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7
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7 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
In
Revolver Oliver Reed plays Vito
Caprini, an ex-cop who is now the warden of a large prison in
northern Italy. Happily married and very good at his job, Caprini
is the model of a solid citizen on the right side of the law.
Fabio Testi (Contraband) plays
Milo Ruiz, a petty thief in from France whose first robbery
in Italy goes badly wrong and ends with him burying his best
friend and criminal accomplice in an unmarked grave. After Milo
is arrested and placed in Caprini's prison these two men with
nothing in common are forced together for mysterious reasons.
Caprini's beautiful wife Anna (Agostina Belli) is kidnapped
and Vito is told by phone that if he wants her back he must
keep silent and arrange for Milo to escape from prison. The
warden delays releasing his prisoner for a day to pressure him
for the names of whomever is trying to get him out. When Milo
claims to have no friends willing to go through something so
elaborate to free him, Caprini realizes he must break him out.
Putting Milo in the prison infirmary (heh heh), Caprini allows
him to escape only to grab the thief so he can make a forced
exchange for his wife. Following the only information they have,
the antagonistic pair avoid the cops and make their way across
the border to Paris. They question Milo's pop star friend Al
(Daniel Beretta), who has connections to the underworld. When
Al is very surprised that Milo's partner died in Italy and not
France, it becomes apparent that the thief wasn't rescued from
prison to do a job. And after a swap for Anna goes very wrong,
it looks like Milo knows something that might get him killed.
I
first started watching European crime movies about 7 years ago;
I quickly learned that even the worst of them can be counted
on to entertain me with great action scenes, vicious characters
and a unwritten law that bleak endings were generally the best
kind. Before I watched Revolver
I'd seen only one of director Sergio Sollima's crime films —
the fantastic
Violent City. From just these two
movies I can say I really hope to see much more of his work.
Revolver is not as action packed
a story as I've come to expect from Italian crime movies although
it certainly has its fair share of fistfights, shootouts and
chases. This film has several things on its mind, chief among
them how society values one person over another, and why. The
movie poses one answer but at the same time asks the viewers
if we agree or disagree. Is the death of a person justified
if a 'better' person lives by their death? And what does making
that choice do to those who are forced to carry it through?
Although Revolver has the central
mystery of who wants Milo Ruiz out of prison and why, it's primarily
a character-driven story focusing on the relationship between
the cop and the criminal. As the two are slowly forced to work
together to stay alive, the script shows a steady hand in portraying
them as very different people with different goals. The grudging
trust they form is believable and affecting. Much of this effectiveness
can be attributed to the great performances from Reed and Testi.
I've come to expect strong work from Reed (The
Three Musketeers) no
matter what type of film he's in, but Testi is his equal here
even with the handicap of being dubbed by another actor. Also
contributing to the strength of Revolver
is Ennio Morricone's usual excellent score. The incredibly prolific
composer does a fine job here, but I did notice a strong similarity
to the maestro's score for the crime movie Il
Poliziotto della Brigata Criminale —
released
in the States as Fear in the City
and The Night Caller. I can't complain
about this at all, as I think the music is wonderful, but it
was the first time I've heard Morricone quote himself so clearly
from one score to another.
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| Blue
Underground's DVD of Revolver is
just about perfect. The film is presented with its original mono
soundtrack and is letterboxed at 1.85:1 (enhanced for 16:9 TVs).
The sound is clear, with no distortions and minimal hiss, while
the picture is bright and sharp. I did feel the image got a little
darker in the credit sequence but it turned out to be just that
one shot. I don't imagine we'll ever see a better DVD of this
fine movie. Once again Blue Underground has come up with some
great extras. There's a 14-minute short called Revolver: Calling
the Shots, featuring recent interviews with director Sollima
and Fabio Testi. Both men speak with warmth and humor about the
film as well as Oliver Reed, discussing both the positive and
negative aspects of working with him. This is a nice piece and
I only wish it were longer and wider-ranging. I should note that
there are two 'Easter Eggs' on the Extras menu screen that consist
of Sollima telling an amusing Reed anecdote and describing how
the original release of the film was fumbled. The International
and U.S. trailers have been included along with two fun radio
spots and a small poster/still gallery. Capping the disc is a
set of short but well-written Talent Bios for Reed, Testi, and
Sollima by Mark Wickum, and of Ennio Morricone by Avie Hern. A
good DVD and a very good movie. 11/09/02 |
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