“Makes Death Wish look like wishful thinking!” was the immortal tagline that accompanied the film upon its US release (also retitled Blood In The Streets), but Revolver—as is to be expected from director Sergio Sollima—is a much more complex film. Sollima was a highly political director and his films were often allegorical and implicitly opposed to the corruption endemic in Italian society at the time.
After directing his triptych of political (and acclaimed) spaghetti westerns (The Big Gundown, Face To Face, and Run, Man, Run), Sollima directed two crime thrillers in the poliziotteschi genre–the name given to the violent and action-packed Italian crime thrillers. Sollima was a perfect fit for this style of filmmaking, and the two films he directed in the genre are both essential viewing.
Revolver was the second of these films and is a moody and bloody classic in which it’s rarely clear exactly who the bad-guys are. Oliver Reed is on-fir– and dominates every scene with such casual ease that you’re reminded what a great actor he was, when given decent material to work with.
The tale follows the story of a prison-warden (Reed) whose wife has been kidnapped by thugs who demand the release of an inmate (Fabio Testi as Milo Ruiz) as ransom. But when the warden turns the tables and kidnaps Ruiz, the two become trapped in a deadly game that ends in the bullet-riddled city streets. Can an obsessed lawman and an escaped convict survive the forces of corruption as well as each other, or does the ultimate law of society belong to the revolver?
With music by the late maestro, Ennio Morricone (including one of his most beloved compositions, Un Amico), Eureka Classics’ new 4K restoration is presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.
The blu-ray release includes:
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase (2000 copies only)
- 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration.
- English and Italian audio options.
- Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release.
- Brand new audio commentary by author and critic Kim Newman.
- Brand new interview with film scholar Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA.
- Archival interview with actor Fabio Testi.
- Original Trailers and Radio Adverts.
- A Limited-Edition Collector’s Booklet (2000 copies only) featuring two new essays by author Howard Hughes; one covering the background to the making of Revolver, and an extensive piece on Ennio Morricone’s ‘Eurocrime’ soundtracks.