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Cross Shot – Cineploit (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1976
Director: Stelvio Massi
Writers: Lucio De Caro, Maurizio Mengoni, Piero Poggio, Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: John Saxon, Lee J. Cobb, Renzo Palmer, Lino Capolicchio, Rosanna Fratello, Antonella Lualdi, Thomas Hunter

Release Date: February 4th 2022
Approximate Running Time: 95 Minutes 21 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono German
Subtitles: English, German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: 24,90 EUR

"An occasional gangster kills a policeman during a robbery. A merciless chase begins in which a ruthless press, brutal underworld and the police participate. The hunted man knows too much about his pursuers, which makes him a candidate for death. Can he escape the "life and death" chase?" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Worldwide 2K Blu-Ray Premiere!"

Cross Shot comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 36.4 GB

Feature: 28 GB

The source used for this transfer looks great. Colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 3.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with three audio options: a DTS-HD mono mix in English, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in German. The Italian language track is in great shape; the dialog comes through clearly and everything sounds balanced. The English language track does not fare as well as its Italian counterpoint. There is a noticeable background hiss that varies in degree. That said, the dialog comes through clearly enough to follow. Included with this release are removable English and German subtitles for the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery (11 images – posters/home video art), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor John Saxon titled Italian Adventures (47 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable German subtitles), an option to listen to Piero Pintucci’s fourteen song score, a double-sided Poster with the two Italian locandias and a media book packaging that contains a twenty-eight-page booklet with a composer Piero Pintucci biography (text in German & English), an essay titled From Italo-Western to Poliziesco written by Udo Rotenberg (text in German & English), an essay titled The Apocalypse Can Wait written by Udo Rotenberg (text in German & English) and images from the film (lobby cards/posters).

Also, this release also comes with multilingual menus, English and German.

Summary:

Poliziotteschi cinema, more than any other genre, was where director Stelvio Massi most excelled. And, while the majority of his Poliziotteschi were more about style than substance, There’s no denying that when it came to action set pieces, he was one of the premier directors working in Poliziotteschi cinema.

Crossshot is yet another tale about the mafia. And in its opening moments, there’s an assassination of a mafia don that sets the tone for what follows. From there, things escalate when witnesses in a trial for a mafia don are threatened not to testify, which leads to the Don's being released.

Besides being a story about the mafia, Cross Shot’s narrative has two parallel stories about a police commissioner named Jacovella who’s frustrated by a system that ties his hands and allows criminals to do whatever they want without fear of punishment. The other parallel story is about a journalist named Maselli who uses his newspaper to highlight police brutality.

The performances were very good. The strongest performance came from John Saxon (The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist) in the role of police commissioner Jacovella. He delivers a solid performance that’s in line with his other Poliziotteschi films. Other notable performances include Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men) in the role of a blind mafia Don named Dante Ragusa and Renzo Palmer (The Big Racket) in the role of a principled journalist named Maselli.

From a production standpoint, Cross Shot is a film that maximizes its resources. Though the premise covers familiar ground, The narrative does a good job of building tension. That said, though Poliziotteschi cinema is known for its action set pieces, Cross Shot does not have that much action. Ultimately, Cross Shot is a slow-moving film that fans of Poliziotteschi cinema will get the most mileage out of.

Cross Shot makes its way to Blu-ray via a strong audio/video presentation from Cineploit and a good selection of extras, recommended.