The Italian Connection
The Italian Connection is a 1972 film from Italy and West Germany, directed by Fernando Di Leo, running 97 minutes. reelscum files it under poliziotteschi.
- Year
- 1972 · 1970s films
- Country
- Italy · West Germany
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Director
- Fernando Di Leo
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (41/100)
- Also known as
- Hired to Kill · Manhunt · Black Kingpin
Defined in the glossary: Poliziotteschi
Mario Adorf on foot versus a car. Best chase in Italian cinema.
Di Leo again, and the film with the best chase in Italian cinema. A small-time Milan pimp is framed and hunted by two American hitmen, and the centrepiece is Mario Adorf, on foot, running down a car and tearing it apart with his hands in a junkyard.
Adorf's performance is a force of nature, all sweat and desperation, and Di Leo grounds the violence in a real sense of class and dead ends. Henry Silva and Woody Strode play the imported killers.
Lean, furious, and built around one of the great physical performances in the genre.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 8 Nov 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Written about
- Poliziotteschi: the Italian cop film, 1973 to 1980
A moustache, a Magnum, and total contempt for the courts.
On these lists
- Poliziotteschi starter pack
Italian cops who close cases by ignoring the courts and the paperwork. Start at the top, before the moustaches blur together.
Filed alongside
The Boss
Di Leo's most cynical crime film. A mob enforcer navigates a Mafia war where everyone is corrupt.
Revolver
Di Leo's saddest. Oliver Reed, and a Morricone theme that hurts.
Street Law
Castellari's Death Wish. An ordinary engineer, brutalised and ignored, arms himself.
The Big Racket
Castellari's best. The car-rolling-down-the-hill shot is famous for a reason.
Almost Human
Tomas Milian as a repellent psychopath. Deeply unpleasant, very good.
High Crime
Castellari's breakout in the genre, and Franco Nero furious for ninety minutes.
Shoot First, Die Later
Di Leo's dirty-cop picture, and the rot goes all the way home.
Rome Armed to the Teeth
Maurizio Merli punches Rome for 100 minutes. Politics: incoherent.
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Two cops who are clearly the villains. Ruggero Deodato, before the jungle.
Milano calibro 9
Di Leo's masterpiece. Cold, fast, well written.
Violent Naples
Merli takes his no-mercy cop routine to Naples. Fast, brutal, and politically incoherent as ever.
The Violent Professionals
Martino sends Luc Merenda undercover and off the leash. Prime cop-on-a-rampage stuff.