Antonio Sabato and Marisa Mell are featured in Umberto Lenzi’s poliziotesschi GANG WAR IN MILAN.
track highlighting Brad Fiedel’s electric/disco score; three byte- sized interviews with Holland pre- sented for the website Shock Till You Drop by Ryan Turek; an hour-long 2008 reunion panel with Holland, Sarandon, Stark, Ragsdale, Geoffreys, leading lady Amanda Bearse and (represent- ing FRIGHT NIGHT, PART 2) ac- tress Julie Carmen and director Tommy Lee Wallace; trailers; and the blurry, timecoded, analog EPK issued at the time of release, which includes onset interviews with cast and crew (also input from the J. Geils Band, who per- form the title song) and clips au- thorized for TV use (though a repetitive watch, this is an inter- esting artifact of motion picture publicity in the 1980s—even if the version included on the disc would not be broadcast quality). Most of the extras were created for the initial Twilight Time re- lease, or earlier: there is repeated talk of the stalled development of a franchise revival—but no men- tion of Craig Gillespie’s 2011 blah 3D FRIGHT NIGHT or Eduardo
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Rodriguez’s 2013 surprisingly solid, direct-to-DVD FRIGHT NIGHT 2.
GANG WAR IN MILAN Milano rovente “Red Hot Milan”
1973, Raro/Kino Lorber, 100m 15s, $29.95 BD-A, $19.95 DVD-0
MEET HIM AND DIE Pronto ad uccidere “Ready to Kill” aka RISKING
1976, Raro/Kino Lorber, 93m 35s, $29.95 BD-A, $19.95 DVD-0 By John Charles
When his top prostitute is murdered, Salvator Cangemi (An- tonio Sabato) finds out that it is the first shot in a turf war initi- ated by a French mobster known as “The Captain” (Philippe Leroy), who seeks to dominate the Milan underworld. When Cangemi re- fuses to go into a drug-running partnership and tries to eliminate his rival with a car bomb, the
Captain’s methods grow even harsher, prompting the Sicilians to bring in outside help from America.
The first of ten Eurocrime pic- tures directed by genre regular Umberto Lenzi, GANG WAR IN MILAN would have benefitted from a more charismatic leading man, but is an otherwise satisfy- ing thriller with more narrative twists than expected. Perhaps as an indirect result of this, action is not emphasized as in some Eu- rocrime entries, and the cast is not as interesting as the roster of character players in later Lenzi efforts like ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (1976) and THE CYNIC, THE RAT AND THE FIST (1977). There are also the standard help- ings of violence against women and transgendered people, as well as some spectacularly garish in- terior design (Sabato’s character may wear a suit and tie, but his neon blue pad would be perfect for his New York City counter- part in WILLIE DYNAMITE). Marisa Mell appears in a sup- porting part significant to the
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