5 Star Gangster Classic

Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the release of the first part of Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu trilogy, Milano Calibro 9, this gritty, ultra-violent masterpiece will debut on Blu-ray from 15^th June 2015.

Boasting a brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative, this disc will come loaded with bonus content, including the 2004 making of the film which brings together interviews with various members of the production team.

Also included as part of the extra features will be the documentary, Fernando Di Leo: The Genesis of the Genre which looks back at the filmmaker’s career and will include an interview with Di Leo himself. Other features include Scerbanenco Noir, a look into the work and history of Giorgio Scerbaneco, author of the original Milano Calibro 9 novel and an appreciation of Milano Calibro 9 by Matthew Holness, writer and star of cult series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.

In addition, the Blu-ray comes with both the US and Italian trailers, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist and a fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Roberto Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Ugo (Gastone Moschin, The Godfather Part II) has just been pardoned after a three year stretch following a bungled job.

Some say it was a deliberate ploy to let the heat die down after $300,000 goes missing from the main money laundering man, the Mikado (Lionel Stander, Hart to Hart), who blames Ugo for the double cross. But with the location of the money unknown, it seems that it’s enough money to keep you alive, however with a very close eye kept on you. That eye will be the Mikado’s right hand man, Rocco (Mario Adorf, Lola) and his sidekicks Pasqual (Mario Novelli, Year of the Gun) and Nico (Giuseppe Castellano, Screamers).

Rocco is well placed in the Mikado’s family and he relishes dealing out pain, as Ugo and those around him find out when he tries to get the location of the money out of Ugo.

At the same time, the Police commissionaire (Frank Wolff, Once Upon a Time in the West) wants to get his hands on Mikado through Ugo’s cooperation. But Ugo just wants to be left alone and get on with his life now that he is out of San Vittore.

He wants to get back with his belly dancing girlfriend Nelly (Barbara Bouchet, Gangs of New York) and maybe get away from it all in Beirut. But as the Mikado has him back in his employ and on a very short leash, he doesn’t have much chance unless he gets help from an old friend, Chino (Philippe Leroy, Nikita),  a very highly paid assassin, who doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone, no matter who they are.

With the new restoration, this film is up there with the best gangster films.

I loved it and it is an essential for any hard-man film collection.

“You can’t backstab someone like Ugo Piazza! You’d better not even touch someone like Ugo Piazza!”

Available to Order Now.