Contraband

A late entry in the Poliziotteschi genre.Despite the apt description, MEAN BLOOD (also THE SMUGGLERS) - many alternate release titles for Lucio Fulci’s CONTRABAND (1980).  This was producer Sandra Infascelli’s next big Italocrime production following Umberto Lenzi’s FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN (1978) and, like Fulci’s ZOMBIE (1979) was originally proposed for direction by Enzo G. Castellari, who had just wrapped DAY OF THE COBRA (1980) with Franco Nero. Original Italo pressbooks inevitably compared CONTRABAND to William Friedkin’s The FRENCH CONNECTION (1971); and that film’s prime villain, Marcel Bozzuffi, here plays “the gangster from Marseilles who unleashes the chain of violence.”  Fulci’s contribution to the Italocrime genre is your standard tale of camorra in-fighting and revenge, but what sets this film apart is a generous amount of gory violence that rivals anything done in his much-discussed/praised cannibalistic zombie flicks.  Sandwiched between his “gore classics” ZOMBIE and The GATES OF HELL (1980), this actually turned out to be Fulci’s only crime film as he quickly progressed into the internationally successful horror director he has since become.When Luca (Fabio Testi) and Mickey (Enrico Maisto) are almost apprehended smuggling cigarettes via speedboat off the infamous Naples docks, they are convinced that a rival smuggler, Sciarrino (Ferdinando Murolo), has ratted them out.  They plan on teaching Sciarrino a valuable lesson with the help of Luigi Perlante (Saverio Marconi), a hot headed but powerful gangster (who, according to original pressbook copy, “personifies the power of today, that power which has been handed down from the elders to the younger generation”).  However, Mickey is killed the following day and Luca quickly realizes that Sciarrino wasn't involved in any of the dirty business.  It was actually the work of Francois “The Marsigliese” (Marcel Bozzuffi), a French drug kingpin out to replace the prosperous cigarette trade with a stronger addiction …heroin.As mentioned earlier, CONTRABAND is similar in concept to any number of polizieschi pics that take place on the Neapolitan docks (the Mario Merola/Alfonso Brescia collaborations come to mind), but the main reason for the film’s continued popularity – especially among fans of Fulci’s horror pics – is the inordinate amount of gore.  Heads are blown apart, burnt, thrown into lime-pits etcetera, etcetera.  When Perlante is shot through the neck, his wound gushes massive amounts of blood and is comparable to anything in ZOMBIE or Fulci’s pièce de résistance, The BEYOND (1981), that said, the film is also considerably more hostile and misogynist than your average poliziesco.  When Luca stubbornly refuses to join the Marsigliese, his wife Adele (Ivana Monti) is kidnapped and brutally raped by a couple of his goons (including spaghetti western vet Romano Puppo) as Luca helplessly listens on the phone while Fulci’s camera continues to linger on the act as if were one of his gory set pieces.  It’s one of the more unpleasant scenes in Fulci’s entire oeuvre right up there with his very own, and equally gruesome, The NEW YORK RIPPER (1982).  In another highly exploitive scene, the Marsigliese catches a young drug mule trying to sell him some cheap diluted smack and, in a sadistic rage, he viciously blow torches her face and gleefully watches as it slowly melts away.  Ajita Wilson and Cinzia Lodetti – both appeared in Edward G. Muller’s steamy jungle pic ESCAPE FROM HELL the same year – are also on hand as a couple of prostitutes in one of Perlante’s brothels, who not only provide the requisite nudity (both are Eurosleaze icons), but also suffer further abuse at the hands of rival gangsters.Although efficiently handled by most of Fulci’s regular crew from the period including DP Sergio Salvati, editor Vincenzo Tomassi and composer Fabio Frizzi, the film seems oddly out of place when compared to other polizieschi and seems to have more in common with his many horror titles.  During a terrific and highly stylized scene at, what appears to be a giant quarry, Luca is forced to defend himself and inadvertently kills one of Sciarrino’s men (Nello Pazzafini) when he falls into a large bubbling lime pit.  The bleak gravel dunes and misty, steam-filled atmosphere seem more akin to a horror film, and then in another typical horror movie moment, his badly decomposed corpse is thrown through the bedroom window of Sciarrino’s house.  Salvati’s sharp photography is another added bonus, but at times an uncharacteristic haze permeates certain scenes - a technique also utilized by Fulci in many of his other films, most notoriously in CONQUEST (1982) – which also gives it a rather strange, almost otherworldly feel, which is especially evident during the finale at a desolate seaside locale.  Some of the slow-motion action scenes are also a nice touch – including many gory highlights - that takes the cinema styling of Sam Peckinpah to almost ridiculous levels.  While undoubtedly a talented film composer, Fabio Frizzi also worked on a number of polizieschi such as Luigi Petrini’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) wannabe DAY OF VIOLENCE (1977), which featured plenty of bass-heavy rhythms and driving percussion.  His work here is not much different, and while it’s an interesting score, it also doesn’t have the same impact of the hard-hitting, and more familiar, brass sections of a classic Franco Micalizzi or Stelvio Cipriani Eurocrime score. Already a regular in various polizieschi such as Franco Martinelli’s fast-paced ROME, THE OTHER FACE OF VIOLENCE (1975) and Domenico Paolella’s even faster-paced STUNT SQUAD (1977), French actor Marcel Bozzuffi usually played commissarios fighting on the “right side of the law”, but for Fulci’s outing, he returns to his tough, no-holds-barred ruthless roots as the French Connection.  Unlike his somewhat subdued but certainly vicious turn in Friedkin’s film, he really gets to chew the scenery here orchestrating a number of hits on the opposing factions of his heroin trade.  Outside of the main players, Fulci populates the rest of the film with many familiar faces including busy character actor Venantino Venantini (he would go on to drill a giant-sized hole through the skull of John Morghen in Fulci’s The GATES OF HELL the very same year) as a frustrated commissario; Fabrizio Jovine (he also appeared in The GATES OF HELL as the suicidal priest) has a minor role as a “Guardia di Finanza” inspector; blonde, lanky character actor Luciano Rossi also shows up as one of the Marsigliese’s drug chemists while Guido Alberti is an old school mob boss who, in a nice comedic touch, just sits around for most of the film watching spaghetti westerns and even polizieschi, that is, until he helps organize an all out war against the Marsigliese.  Italocrime old hands Tommaso Palladino, Salvatore Billa and stuntman/sometime actor Omero Capanna also appear.The Blue Underground DVD, is uncut but the only audio option is English dubbed no optional subtitles. The dubbing is decent; it'll provide some unintended yuks. No extras besides a trailer and a skimpy "talent bio."

The reason I bought this was because I previously purchased Fabio Testi's "The Big Racket" and liked it a lot. "Contraband" is almost as good, though not as fast paced or as erotically charged. With Lucio Fulci in the director's chair, it nevertheless delivers a pretty good punch for the money.In the film, Testi and his gang are living on the outside edge of the law, smuggling cigarettes for a living. A new crime boss hits town and decides to get the cigarette smugglers out of the way so he can have a clear field peddling dope on a massive scale. The carnage begins and when Testi refuses to break up his gang, the new crime boss stops playing "Mr. Nice Guy!"Despite a few slow passages, the movie remains quite watchable thanks to a hot hit man, a hotter Judas type and hottest of all Testi. With its non-stop eye candy, you won't be bored. The horror-gore scenes are well done, and with them, "Contraband" borders on thriller movie territory.For the most part, the film pulls its punches sexually, with nothing particularly graphic. Don't be fooled by other reviews claims of a "graphic" rape scene - the scene is anything but. The victim screams a lot out of fear that she will be raped, but the scene ends before the guy has his way with her.Only downside to the movie is that it was shot with a diffusion disc in camera - this is a lens filter that softens or "smudges" the image slightly for a soft, hazy look. In the old days, stars like Mae West and Doris Day used them to hide wrinkles in their closeups. Strangely, this entire film was shot that way, and it takes a bit of getting used to.I would like to see a blu ray of "Contraband" in the near future - hint hint!

Contraband is a masterwork of Lucio Fulci. It's a production which is always showing the brutal cynical world of organized criminality. Of course the film is nothing for young people, so a limit of an age of 18 years would be OK, but after watching it, I'm surprised, that the film is forbidden in Germany. It shows violance and brutality, but not in that intensity I had expected before.There exist many films which are more brutal.

Low budget 70s action with a funky score and a few gruesome shootouts and beatings. Not much more than that really. If you've seen blaxploitation flicks from this era, just swap out a black cast for an Italian one & you get the jist. I bought it cause it's directed by Lucio Fulci and while it's cool to see a non-horror film of his, "Contraband" doesn't hold a candle to his best films.

This film 'Contraband' should not be confused by the classic 1940's title nor the more-recent 2011 release starring Mark Wahlberg. No, this is Lucio Fulci's version made back in 1980 which may also be known as 'The Smuggler' in some territories. The film, with such an innocuous sounding title, is set in Naples and against the various mafia clans that control the smuggling racket of cigarettes by sea, and prostitution to the local population. However, war breaks out when an outside gang headed by Marcel Bozzufi (Best remembered as the French hit man in 'The French Connection' who Gene Hackman was pursuing) is looking to muscle in on the action and wanting to supply narcotics, with a bigger earning potential. Facing resistance from the controlling gangs, who are reluctant to inflict their citizens onto the more dangerous drugs, violence with a capital V erupts.Thus, this film which for the first 20 minutes or so begins at a pedestrian state, with not much happening, then begins with the killing off of various gang members. Just over half way through the film a woman has one side of her faced burned away with a bunsen burner after attempting to deceive the Frenchman in a drugs supply transaction. Someone gets a handgun placed into his mouth before getting his brains shot out through the back of his head (As depicted from the sleeve cover), whilst another has his face shot away through machine gun fire, and another, his throat shot out. All done in a rather bloody and brutal way and, in away, a sign of things to come as Fulci went on to deliver such notorious films as 'City of the Living Dead' (1980), 'The Beyond' (1981), 'The House By the Cemetary' (1981), 'The New York Ripper' (1982) to name but a few.

Contraband aka The Smuggler aka The Naples Connection sees Lucio Fulci just phoning it in with a dreary looking and unexciting gangster flick that sees the honourable cigarette smugglers of Naples being picked off by a badly dubbed Marcel Bozzuffi's sadistic Marsigliese, who, along with his hunchbacked chemist who's dubbed by a Peter Lorre impersonator, wants to take over their organisation to run his drugs. It's not helped by the casting of Fabio Testi, as reliably boring and non-dimensional as ever in the lead but also, thanks to age starting to take the edge off the good looks he relied on, starting to look like a bizarre hybrid of Treat Williams, Michael Jayston and William H. Macy. Production values generally aren't that much higher than 70s continental porn - fake blood, obvious dummies, insipid photography and barely rehearsed action scenes are the norm for the first half of the film. Occasionally the prospect of an interesting scene is raised, such as a fight on a tilted ship at low tide, only to be lazily thrown away. There is one good action scene in the film, but unfortunately that's a spaghetti western a bored Mafia don is watching on TV while the younger cast members unenthusiastically go through the motions.Clearly aware of just how dull the first half of the film is, the gore goes into overdrive just about the time you're tempted to give up on it and see if there's anything decent on TV instead. It's a mixture of the same ridiculous effects that mar the earlier scenes and some not particularly convincing but rather better executed ones as heads get blown off, duplicitous female drug dealers get Bunsen burner facials and our hero's wife gets raped. But with such a dreary script and such a bland and boring lead, gore and desperate attempts for shock value are all the film has to offer. By the time it ends with an absurd shootout in which various elderly dons stop watching TV and reclaim the streets from the evil French drug dealer and save violated women, you start suspecting the whole film was backed by the Mafia as a money laundering scam. The entire last reel almost feels like you're watching a Party Political Broadcast for the Mafia, with the cops lending them their vote as they make speeches about how the poor of Naples depend entirely on smuggling to make ends meet because there are no jobs. It's pretty desperate stuff, not quite bottom of the barrel but close.The film was heavily cut in many territories, particularly the UK during the video nasties era, but Blue Underground's region-free US NTSC widescreen DVD is in all its occasionally laughable uncut gory. The picture quality is unexceptional, though that seems to be a problem of the dubbed master material provided (there's only an English language soundtrack) and the dull original cinematography. There are a few warps in the film and one bit of print damage, but it's acceptable. The only extra is an English language international trailer.

Great lucio fulci

One of Fulchi''s best

Thanks :-)