Contraband (Luca Il Contrabbandiere) (1980)
Runtime: 97 minutes
Directed by: Lucio Fulci... no, really
Starring: Fabio Testi, Ivana Monti, Marcel Bozzuffi, Saverio Marconi, Enrico Maisto
From: Several Italian Companies
As this was something I've known of for years and it sounded tremendous... it not being tremendous in my eyes is a problem:
For a poliziotteschi done by FULCI, I expected more... and better. As someone I know is a huge fan of this film, Contraband is a flick I have known of for years now yet I kept on putting it off until earlier today. To be honest, there is no shortage of other poliziotteschi I'd rather watch or watch again than this one.
The plot is simple enough: Fabio Testi is part of the smuggling scene in Naples; he deals with cigarettes. Suddenly, those in the scene start dying and eventually, he (and we) discover who is responsible. This doesn't even have any sort of vehicular chase, unless you count some half-assed action with speedboats in the opening minutes. Otherwise it does have the hallmarks you'd expect in this sort of film... plenty of tough guys, criminal actions, violence, shootouts, and regrettably, violence against women. In this case, there is a lot of full frontal nudity and also a very gross scene that goes on way too long involving the lead girl... that being Testi's wife. Plus, the back half of this is a lot more exciting and interesting than the first half.
At least there was enough to where I can say this was fine. There are memorable moments, some badass bits, and genre veteran Testi does a swell job. Plus, Fabio Frizzi offers up a disco soundtrack, and that always tickles me pink. The most memorable aspect is all in the second half... while this movie does offer up an occasional Fulci hallmark in “not so great storytelling”, there is also graphic moments of gore. A woman's face receives a blowtorch and you see the damage it does... there are shotgun blasts to the face and stomach... and brains are splattered all over the place at one point. That just doesn't happen in this genre. I just wish the overall film would have been a blast to watch and for me it wasn't... even if there was one scene set at a discotheque.
Runtime: 97 minutes
Directed by: Lucio Fulci... no, really
Starring: Fabio Testi, Ivana Monti, Marcel Bozzuffi, Saverio Marconi, Enrico Maisto
From: Several Italian Companies
As this was something I've known of for years and it sounded tremendous... it not being tremendous in my eyes is a problem:
For a poliziotteschi done by FULCI, I expected more... and better. As someone I know is a huge fan of this film, Contraband is a flick I have known of for years now yet I kept on putting it off until earlier today. To be honest, there is no shortage of other poliziotteschi I'd rather watch or watch again than this one.
The plot is simple enough: Fabio Testi is part of the smuggling scene in Naples; he deals with cigarettes. Suddenly, those in the scene start dying and eventually, he (and we) discover who is responsible. This doesn't even have any sort of vehicular chase, unless you count some half-assed action with speedboats in the opening minutes. Otherwise it does have the hallmarks you'd expect in this sort of film... plenty of tough guys, criminal actions, violence, shootouts, and regrettably, violence against women. In this case, there is a lot of full frontal nudity and also a very gross scene that goes on way too long involving the lead girl... that being Testi's wife. Plus, the back half of this is a lot more exciting and interesting than the first half.
At least there was enough to where I can say this was fine. There are memorable moments, some badass bits, and genre veteran Testi does a swell job. Plus, Fabio Frizzi offers up a disco soundtrack, and that always tickles me pink. The most memorable aspect is all in the second half... while this movie does offer up an occasional Fulci hallmark in “not so great storytelling”, there is also graphic moments of gore. A woman's face receives a blowtorch and you see the damage it does... there are shotgun blasts to the face and stomach... and brains are splattered all over the place at one point. That just doesn't happen in this genre. I just wish the overall film would have been a blast to watch and for me it wasn't... even if there was one scene set at a discotheque.
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