black crush, encoding and using a spectrogram to examine each individual pixel in every single frame in excruciating detail and then declare I know more than everyone in the world screw you guys and girls the end.

All I know is this film looks good, it looks sharp – minus a bit of a gritty opening that does appear softer for the title credits sequence – and colours look decent enough to me. No complaints here. If anyone wants to moan and tell me I’m wrong and to jump off a tall building, go right ahead, I couldn’t give a hoot. Elaborate first though please.

In essence what we have here is a pretty decent polizio caper that feels like it has elements of giallo and a smidge of Scarface and Infernal Affairs in it. At least that’s how I interpreted the film.

One sequence I felt was somewhat standout, and showcased what an absolute bastard Salvatore Cangemi is (played wonderfully by Antonio Sabata), comes during a banqueting sequence where one character receives more than a warning from Cangemi’s hired goons while the whole time in the other room, a band plays, wine is poured, glasses are clinked and songs are sung very loudly. It’s impressive stuff and gives us a glimpse in to the changing psyche of a man who we think is ‘just a pimp’.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gang War In Milan. It’s a nice little disc, if somewhat light on supplemental features and pages within the packed-in paper tome. I’d have loved to get a bit more but you can only put out what’s available to you, and what is on offer here is highly enjoyable and, in my view, very much worth your time.

Casuals should enjoy it. Polizio nuts will lap this one up. I hope this disc, and the other Raro UK titles available via Radiance Films sell very well and get the support they deserve. From their past form it would appear Raro have access to quite the treasure trove of Italian Cinema available to them (note to Raro UK and Radiance: PLEASE can we have Napoli La Camorra Sfida La Citta Risponde, and Fabio Testi’s wonderful Speed Driver on Blu Ray soon?).

Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, enjoy Gang War In Milan. It’s a good ‘un.

[grahams76]

Lucio Fulci directed The New York Ripper, by the way, not Umberto Lenzi.

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by grahams76

Lucio Fulci directed The New York Ripper, by the way, not Umberto Lenzi.

Doh! Yes, you are 100% correct. I wrote this half asleep! I was thinking of stuff like Eyeball (also on 88) and Eaten Alive etc. Thanks for the nudge. Corrected now.