CONVOY BUSTERS (1978)
aka Un poliziotto scomodo
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 100 Minutes 41 Seconds
Audio: English or Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1:85:1)
Director: Stelvio Massi
Cast: Maurizio Merli, Olga Karlatos, Massimo Serato, Mimmo Palmara
In the Euro-crime entry Convoy Busters (1978) Maurizio Merli (The Cynic, The Rat, and The Fist), the most macho-mustached and bitch-slappin-ist of all actors in 70's Italian cinema, plays hard-nosed Inspector Olmi. He's a guy with no qualms about beating, bitch-slapping, and coercing confessions from the criminal scum of Rome in an effort to wipe their kind off the streets, and if that doesn't work he just blows a hole in 'em with his handgun. His over-the-top, hard-edged tactics attract media attention and the ire of his superiors; and despite being reassigned to another division it gets worse when he guns down an innocent man on a dark street one night believing his life was in danger. Shaken by the experience he transfers to a lesser position in the seaside village of Civitanova Marche, with the intent of laying low and staying out of the spotlight, and toning down his violent tactics.
On this reassignment he meets an attractive schoolteacher named Anna (Olga Karlatos, Zombie) after patently bitch-slapping some young punks hassling her at a coffee bar. Out of that violet meet-cute they strike up a romance and life is good for the inspector, but Olmi being who he is cannot help but notice some illicit smuggling activity happening around the coastal fishing community while on a date with his new gal. Once he gets to detecting he cannot let it go and ends up dishing out his unique brand of mustachioed machismo and mayhem with a sizable bullet-riddled body count soon following.
The flick is a solid slice of hardboiled Poliziotteschi that
hits all the familiar tropes the genre is best known for, and while it might lack the visceral punch of the best of the scuzzy euro-crime flicks it's still quite violent and chock full of explosions, cathartic bitch-slapping, violent shoot 'em ups, and some terrific vehicle chases - the best of which is a scene of Olmi chasing down a suspect who is on foot from a helicopter before blowing him away with his hand-cannon, he's quite a shot! The flick also benefits from a terrific Stelvio Cipriani (Piranha II: The Spawning) score and steady direction from Stelvio Massi's (Emergency Squad). It's not the most violent or sleaziest of the Poliziotteschi but Merli is fantastic as the ass-kicking steely-eyed cop who's just about had enough of the scumbags, delivering his brand of righteous violence with deadly conviction.
Audio/Video: Convoy Busters (1978) arrives on Blu-ray from Cauldron Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1), sourced 2K restoration from the original camera negative. As this was a first-time watch for me I cannot compare it to the previous DVD from the defunct No Shame or the previous German Blu-ray from Koch Media, but I will say it looks great. Grain levels look terrific from the start with nice texturing, the source is solid shape with only a few negligible film flaws, and while it has that soft 70's Italian sheen that was inherent to this era of Italian cinema it looks organic and is quite pleasing. Audio options come by way of both Italian or English DTS-HS MA 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, and the score from Stelvio Cipriani is a winner, it's not my favorite of his but it definitely has some funky highlights that shine.
Onto the extras I'm pleased to say that Cauldron offer a stacked release with over three hours of new and archival bonus content. New stuff first, we get a Audio Commentary by Mike Malloy & Mike Martinez who do excellent work talking about the director and the cast, particularly the career of Merli and his body of work both outside and within the euro-crime subgenre, they address the odd titling and what the actual Italian title translates to, and much more. This is a great track from goes who know their stuff, which I appreciated as I am certainly no euro-crime expert.
We also have the 29-min Maurizio Merli: A Lethal Hunter of Subtle Variation with tough-guy film expert Mike Malloy; this covers some of the same ground as the commentary Malloy takes part in, but offering more insight into the deeper career of Merli and the series of euro-crime films he starred in. Then onto the 20-min My Father, the Cop: Interview with Maurizio Matteo Merli, who is also an actor, who discusses not quite realizing how big a fil. star his father was until after his death, exploring his filmography, and the challenges of his father being typecast; the 24-min The Massi Touch: Interview with Danilo Massi; the son of the director features Massi speaking about his father's career, working for him as 2nd AD and more, plus we get the touching 8-min Stelvio Massi video tribute by Danilo Massi, the 9-min Stelvio Massi Image Gallery featuring images of the director behind-the-scenes on various film sets.
Archival goodies sourced from previous releases include the 6-min Bullet in the Closet- Interview with director Ruggero Deodato; the 22-min The Protagonist- Interview with director Enzo G. Castellari; 16-min Good Fella Maurizio - Interview with actor Ennio Girolami, the16-min A Star is Born - Interview with Journalist Eolo Capacci; plus a 1-min Alternate English Language Credit Sequence, and both the Italian Trailer and the English Trailer which run 4-minutes each.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork with a pair of illustrated artworks, one featuring a ridiculously misleading trucker motif featuring Merli in a sleeveless work shirt, making it seem like a trucker-sploitation flick, when in fact trucks figure very little into the scheme of things, but that exploitation for you, gotta love it.
Special Features:
- 2K Restoration from the Negative / 1080p presentation
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Mike Malloy & Mike Martinez
- NEW! Maurizio Merli: A Lethal Hunter of Subtle Variation with tough-guy film expert Mike Malloy (29 min)
- NEW! My Father, the Cop: Interview with Maurizio Matteo Merli (20 min)
- NEW! The Massi Touch: Interview with Danilo Massi (24 min)
- NEW! Stelvio Massi video tribute by Danilo Massi (8 min)
- NEW! Stelvio Massi Image gallery (64 Images)
- Bullet in the Closet- Iinterview with director Ruggero Deodato (6 min)
- The Protagonist- Interview with director Enzo G. Castellari (22 min)
- Good Fella Maurizio - Interview with actor Ennio Girolami titled My (16 min)
- Good Fella Maurizio - Interview with actor Ennio Girolami titled My (16 min)
- A Star is Born - Interview with Journalist Eolo Capacci (16 min)
- Alternate English Language Opening Credits (1min)
- Italian Trailer(4 min)
- English Trailer (4 min)
This Maurizio Merli euro-crime gem gets a top-notch Blu-ray release from Cauldron Films who continue to impress with their curated picks from the vaults of cult-cinema - they've yet to disappoint me, another easy recommend.
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
