Blood in the Streets

During his prolific career, Oliver Reed was often indiscriminate in his choice of projects, accepting roles in both prestige productions like Richard Lester's The Four Musketeers (1974) or low-grade exploitation fare like Spasms (1983). It's hard to tell whether his erratic filmography reflected his driving need to work or was simply the result of his slowly diminishing reputation in the industry (his fondness for alcohol was well known). At any rate, some of his best performances were often overlooked because they turned up in modestly budgeted or relatively obscure features like The Girl-Getters (1964), The Trap (1966) or Revolver (1975) - now available on DVD from Blue Underground and distributed by Image Entertainment. The latter, an Italian/French/German co-production, was initially test marketed in the U.S. under the title, In the Name of Love to play up Reed's former success in Women in Love (1969), but it was soon renamed Blood in the Streets and dumped by its distributor (Independent-International) on the grindhouse circuit. The film's tagline boasted, "makes DEATH WISH look like wishful thinking." An atypical example of the poliziotteschi (Italian cop drama), Revolver differed from other films of its ilk by downplaying the violence (though there is plenty here to satisfy any crime thriller fan) and concentrating instead on character development. The story centers on a tough-minded prison warden (Reed) who returns from work one day to find his beautiful young wife (Agostina Belli) kidnapped. To get her back, he has to agree to help a petty thief (Fabio Testi) escape from prison which he does but when he delivers his hostage to the kidnappers they try to kill the thief. Fleeing their would-be assassins, the warden and the thief quickly find themselves pawns in an elaborate government conspiracy with nowhere to hide. From its grim opening where Fabio Testi buries his dead partner to the decidedly bleak climax, Revolver is rather ambitious for a mainstream cop drama and has much more in common thematically with an art house thriller like Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), than, say, one of Charles Bronson's European crime flicks like The Family (1970). In some ways, director Sergio Sollima, who is probably best know to spaghetti Western fans for his The Big Gundown (1967), uses the poliziotteschi to comment on government corruption and raise issues voiced by leftists, whose rising influence was evident in many Italian films of this period. Originally, Lino Ventura and Terrence Hill were considered for the leads but it's safe to say that that combo wouldn't have had the same chemistry as Reed and Testi in the same roles. Reed, in fact, is perfect as the revenge obsessed lawman, and for once, his tendency to overact and chew the scenery is completely appropriate. Whether roughing up Testi in an effort to get some information or brooding with an intensity that brings sweat to his brow, Reed is a walking time bomb, ready to explode in total rage. According to director Sollima, Reed's excessive style of acting wasn't always so easy to turn off once the cameras stopped rolling; "Oliver was the kind of actor that you need more to put brakes on than to push. His tendency was to over-act a little, so it was necessary to contain him since his character was violent. But he usually did more than you would have asked him to do. He was quite a character." Revolver is presented in 1.85:1 framing and is a handsome looking disk with a crisp picture and vivid colors. The extras include a featurette, Revolver - Calling the Shots, that features interviews with director Sollima and star Fabio Testi, both the international and the U.S. theatrical trailer, radio spots, a poster and still gallery and talent bios. Fans of Ennio Morricone will also enjoy hearing one of the composer's least known scores on the pristine mono soundtrack accompanying the film. For more information about Revolver, visit Image Entertainment. To order Revolver, go to Movies Unlimited. by Jeff Stafford