The Italian Connection

The opening of this film indicates that we're going to follow a couple of hard-nosed American hitmen on a trip to Milan to murder a pimp. There's a lot of intrigue right away as we wonder what's this pimp done to earn the wrath of a New York crime boss and how are these two assassins going to find their way around Italy. On top of that, Woody Strode and Henry Silva are a perfect match for each other in terms of attitude, charisma, and macho screen presence. It feels like this movie is going to be a fun ride.

Unfortunately, once they get to Italy, the two simply hang around a hotel and a nightclub for nearly the entire movie. Writer DiLeo thought it would be a better idea of focusing the bulk of the movie around the pimp (played well by Mario Adorf) as he runs afoul of the local mob and goes on a killing and slapping spree. The hit men only re-emerge for the climax in a junk yard that really needed some better gore when a particular character gets killed off in a way that should be a real show-stopper.

Upon first viewing 20+ years ago, I had to admit I was mightily disappointed with the waste of potential. I was also let down by Silva's character coming off as a bit of a reckless hedonist when it would have been much more fun to see him and Strode unemotionally and brutally work their way around Milan to get to their target. You can see where Tarantino was inspired with PULP FICTION as well as any number of crime films featuring a "salt and pepper" team. Silva and Strode had good enough chemistry to be cast together again in several other films though most were far worse than this one.

On the plus side, there's many beautiful actresses on display and rampant nudity among them. Adolfo Celi as the mob boss has a great scene where he fearlessly stares down the barrel of a gun and most of the dubbing fits pretty good for an Italian crime movie of the era. The musical score by Armando Trovajoli, though dated and simplistic, is as much of a funky ear-worm as you'll ever hear and will never forget even decades after watching this film.

Overall it's a fast-paced action film with many good sides to it, but you'd be better off sticking with a Castellari or Umberto Lenzi movie for a more satisfying eurocrime experience. DiLeo did much better with MILANO CALIBRO 9 made around the same time.

Now released under the absurdly named Mack Video as the absurdly named BLACK KINGPIN, LA MALA ORDINA, once known as MANHUNT, shows the Italian seventies policier director Fernando DiLeo in peak form. The Italian cops-mob-and-corruption movies often had a neorealist tincture, not far from such British cousins as GET CARTER or THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. (The best in this vein is the dark, harrowing VIOLENT NAPLES.) But some of them were as ripe and over-the-top as concurrent works of Italian horror; and this saga of a small-town pimp pursued, God knows why, by Mr. Big and two Vincent-and-Jules-looking U.S.-made button men, looks like the product of some torrid motel-room coitus between Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. The faces are sweaty, the beatings (to evoke Roger Ebert's memorable phrase) suggest the sound of ping-pong paddles smacking naugahyde sofas--the only thing that's missing is the groan of an Ennio Morricone score. An evening of Shane Black quips it ain't, but ninety minutes of top-shelf hardboiled groove it is.

Poor Mario Adorf. He just wants to pimp out his girls in Milan and give the cash to his ex-wife and his sickly young daughter. He's not a bad guy really, although he doesn't like it when guys try to rough up his girls. Mario's just getting on with his petty criminal life when all of a sudden he's being hunted down not only by the local crime boss, but by two hard faced American hit men too.

The hit men, Henry Silva and Woody Strode, have been sent to track him down and kill him in the most violent and brutal way possible as lesson from the US Mafia to those in Italy thinking of stealing heroin shipments. This might be all well and good, if in fact Mario had actually stolen anything. Instead the poor guy spends most of the film being hunted down like a dog while having no idea whatsoever why people want to kill him.

There's more pressure on Mario as the local don (Adolfo Celi) doesn't like the presence of two American gangsters on his turf and sends his men out to capture Mario. Every petty criminal in Milan knows that Mario's a marked man, so who can he trust? His hookers?

While this is a little thin story wise, the film itself is rather good. Henry Silva truly looks like a guy who would stab you in the face one minute then put the moves on your wife the next. Woody Strode is the straight man to all Silva's shenanigans, and Adolfo Celi nearly outdoes Silva in the hard-case gangster role, especially at near the end where the demented Mario finally confronts him. It's Mario Adorf that steals the show here as the clueless, but not helpless, Mario, as he jumps from being a flawed but caring father to a man who has been pushed about as far as someone can be.

Although the first half sets up all the characters and has a punch up or two, the film gradually gets more and more violent as you would expect, and of course it's standard practice to throw in a car chase too. This one goes from a car chase to a foot chase and even has Mario smashing his head through a windscreen in order to get at a gangster. From then it's non-stop until the gunfight in the scrapyard.

Funky soundtrack too. Loud, with it.

When a shipment of heroin disappears enroute from Milan to New York a small time pimp named Luca Canali(excellent Mario Adorf)is fingered by the mafia for execution.There is only one problem...he is the wrong man!Unable to prove his innocence he is caught in a life and death struggle with the New York boss' hit men(Henry Silva and Woody Strode)."Hit Men"/"La Mala Ordina" is a typical Italian crime/drama with plenty of violence and sleaze.The acting is pretty good,the action almost never lets up and the ending is very exciting.Highly recommended if you are a fan of Italian cult cinema.

I spent much time in studying Italian police films of this era - and this one sticks out as one of the best. Unlike other Di Leo flicks - this one has a decent story, features B+ actors like Mario Adorf and Adolfo Celli (Mr. Largo in OO7's Thunderball), the editing is fast and rhythmic and it contains only one car chase but this one has it. The films owes its quality largely to the German-Italian actor Mario Adorf (already playing in one other Di Leo Film "Milano Calibro 9") - Adorf is witty, has a face with a thousand expressions and perfectly impersonates the change of small-town-pimp into a revenge-driven killing machine - without overdoing it. Unlike other films of this genre this one is tightly bound by a reasonable script, logical development of the characters and a rough, greasy camera-style. Editing is superb in timing, no frame is wasted for stupid dialogues or the typical 70ies mood shots (you see a scenery with someone walking and nothing happens). This film is perfect for exploring this genre.