Revolver

Overview

"Blue Underground has produced a DVD that is guaranteed to please Italian crime film fans with Revolver. The video offers a sharp, colorful transfer that restores the film to its anamorphic widescreen glory. Audio is limited to a single English mono soundtrack: it would have been nice to have an Italian-with-subtitles option (especially given the occasionally amateurish quality of the English dubbing) but this is a solid sountrack that delivers the audio clearly and makes effective use of Ennio Morricone's atmospheric musical score. Blue Underground fleshes out this quality presentation with a nice array of extras. First up are a pair of trailers: both use essentially the same set of clips, but the European trailer favors a dialogue-free ""music and visuals"" approach while the American trailer is steeped in hard-boiled narration that declares Revolver ""makes Death Wish look like wishful thinking."" There are also a pair of American radio spots that utilize the same amusing hard-sell approach. However, the best extra is a 14-minute retrospective documentary featuring interviews with director Sergio Sollima and actor Fabio Testi: both men fondly discuss memories of working with Oliver Reed and Sollima discusses how his filmmaking philosophy influenced his politically-charged treatment of the story. All in all, this DVD of Revolver offers a thoughtful presentation of a lesser-known genre title and is a good example of the general quality of Blue Underground's output."

Product Details

Release Date:	02/24/2004
UPC:	0827058103299
Original Release:	1975
Rating:	R
Source:	Blue Underground
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	45,026

Special Features

Revolver: Calling the Shots - Interviews with director Sergio Sollima and star Fabio Testi; Theatrical trailers; Radio spots; Poster & still gallery; Talent bios

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Oliver Reed	Vito Cipriani
Fabio Testi	Milo Ruiz
Agostina Belli	Anna Cipriani
Paola Pitagora	Carlotta
Daniel Baretta	Actor
Peter Berlin	Actor
Frederic de Pasquale	Michel Granier
Marc Mazza	Police Inspector
Rene Koldehoff	Actor
Gunnar Warner	Jean Daniel

Technical Credits

Ugo Santalucia	Producer
Sergio Sollima	Director

Editorial Reviews

Revolver is a stylish but ultimately unsatisfying thriller that is more interesting for its ambitions than its success in realizing these ambitions. The script lends some interesting shadings to its action via some surprising twists near the end that add a bit of political commentary into the mix . Unfortunately, these message-oriented moments are delivered in an obvious, heavy-handed style that lessens their dramatic punch and are incorporated into the story in a way that stops its momentum cold. Sergio Sollima's direction is quite stylish and occasionally generates powerful moments of raw emotion (the final scene between Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi is a stunner) but his slack pacing allows these flashes of power to slip between the cracks. Performances are solid throughout but suffer due to the thin characterizations: Reed has to rely on his ability to physically convey emotion and Testi has to put forth a lot of charm to keep their standard-issue cop and crook characters interesting. In the end, Revolver has just enough action to keep fans of Italian crime films interested but isn't likely to appeal to most other viewers.