Ace High – Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1968
Director: Giuseppe Colizzi
Writer: Giuseppe Colizzi
Cast: Eli Wallach, Terence Hill, Brock Peters, Kevin McCarthy, Bud Spencer

Release Date: September 20th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 122 Minutes 35 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"This top-notch spaghetti western co-stars screen great Eli Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) as Cacopoulos, who takes $300,000 from two hombres of questionable moral fiber, then proceeds to spread the cash around generously. His victims follow his trail, but when the men finally do meet, they must join forces to defend themselves against a murderous desperado. Before that battle is over, Cacopoulos has once again absconded with the cash, and the chase is on, ultimately leading them to a crooked Mississippi gaming house, a blazing gun battle and lots of money for everyone." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative."

Ace High comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.9 GB

Feature: 37.1 GB

The source used for this transfer looks excellent. Color saturation, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look. That said, this is one of the best transfers given to a spaghetti western that I have seen to date.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, and included with this release are removable English subtitles. The audio sounds great; dialog always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and fight sequences sound robust. That said, there are a few minor instances where the score sounds distorted.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 26 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with filmmaker Alex Cox, and a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Other extras include trailers for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Man of the East, A Fistful Of Dynamite (Duck, You Sucker!), Kill Them All and Come Back Alone, and The Hills Run Red.

Summary:

Ace High is the second in a trilogy of films that involves the adventures of Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy. The other two films are God Forgives... I Don’t! and Boot Hill. Giuseppe Colizzi only directed a handful of films, most of which starred Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. They would go on to star in the hugely successful Trinity series. By the late 1960's, spaghetti westerns had started to lose their appeal and some directors like Giuseppe Colizzi started to inject more humor into this genre, giving it a second life through the early 1970’s.

One of the staples of the spaghetti western genre has been that they are also buddy pictures. Terence Hill and Bud Spencer make the most unlikely pair of them all. Terence Hill is a lean, laid-back, suave character, while Bud Spencer’s imposing size often lands him in the role of a brute or the brunt of the joke. They are polar opposites that balance each other perfectly, and they never really achieve on their own the success they find together.

Eli Wallach is the real star of the show, and his character, Cacopoulos, is similar in many ways to Tuco, which he played in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Though he never really achieved leading man status in his career, there is an undeniable presence that he possesses as he steals every scene he is in.

The most memorable moment is a scene with Cacopoulos, who is taking care of babies in baskets that are hanging from the roof. Hutch wants his money back, and he wakes the babies with a loud voice. Cacopoulos proceeds to tell him how he can get his money back as they swing the baskets back and forth calmly, not only calming the babies down, but he manages to calm down Hutch in the process.

Carlo Rustichelli (Blood and Black Lace) composed Ace High’s score, which was conducted by Bruno Nicolai (99 Women), a frequent collaborator of Ennio Morricone. Though the score never achieves the quality of Ennio Morricone’s work with Sergio Leone, Carlo Rustichelli’s score still has some beautifully composed moments that add gravitas to Ace High.

When discussing spaghetti westerns, you can always be sure that they're going to end with a spectacular action set piece. Sergio Leone set the stage with the Dollar Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West films, outdoing himself each time by coming up with new and clever ways to stage Mexican standoffs. In Ace High, Giuseppe Colizzi comes up with one of the most inspired standoffs that I have seen to date. It takes place in a gambling house where they use the roulette table as their single to draw, and as it goes round and round, classical music plays in the background, adding to the scene's grandeur.

Giuseppe Colizzi’s direction is solid; he fully exploits the technoscope frame, composing shots that are inventive and stylish. Ace High does not take itself as seriously as other spaghetti western films that were being made in 1968. That said, the result is a fun film that lets its characters take center stage.

Ace High gets an excellent release from Kino Lorber that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and an informative audio commentary, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer