Blood in the Streets (1973)
"Revolver" (original title)

An Italian official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released--but then ... See full summary »

Director:

Sergio Sollima

Writers:

Massimo De Rita (screenplay), Arduino Maiuri (screenplay),

Stars:

Oliver Reed, Fabio Testi, Paola Pitagora

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oliver Reed	...	Vito Cipriani
Fabio Testi	...	Milo Ruiz
Paola Pitagora	...	Carlotta
Agostina Belli	...	Anna Cipriani
Frédéric de Pasquale	...	Michel Granier
Marc Mazza	...	Police Inspector
Reinhard Kolldehoff	...	French Lawyer (as René Kolldehoff)
Bernard Giraudeau	...	Kidnapper
Peter Berling	...	Grappa
Gunnar Warner	...	Jean Daniel
Daniel Beretta	...	Al Niko
Calisto Calisti	...	Maresciallo Fantuzzi
Steffen Zacharias	...	Joe Lacours (as Steffen Zaccarias)
Michel Bardinet
Salvatore Borghese	...	Suicidal Prisoner (as Sal Borghese)

Storyline

An Italian official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released--but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | street shootout | rage | wrath | villain | 

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Taglines:

In the name of love he killed a man... destroyed another... spit on his badge and tore a city apart brick by brick, street by street, punk by punk to find his wife.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France West Germany

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

In the Name of Love

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mega Film, Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a DVD special feature, the crew were told that Oliver Reed would be finishing his scenes on a day four days after what would actually be his last day of filming. This was because crew on the film apparently had scores to settle with him and the false finish date was given to protect him.

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Connections

Referenced in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Un ami"
Written by Ennio Morricone
Performed by Daniel Beretta

User Reviews

REVOLVER (Sergio Sollima, 1973) **1/2

I had long wanted to catch this poliziottesco (which has never turned up on Italian TV) but was ultimately rather let down by it: the plot involves a buddy buddy partnership between two unlikely characters – prison warden Oliver Reed and petty criminal Fabio Testi. Director Sollima had already made the superior THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966) on similar lines (the “Cult Movie” website claims this is a remake of it but I don’t buy that, as the narrative takes a wholly different direction).

The film, however, isn’t quite as engrossing as it should be and rather muddled into the bargain – but, at least, it looks good and is undeniably bolstered by a beautiful and typically effective Ennio Morricone score (reminiscent of his work, much later, on THE UNTOUCHABLES [1987]!). Reed is an ideally sturdy yet world-weary hero – but Testi is just okay in the role of his quarry/associate (though the English dubbing may have undermined his original performance), especially as he displays little of the cunning and deadly prowess which had characterized the Tomas Milian counterpart in THE BIG GUNDOWN…and, in any case, he’s ultimately established to have been merely a pawn in the game being waged! The female cast is comprised of lovely Agostina Belli (as Reed’s young wife, who’s kidnapped so as to ensure his collaboration) and Paola Pitagora (somewhat wasted as an underworld ‘groupie’ who briefly hooks up with Testi).

Even if the film doesn’t have the socio-political scope of THE BIG GUNDOWN, this element is belatedly introduced towards the end – leading to a curiously downbeat (and cynical) finale. While not plentiful, the action sequences are certainly as efficiently handled as any in this type of film (Sollima made at least one more poliziottesco – VIOLENT CITY [1970], which I’ll be getting to soon); still, the director seems less at ease within the ‘urban jungle’ landscape than he was in the wide-open spaces provided by the Spaghetti Western milieu.

The main supplement on the Blue Underground DVD is a 13-minute featurette consisting of separate interviews with Sollima and Testi. Among other things, the former admits to having been roped in at the last minute and claims that he finally agreed to make it on detecting connotations with another Spaghetti Western of his – FACE TO FACE (1967). Testi, a regular of action movies, takes pride in having done most of his own stunts (in fact, he had started out in films in this field!). Both, then, have complimentary things to say about the late Oliver Reed. There are also two Easter Eggs – one in which Sollima criticizes the film’s half-hearted publicity campaign (which he blames for its lack of box-office success), while the other is yet another anecdote pertaining to the film’s notoriously hell-raising British star.