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

Director:

Sergio Sollima

Writers:

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

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The last battle between crime and the law in every major city in the world.

Plot:

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...

Plot Keywords:

Prisoner | Street Shootout | Rage | Wrath | Villain

Cast

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)
Giovanni Pallavicino	...	Kidnapper
Giacomo De Michelis
Amato Garbini
Carla Mancini
Orazio Stracuzzi
Marco Mariani	...	Carlo DeGregori
Jean Degrave	...	Harmakolas (as Jean de Grave)
Franco Moraldi	...	French Police Chief
Ottavio Fanfani	...	Shopkeeper
Gianni Bortolotti	...	Doctor (as Gianni Bortolotto)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pino Colizzi	...	Milo Ruiz (voice) (uncredited)
Vittoria Febbi	...	Anna Cipriani (voice) (uncredited)
Michael Forest	...	Milo Ruiz (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Pino Locchi	...	Vito Cipriani (voice) (uncredited)
Edward Mannix	...	Maresciallo Fantuzzi (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Bernd Stephan	...	(uncredited)
Frank von Kuegelgen	...	Jean Daniel (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Sergio Sollima

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Massimo De Rita		screenplay
Arduino Maiuri		screenplay
Sergio Sollima		screenplay

Produced by
Ugo Santalucia	....	producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Aldo Scavarda

Film Editing by
Sergio Montanari

Art Direction by
Carlo Simi

Set Decoration by
Carlo Simi

Costume Design by
Carlo Simi

Makeup Department
Massimo De Rossi	....	assistant makeup artist
Amato Garbini	....	makeup artist
Vanda Piovesan	....	hair stylist
Alvaro Rossi	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Hans Brockmann	....	production manager: Germany
Alain Darbon	....	unit manager
Livio Maffei	....	production manager
Vincenzo Mazzucchi	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fabrizio Castellani	....	assistant director
André Delacroix	....	assistant director
Jobst Neuschaeffer	....	assistant director: Germany

Art Department
Guy Maugin	....	set dresser
Sergio Palmieri	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Franco Bassi	....	sound recordist
Amedeo Casati	....	sound
René Longuet	....	sound
Renato Marinelli	....	sound effects
Domenico Pasquadibisceglie	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Gianni D'Andrea	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Oddone Bernardini	....	second camera operator
Divo Cavicchioli	....	still photographer
Onofrio Coppola	....	grip
Enrico Cortese	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Valeria Sponsali	....	wardrobe
Anna Maria Tucci	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Giuliano Mattioli	....	assistant editor
Roberto Puglisi	....	assistant editor
Luciano Vittori	....	color timer

Other crew
Georgette Darbon	....	production secretary
Carmine Del Monaco	....	production secretary
Enrico Lucherini	....	publicist
Bona Magrini	....	script girl
Felicity Mason	....	dialogue director
Albino Morandini	....	production assistant
Angelo Sarago	....	business manager
Jacques Schaeffer	....	production assistant
Gino Soldi	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Mega Film
• Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC) (co-production)
• Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion (co-production)

Distributors

• Independent International Pictures (I-I) (1975) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Blue Underground (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Frontier Amusements (1977) (Canada) (as "Blood in the Streets") (dubbed)
• Stomp Visual (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Revolver" - Italy (original title)
"In the Name of Love" - USA

Runtime:

USA:111 min

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:R | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Company:

Mega Film

Trivia:

In one scene Oliver Reed was supposed to unlock Fabio Testi's handcuffs and drag him out of the car but Oliver couldn't get the small keys to fit in the cuffs. After 3 takes he got frustrated and threw the keys which happened to fall into a sewer drain. Fabio was left in handcuffs for two hours before more keys could be located.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Un ami

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.