Caliber 9

 

After having a discussion about cinema with a friend, I sat down and watched Caliber 9, aka Milano calibro 9, aka The Contract, an Italian crime thriller from 1972.

Caliber 9 is all about Ugo Piazza, a gangster who is suspected of stealing $300.000 from his boss, L'Americano. Shortly after the money ends up missing, Ugo is sent to prison for a botched robbery, and the movie kicks off as he is released two years later. In case you're wondering why everyone is so keen on a mere 300K, that is almost $2 million is today's money.

There is a strange subplot concerning two senior cops, one who has fascist leanings and one with communist sympathies. Their arguments, while interesting in and of themselves, lead absolutely nowhere and are essentially pointless. The director even said so, but he liked them too much to leave on the cutting room floor.

So Ugo is released and immediately lands in hot water because of the money, but no one can kill him until they know whether he is innocent or if guilty, where the money is. Ugo swears he is innocent and plays a dangerous game to find the real thief. No spoilers here, so you'll have to watch it yourself to discover the truth.

The acting is mostly very good. Ugo is played by Gastone Moschin, perhaps best known to modern audiences for playing Don Fanucchi in The Godfather: Part II. His girlfriend Nelly is played by Barbara Bouchet and the movie also stars Mario Adorf, Frank Wolff and many more. It is directed by Fernando Di Leo and is based on three short stories from the short story collection Milano calibro 9.

I should point out that the character Rocco Musco is pretty over the top. Very entertaining, but Adorf chews the scenery every time he shows up, which is a lot.

The cinematography is mostly good. Milan is lovely to see and the scenes are tight and interesting. Caliber 9 has the strange tendency one sometimes see in movies from that era to zoom the camera in and move it around violently. This is a technique I'm not a fan of as it just makes the scene confusing instead of interesting.

Caliber 9 is not Goodfellas, it is by no means a masterpiece, but I was glued to the screen the entire time. It is incredibly compelling from start to finish, but I really feel that the story needs to be a short TV series. This would make sense on many levels. It would have time to validate the police characters and their politics in the fractured Italian climate of the early 70's. It would give the gangsters more time to be characters and not just tough looking goons, particularly with the mystery of who took the money. It would give us an opportunity to experience and understand the relationship between Ugo and Chino, a tough as nails hit man, and his boss Don Vincenzo. This is all important to the story but we barely get to know any details in the 90 minute run time.

I absolutely recommend Caliber 9 if you like crime dramas. I watched the subtitled version in the original Italian but there is a dubbed version out there if you prefer. I don't like to give movies ratings, but if I did I would rate it quite high, even though I can't put the finger on exactly why. IMDB gives it 7.5 stars. I say give it a shot.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time for more Eccentric Spheres and until then, have a great and safe week!