User Reviews

"La Mala Ordina" (1972) ranks as a brutal, violent, no-holds-barred, urban crime thriller from Italian director Fernando Di Leo. New York mafia kingpin Corso ("The Day of the Jackal" gunsmith Cyril Cusack) dispatches two laconic, no-nonsense torpedoes, Dave (Henry Silva of "Johnny Cool") and Frank (Woody Strode of "The Professionals"), to Milan to knock off Luca Canali (a heavily mustached Mario Adorf of "Fedora"), an inconsequential pimp who has been framed by the Milan mafia for stealing heroin from New York. The likable Luca is surprised when he discovers that two Americans are hunting him down. Talk about an underdog hero who uses his head, in one scene, our outraged protagonist head butts a telephone and shatters it. Meanwhile, Dave and Frank seem to be loitering around Milan with a pretty tour guide Eva Lalli ("Thunderball" bad girl Luciana Paluzzi) who doesn't seem to realize how notorious her two charges are. Rough stuff galore follows in what is a generally comprehensible, hard-knuckled Mafioso melodrama. Top Milan Mafia chieftain Don Vito (another "Thunderball" alumnus Adolfo Celi) wants his henchmen to capture Luca before the Americans can collar him. Writer & director Di Leo puts his hero through the ringer. Poor Luca watches in shock as his estranged wife Lucia (Sylva Koscina of "Hornet's Nest") and their daughter are run over by a madman in a mini-van. The grief-stricken but revengeful Luca chases the fiend down and leaps onto the front of the mini-van. Di Leo pay-offs two scenes that foreshadow Luca's use of head butting his opponents and a telephone, and Luca head butts his way through the driver's windshield and into the driver's seat. The showdown in a junk car lot is just as terrific. Look for lots of nudity, too. Don Vito's gunsels get their hands on one of Luca's squeezes and try to tear off her nipples during a nasty interrogation scene. Neither Koscina nor Paluzzi are used as anything but sex objects. Interestingly, Koscina and Paluzzi are struck and killed by cars. Fans of raw-edged Italian crime dramas will enjoy this opus.

Wow, the accolades paid to this film by the reviewers on this board make me wonder if any of them had seen "The Godfather". That film came out the same year and by comparison, there is no comparison. But for what it is, "Manhunt", the title I saw this under, is a perfectly low brow take on Italian gangsters ruffled by a pair of American hit-men sent to make good on a six million dollar stash of missing heroin. I'm not familiar with director Fernando di Leo or his acclaimed trilogy, but this is passable enough if you've got the time to spare. Effective as the framed pimp Luca Canali, Mario Adorf delivers a believably crazed performance when up close and personal with fellow thugs who get in his face. Particularly effective is his head-butting style, which at one point takes out a menacing telephone that happened to get in the way. If you like your Italian crime films sprinkled with some skin, this one delivers on that score as well, with gratuitous amounts of go-go strippers who appear to be above the pay grade for this flick, so that's just an unexpected benefit. What made it for me was the well cast duo from the States, Henry Silva and Woody Strode in a two decade early preview of Travolta and Jackson in "Pulp Fiction". If you made it this far, stick around for the junkyard scene with the swinging steel jaws as the gangsters shoot it out with THE gangster. It's not pretty, but it is cool. Very cool.

The other two comments I've seen here are completely accurate. I only want to implore you to see this some more. So far, I've yet to see Henry Silva in a better role. His role in the more recent Ghost Dog was super, but here he is even better. He's great in this as a wild, tough, and sleazy hit-man. The way he skulks around like a bad asp is totally cool. This movie also boasts some righteous potty mouth dialog, worthy of a Sopranos episode. The only possible drawback to this movie is the dated special effects (of people punching each other or getting shot) that come off as being pretty silly at times- but honestly, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. This is right up there with Street Law as a classic of 70's Italian-made violence. See it!

Another violence-fueled gangster film from the great Fernando Di Leo. A New York mafioso (Cyril Cusack!) sends hit men Henry Silva & Woody Strode to Milan to kill small-time pimp Mario Adorf. Adorf, a not so bright low-level crook, is baffled by the pursuit and even more perplexed as to why local mafia don Adolfo Celi is after him as well. Everything falls into place in this absurd potboiler with Adorf giving another hammy, albeit highly entertaining, performance. Di Leo keeps this one moving at such a fast pace, it's impossible to not enjoy it. One car chase, between Adorf and one of Celi's goons, it as bizarre as it is breathtaking. Silva and Strode have little to do but roam around looking scary. They're helped by good girl Luicana Paluzzi and get trouble from bad girl Francesca Romana Coluzzi. Classy Sylva Koscina appears briefly as Adorf's angry ex-wife.

This extraordinary gun battle has American hitman battling Italian mobsters all in an attempt to kill a pimp whose criminal activities in Italy have upset the dons of the mafia in the United States. Mario Adorf is the intended target, sought out by Henry Silva and Woody Strode which results in violent hits that have women being tortured relentlessly before being killed (a few by being shot and run over by a car before they die), the battles that occur between the Italian mafia and the American hitman, and eventually a battle that has Adorf doing his best to stay alive. There's very little dialogue after the plot is set, and it becomes a silly constant round of gunfire and the same music being played over and over in some pretty trashy locations. It's enjoyable simply because it's so silly, but also very unpleasant because of the way it seems to enjoy the way it dispatches various members of the cast. The final battle takes place in a junkyard and has some interesting twists and turns.

When the actors do speak, some of the dialogue is extremely silly, especially when one of the American hitmen says to a rather unpleasant looking Italian criminal that the next time he sees him, he'll have a bone for him, indicating that the guy is an absolute dog. The response is hysterical. The dubbing is horrible, with the daughter of Adorf having a hideous cartoon like character voice, obviously an adult actress speaking in a high pitched squeal. This obviously will not appeal to the more sophisticated fans of Mafia movies, coming out on the heels of "The Godfather" and obviously influenced by its success. It's obviously one of those films that most people will enjoy watching but will be in agreement with most others that it was pretty bad even though it was a lot of fun in many ways.

Two goons, Dave Catania (Silva) and Frank Webster (Strode) are sent from New York to Italy to kill a small-time pimp named Luca Canali (Adorf). Helping out the two men is Eva (Paluzzi). Luca seems to be outsmarting his killers at every turn so the whole situation escalates and Don Vito Tressoldi (Celi) is not happy. Claiming Luca is starting a war, and he "doesn't want to be beaten by a loser", Tressoldi cruelly ups the stakes by attacking Luca's family. Now Luca is out for revenge, as opposed to just deflecting all the attempts on his life. Will he succeed? Fernando Di Leo cranks out another winner here. Milano Calibro 9 (1972) is better (though it's always open for debate) but La Mala Ordina, as it was known originally, is a very strong movie as well, with its masterfully shot and edited climax (like the rest of the movie), a similar sense of toughness, the decor, the style, and of course, the movie highlight, the car chase. The chase, along with a fairly tenuous connection to a heroin shipment (it's not mentioned very much in the movie), were obviously the catalysts to retitle this movie in the wake of the success of The French Connection (1971).

Adorf, who also put in a great performance in Milano Calibro 9, excels in the lead role of Luca Canali. It was wise to put Adorf out front, even if it seems now like an obvious choice. Henry Silva is kind of a fan favorite even though he doesn't have any facial expressions. But his hair is better here than we can remember anyplace else. His partner, played by Woody Strode, seems a bit out of sorts, but Di Leo thought enough of him to put him in The Violent Breed (1984) later on in their careers. Three well-known beauties of the day, Luciana Paluzzi, Femi Benussi and Sylva Koscina are on hand to make things more interesting, as is Cyril Cusack as a mob boss. The whole thing is topped off with one of Armando Trovajoli's funkiest and best scores.

There's also a certain counter-cultural element at work here which would be fleshed out more completely in later Fernando Di Leo films, most notably Avere Vent'anni (1978). The underground culture of the day is a recurrent theme in Di Leo's movies and found its way into whatever he was working on, regardless of the genre. This sets his movies apart to a certain extent and it's fascinating to see, simply as a document of the era.

If you have seen and liked other Di Leo movies, you will certainly also like The Italian Connection (if you see the Raro DVD that is, not one of the innumerable cheapo VHS releases). If not, this is as good a place as any to start, mainly because there's nothing really NOT to like about this fine film.

Although two New York hit men, Henry Silva and Woody Strode, supposedly templates of Quentin Tarantino's Jules and Vincent PULP FICTION thugs, are far better villains than local Mario Adorf is a antihero, this Italian mobsploitation juggles each character decently enough... and everything narrows down to one thing only: Adorf, as small time pimp Luca Canali, is – if Silva and Strode can help it – a dead man.

The endearing traits of imported crime movies are here in droves: the wah-wah peddle guitar vibrates through the bursting horn section orchestrating insert-heavy action scenes, naked ladies, and a pivotal car chase as Canali, with a fierce boar-like countenance, seeks the thug who killed his family.

More attention on Silva, a sly womanizing braggart, and Strode, the brooding baseline, would have been nice – they're far too cool to serve as an eventual backdrop to Canali's quest to survive and then seek answers. That is, until the incredible climactic shootout between all three within a junkyard.

Tarantino swears by this one, and who's to argue?

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Stars Henry Silva and Woody Strode as two hit men who are dispatched to Italy to find a low level mobster who had "lost", really stolen, 6 million in heroine and who resold it. They are told to make his death as painful and public as possible. The trouble is that target has a knack for getting loose and despite the best efforts of all involved things go far from smoothly.

Good but not great mob story has the advantage in that in keeps moving. Once things are set in motion the film just goes. You want to see how this is going to come out and to me makes it worth a bowl of popcorn and a soda, even if you won't need to see it again.

+1 on the other favorable reviews already here, for they've all touched upon what's worthwhile about the movie: rather decent writing, acting, and scenery for the genre and time. Car chase, foot chase and fist fights (obviously) pre-CGI, so bravo, players.

One thing I hadn't seen mentioned, however, and only a minor spoiler alert here: what a bunch of nincompoops are the stud-muffin, big-time hitters that "Cy" Cusack sends after our erstwhile hero!

Woody Strode isn't given much to do, other than to play straight-man and come to Henry Silva's aid, but boy, does Hank drop the ball or what? I don't mean the progressively louder dress shirts that he sports; hey, that's the era, and them's the style, not to mention that I kinda really *liked* one of them. But good grief -- he repeatedly throws away good money in exchange for bad info, wastes time staking out places that his target never visits, and even gets his pocket picked by a bunch of streetwalkers (subsequently needing Strode to save from getting an ass-whuppin' by their, uh, managers). He might as well have carried a picket sign saying "WE ARE ASSASSINS AND WE WANT TO KILL LUCA CANALI!"

That said, I'd definitely watch it again. Don't pay to do so, but by all means do not avoid, either.

Hearty, but tough and resourceful small-time pimp Luca Canali (an excellent performance by Mario Adorf) gets framed as a fall guy by the flinty, ruthless Don Vito Tressoldi (superbly played by Adolfo Celi) for the disappearance of a shipment of heroin. Tressoldi hires volatile hit-man Dave Catania (a splendidly slimy Henry Silva) and his more low-key partner Frank Webster (the always formidable Woody Strode) to rub Luca out, but Luca proves to be a surprisingly worthy adversary who vows revenge on the mob after they kill his wife and daughter. Director/co-writer Fernando Di Leo delivers an exceptionally fierce, gripping, and stirring crime yarn that benefits substantially from a hard, gritty, no-nonsense tone, shocking outbursts of ugly and savage violence, a constant snappy pace, a generous sprinkling of tasty female nudity, and a positively ferocious take-no-prisoners attitude. Better still, there's no needless filler or silly humor to detract from the jolting harshness of the taut and arresting narrative. The uniformly sound acting from a top-drawer cast rates as another major asset: Adorf makes for a likable anti-hero and redoubtable brute force of nature as Luca, Celi totally oozes as the treacherous Don Vito, Silva and Strode as utterly convincing as a pair of very dangerous and threatening dudes, Luciana Paluzzi adds class as elegant escort Eva Lalli, and Femi Benussi acquits herself well in a sizable supporting part as whiny hooker Nana. Franco Villa's polished cinematography makes nice occasional use of tilted camera angles and whiplash pans. Armando Trovajoli's funky, jazzy, syncopated score likewise hits the spot. The climactic shoot-out in a junkyard is simply fantastic. Well worth seeing.

Two hitmen from New York, David and Frank, are sent to Milan to eliminate Luca Canali, a low grade pimp in the city. Why they want to kill him emerges in the film as well as Canali's increasing bafflement at why he should be a target. And how is Milan crime boss Don Vito Tressoldi involved. The film starts slowly and picks up pace engrossingly until the final shootout in a scrapyard. Excellently directed by Fernando Di Leo with fine cinematography by Franco Villa and a rich music score by Armando Trovajoli.

Mario Adorf as Canali is brilliant, giving his role lots of depth and feeling. He is supported ably by smiling Henry Silva as David, dour Woody Strode as Frank and oleaginous Adolfo Celi as the Don. Cyril Cusack has a small role as Corso but is silkily sinister in a scary way. The henchmen roles are also well cast.

It's not a cheerful film. The killing of Canali's wife and daughter is a particularly shocking moment. The city of Milan may look sunny and beautiful but there are dark deeds in the shadows. Oh, and the chase scene by car and on foot is tremendous.