Gang War in Milan

1973 film

Franco Enna
Umberto Lenzi^[2]

Starring

Antonio Sabato
Philippe Leroy
Antonio Casagrande
Carla Romanelli

CinematographyLamberto Caimi^[2]Edited byIolanda Benvenuti^[2]Music byCarlo Rustichelli^[1]

Production
company

Lombard Film^[1]

Distributed byVariety Film

Release date

23 February 1973 (1973-02-23) (Italy)

Running time

101 minutes^[1]CountryItaly^[1]Box office₤631.702 million

Gang War in Milan (Italian: Milano rovente, lit. 'Scorching Hot Milan') is a 1973 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi.^[3]^[4]

Cast

Antonio Sabàto: Salvatore Cangemi
Philippe Leroy: Roger Daverty
Marisa Mell: Jasmina
Antonio Casagrande: Lino Caruso
Carla Romanelli: Virginia
Tano Cimarosa: Nino Balsamo

Production

Gang War in Milan was Umberto Lenzi's first entry in the crime genre after making several spy and action films in the 1960s.^[1] Lenzi stated in an interview that both the film's story and script were by Franco Enna, a giallo novelist who lived in Switzerland and that the credited writer Ombretta Lanza was a daughter of one of the producers who attributed to the story.^[1] Lenzi than later claimed that he completely re-wrote the script as it was closer to a 1930s crime film than a film noir.^[1]

It was filmed at Icet - De Paolis Studios in Milan and on location in Milan.^[1]

Release

Gang War in Milan was released theatrically in Italy on 23 February 1973 where it was distributed by Variety Film.^[1] The film grossed a total of 631.702 million Italian lira on its release.^[1]

Reception

Director Umberto Lenzi later felt that the film's story had "a basic error on the behalf of the producers [...]. We shouldn't have made the protagonist a pimp. You can have a pickpocket, a drug dealer, or a killer, but not a pimp, because the viewer doesn't sympathize with him. He's a dirty soundrel with whom you can't identify"^[5]

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Curti 2013, p. 83.
^ ^a ^b ^c Curti 2013, p. 82.
^ "L'ultimo valzer". La Stampa. 24 June 1973. p. 8.
^ Roberto Curti. Italia odia: il cinema poliziesco italiano. Lindau, 2006. pp. 240–241.
^ Curti 2013, p. 84.