Monthly Archives: June 2020

Just a Few Thoughts

I don’t have a lot of time and there is prose writing to be done but I have a few thoughts to share.

 

It is abundantly clear that in the nation we have a police brutality problem. Far too often they act as occupiers with the rest of the population subjugated.

It is also abundantly clear that systemic racism amplifies this brutality and black and brown people suffer disproportionately because of it.

The president in the words of a conservative podcaster ‘fetishizes brutality,’ and his most devoted followers fetishize his illusionary strength.

That which cannot be endured will not be. All people, individually and collectively, have their breaking points and when those are reach chaos predictably follows.

People who so confidently asserted that the GOP 94 victory averted a ‘civil war’ will remain blind to the causes of the current unrest.

And finally;

This is all far from over.

 

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Italian Genre Cinema, Home Edition: Caliber 9

The COVID-19 crisis among other things stopped could the Film Geeks San Diego’s year-long presentation of Italian Genre Films that my sweetie-wife and I were enjoying so much. So, while we wait for the crisis to pass, we have been scrounging streaming services for gems of Italian Genre movie from the 70s and earlier. Last night we watched Caliber 9 1972.

I would classify Caliber 9 as an Italian neo-noir. It stars Gastone Moschin as Ugo Piazza a small time mobbed up crook just released from three years in prison. Unfortunately for Ugo both the police and the local crime boss, Mikado, believe that Ugo took part in the theft of 300 hundred thousand American dollars from the mob and that he has the money stashed away. Even Ugo’s girlfriend Nelly, played by Barbara Bouchet, thinks he stole the cash. When Mikado puts a particularly brute thug Rocco on point for finding out where Ugo has hidden the loot, thing begin to spiral out of control leading to murder and Ugo’s quest for revenge.

While the quality of these 70s era Italian exploitative movie can vary a great deal I thoroughly enjoyed Caliber 9. This film has a gritty, realism to it that helped sell the story to betrayal, greed, and fractured loyalties. It is not surprising that there is a re-make currently in post-production slated for a release this year, but between the trouble with foreign producers finding American distribution and the pandemic who knows if we’ll get a chance to see that in theaters at all. It’s a nice tip of the hat to the original that Barbara Bouchet will be appearing in the remake.

Caliber 9 is currently streaming on Amazon as one of the movies available to Prime Members.

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