Contraband

Starring:Guido Alberti, Salvatore Billa, Marcel Bozzuffi, Virgilio Daddi, Daniele Dublino, Giordano Falzoni, Giulio Farnese, Fabrizio Jovine, Enrico Maisto, Saverio Marconi, Ofelia Meyer, Ivana Monti, Ferdinando Murolo, Tommaso Palladino, Romano Puppo, Luciano Rossi, Fabio Testi, Venantino Venantini, Ajita Wilson
Studio: Blue Underground
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

It's about more than emotion vs. science
intriguing
Mesmerising, bleak
Just ok, good concept, just didn't capture my attention.
no birth control in 2050

Code 46
Starring: Tim Robbins , Togo Igawa , Nabil Elouhabi , Samantha Morton , and Sarah Backhouse
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00067BBMI
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Amazon.com

Like Gattaca did before it, Code 46 extrapolates from the present to posit a chilling, dystopian look at our genetically regimented future. In the corporate-controlled, near-future scenario presented by prolific director Michael Winterbottom and his regular screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, nations and languages have merged to form a polyglot society in which genetic imperfections are avoided by the strict enforcement of Code 46, which prohibits sex between people who share 100%, 50%, or even 25% matching DNA. As an insurance-fraud investigator in Shanghai to investigate the issuance of forged passports (a major offense in an overcrowded world), Tim Robbins meets his prime suspect (Samantha Morton, echoing her role in Minority Report), and their violation of Code 46 has tragic and ultimately dehumanizing repercussions. Fascinating as a "what-if" scenario, Winterbottom's film is more successful as a melancholy mood-piece than a science-fiction tale. While the plot and characters suffer from occasionally vague definition, Code 46 offers a fascinating study of human longing in an age of oppressive globalization. --Jeff Shannon

Description

What if the person you desired most was the one person you were forbidden to love? OscarÂ(r) winner* Tim Robbins and OscarÂ(r) nominee** Samantha Morton "make a sexy and moving pair of desperadoes" (Entertainment Weekly) in this "provocative, quietly erotic" (Premiere)sci-fi thriller from the director of 24 Hour Party People. In the near future, privileged classes live and work "inside" cities, while non-citizens scratch out a miserable existence "outside" in a vast desert. People cannot leave their designated zones without special visas known as"papeles." When fraudulent papeles surface, Seattle investigator William Geld (Robbins) travels to Shanghai to ferret out the culprit and meets Maria Gonzalez (Morton) a woman with whom he has a passionate affair but breaks one of society's harshest laws: Code 46. *2003: Supporting Actor, Mystic River **2003: Actress, In America; 1999: Supporting Actress, Sweet and Lowdown

Customer Reviews:

It's about more than emotion vs. science.......2007-06-10

I saw this movie some years ago and liked it a lot. What I remember most about it is something that is not mentioned in the last ten or so reviews: that it is not only government that has taken away liberties in this dystopian world, but also, and critically, private corporations.

Every significant movement in this future is sanctioned by insurance companies ("do you have cover?"). If you don't have coverage (i.e. insurance coverage) for your trip to the grocery, you can't go. (the papelles were proof of cover). In this way, the people have signed away, contractually, a most basic civil liberty, privacy and the freedom to move about without being monitored.

Of course there's the sociological/scientific foundation or justification for this in the story, but what remained in my memory is how this apparently came to be in a western, essentially democratic world. That's what stuck with me in this movie and it's an important concept for people to be aware of. You have liberties. Don't just give them away for sake of convenience.

intriguing.......2007-01-04

I really had no idea what to make of this film after seeing the trailer, but I thought the premise sounded intriguing.

For the first half hour or so, I was starting to wonder if an intriguing premise was all the film had. Just because it was sci-fi, I expected some action and excitement, but this film had more than that to offer. Although there was not a great chase scene or any gunfights (as Hollywood has led us to believe all good sci-fi movies should have), the film gave me a lot more to think about than any action-packed sci-fi film. And, if you really get into the film (as I did), there is some suspense towards the end.

I can't resist comparing it to Gattaca, in that it deals more with ethical situations in a futuristic world. Although it was a little slow in parts and the pairing of Robbins and Morton is a little unsettling, I loved this movie. The little details, like the way languages had converged, give the viewer something to think about during the slower parts of this brilliant film. Although the romantic pairing was awkward, I think both actors performed quite well in general. Also, the soundtrack complements the futuristic perfectly.

If you like to think, watch Code 46. If you're looking for a Will Smith style sci-fi blockbuster, keep looking.

Mesmerising, bleak .......2006-12-08

This is a mesmering film, mainly because of the way it is shot, and the music. Yes, an ambient film, but that does it less justice than it deserves. Robbins is ok, wooden but that's his character, as the girl says at some point, he definitely risks having a good time.. and who are we to question their chemistry? This is a post-global warming world, bleak cityscapes, brilliantly filmed, and quite skilfully raises interesting and universal questions about relationships through the plot.. for example, why are people attracted to some particular people and not to others?? What strange mix produces instant recognition among strangers?? What do men see in women, and vice versa? Despite the plot issues which critical reviewers have pointed out, I am inclined to give this movie the benefit of the doubt, mainly because it is hard to forget. The only flaw is Samantha Morton's last line, which was totally unnecessary. Overall, a brilliant film. Perhaps not a GREAT film, but brilliant in the visual and auditory sense, combining just the right elements of raw realistic landscape with a sense of aesthetic elegance. Intense!!

Just ok, good concept, just didn't capture my attention........2006-11-20

As the reviewer prior to me mentions, I guess they ran out of birth control in 2050, but I guess we could write that off as "love". Point number 2, he goes back to his lover even after finding out that they are genetically related...esentially she could be his mom according to the movie...AAAAAAHHHHHHHH...EEEEWWWW!!!!! Screams odipus rex, and inbreeding. He has the "Arkansas" genetic code, or potentially the appalatian country gentic code. Tim robbins did a decent job in this movie, the only big name in it. Bottom line, in a world of genetically engineered people, You should be cautious if the gene pool is small, either that or just completely lack morals. A movie you might rent, but not a must.

no birth control in 2050.......2006-11-19

jeez, here's a solution- liason, don't breed. if the future can give you an empathy virus, learn a language through a virus, etc., they can do contraception through a virus while you want to be with the woman who is your mom's clone.

nice music though, great scenery.

Average customer rating:

IF IT WASN'T 4 BEENIE MAN & MICH "THE BEAR" TALLIFERRO I WOULD'VE GAVE IT 1 STAR! THIS IS LIKE KLASH!
bad movie and in a negative way
If i could i would give it 1/2 stars
I hope future anthropologists don't judge us for this
HAS SOME DECENT ACTING, BUT...

Rude Boy
Starring: John 'Ras Kidus' Cornelius , Scruncho , Marcia Griffith , Beenie Man , and LaNease Adams
Director: Desmond Gumbs
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B0001US628
Release Date: 2004-05-18

Customer Reviews:

IF IT WASN'T 4 BEENIE MAN & MICH "THE BEAR" TALLIFERRO I WOULD'VE GAVE IT 1 STAR! THIS IS LIKE KLASH! .......2006-12-13

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%R.I.P MICHAEL "THE BEAR" TALIFFERO%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>>>>>>>I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE 2 START! *I WILL ALWAYS BIG-UP JAMAICA & ANY TALENT THAT IT PRODUCES BUT JAMAICA HAS MANY GREAT FILMS!(& THIS ISN'T 1 OF THEM)... I GAVE IT A 3 NOT BECAUSE I LIKE IT -JUST BECAUSE OF BEENIE MAN & MICH "THE BEAR" TALIFERRO (IN FACT THEY'RE THE REASON I GOT IT)! MARK DANVERS WHO PLAYS JULIUS ST.JOHN HAS DONE MUCH BETTER ACTING IN "DANCEHALL QUEEN" AS JR.! I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE DIRECTOR DESMOND GUMBS BUT I'M NOT SURE WHERE HE WAS TAKING THIS FILM? *HE THREW IN GOOD CAMEOS SUCH AS: THE GREAT JIMMY CLIFF & THE TAXI DRIVER JAMAICAN COMEDIAN "OLIVER", BUT THIS IS A FLICK THAT'S GONNA @ THE BOTTOM OF MY COLLECTION 4SURE W/ KLASH!!!!
***I ALWAYS GET A KICK OUT OF HEARING "THE PATOIS", I JUST LOVED WHAT BEENIE/CROWN DON SAID 2 GARGON/NINJA MAN AFTER THEIR DISPUTE!!!!(I LUV BEENIE HE LOOKS LIKE MY FATHER)... I LUV THAT SONG THAT JULIUS WAS RAPPIN EARLY IN THE MOVIE, I BET IF IT THIS HAS A SOUNDTRACK IT WILL BE WICKED!!!! * IF YOU WANT 2 SEE REALLY GREAT "JAMAICAN MOVIES" THEN I WOULD SUGGEST: SHOTTAS, DANCEHALL QUEEN, 3RD WORLD COP, THE HARDER THEY COME THE HARDER THEY FALL, MARKED 4 DEATH!!!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DA TRUTH < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <

bad movie and in a negative way.......2006-03-24

not worth spending any money on. stick to third world cop and dancehall queen if you want to watch a good jamaican movie.

If i could i would give it 1/2 stars.......2005-12-15

This movie is the worst Jamaican movie ever. It makes Top Shottas look like Scarface. The "story", "acting" an "action scenes" were all laughable. If your a real fan of Jamaican films save your money or invest it in "Smile Orange", "The Harder They Come", "Third World Cop" or "Dancehall Queen" or even "Top Shotta".

I hope future anthropologists don't judge us for this.......2004-07-19

This film would reflect poorly on Jamaican cinema, but it was mostly filmed in the United States so West Indians can sleep easy knowing it's not their fault. This is a remarkably bad movie in concept and execution from all aspects save the soundtrack.

The film follows the story of Julius (Mark Danvers) an aspiring musician and mass murderer. Emigrating to the United States as a mule for a Suge Knightesque fellow, he immediately is frustrated by an employer who demands that he actually work in order to receive remuneration. Faced with so tyrannical a demand, he is torn with the dilemma of returning to his rude ways or sticking it out legit to save money for studio time. The devil on one shoulder snuffs the angel on the other. The poor acting having started from the get go, the film then begins wandering aimlessly from drug deal to drug deal and shooting to shooting all the while trying to pawn off on the audience bad acting and poor character development. Luckily, the technical aspects of the film are terrible as well so as to make for almost perfect symmetry across the quality board. Only Beenie Man's competence as an actor keeps the film from achieving anti-perfection, well, that and a halfway decent soundtrack.

As the film drags on one realizes that journeyman writers Bentley Kyle and Trenton Gumbs refuse to take advantage of many opportunities to make the film stop. Instead, they continue on piling superfluity at every chance to a film already much too long at the first natural conclusion point. The script lacks throughout in every way imaginable. The audience should heed the warning from Ninja Man's first appearance that further viewing will be a testing ordeal. He's a legendary freestyler but a terrible actor. There are perhaps two or three funny lines in the film but the real joke is on me as I didn't turn it off thinking it might get better.

HAS SOME DECENT ACTING, BUT..........2004-06-09

A REGGAE MUSICIAN BEGINS TO DEAL DRUGS FOR A DRUG KINGPIN SO HE COULD GET THE MONEY FOR STUDIO TIME. HAS A DECENT PLOT, BUT MOST OF THE ACTING ISN'T GOOD, AND MOST OF THE CHARACTERS WERE JUST CLICHED CHARCTERS THAT YOU'D USUALLY SEE A JAMAICAN ACTOR PLAY. I DO AGREE THAT THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF THINGS TO LAUGH AT WHEN WATCHING THIS MOVIE. NOT THE WORST OF ITS KIND, BUT, I DON'T THINK ITS REALLY WORTH BUYING.

Average customer rating:

Early Powell and Pressburger - worth a look
One Of The First Of The Powell-Pressburger Films
A real pleasant Hitchcockian surprise!
Conrad Veidt rocks
Sublime early Archers, spy thriller as dance of Eros.

Contraband
Starring: Conrad Veidt , Valerie Hobson , Hay Petrie , Joss Ambler , and Raymond Lovell
Director: Michael Powell
Manufacturer: Kino Video
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ASIN: B00005AXA1
Release Date: 2001-04-24

Amazon.com

Michael Powell uses the inky darkness of the London blackout as the memorable setting for this romantic wartime espionage thriller. Conrad Veidt, the severe hawk-faced German actor best known for playing villains (including the evil vizier in the Powell-directed portions of The Thief of Bagdad), enjoys a rare heroic turn as the no-nonsense captain of a neutral Danish freighter pulled into a British port. When two of his passengers sneak off one night, he follows the headstrong Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) in hopes of meeting up with her fellow truant. Instead he runs into a nest of Nazis: his delinquent passengers are in reality British spies, and he's caught in the web of intrigue. Clearly a wartime propaganda piece, this witty, fast-paced thriller concocted by Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger makes the most of its nocturnal setting. The charming nightclub hopping turns into a kidnapping and a daring escape (the resourceful captain navigates his way through London by the stars), and concludes with a brawl that joins the Danes with a group of plucky Brits--Allies in action! Spiced with genial humor (provided by Claude Rains look-alike Hay Petrie, who plays the dual roles of the first mate, Skold, and his two-fisted restaurateur cousin) and a refreshingly mature angle on romantic sparring, this joins The Lady Vanishes as one of the best and most elegant of the British wartime thrillers. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Early Powell and Pressburger - worth a look.......2006-07-07

Not a P&P masterpiece (it looks very low budget in places and the acting but some of the minor characters is a bit ropey) but still an entertaining sub-Hitchcockian spy thriller making great use of the London Blackout as a plot device.

If you like P&P movies it's a must have.

One Of The First Of The Powell-Pressburger Films.......2005-10-08

It's November, 1939, and Captain Anderson (Conrad Veidt) has a problem. His neutral Danish freighter, sailing from the U.S. to Denmark, has been stopped by the British navy and forced to an English port while its cargo is inspected. He has several passengers on board who are forbidden to disembark. He and his first mate (Hay Petrie) are invited that night to dinner with the British officers of the port. They receive two passes enabling them to leave the ship. As they get ready, Anderson discovers the passes are missing...and so are two of the passengers, Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight). Yet apparently neither knew each other or had even conversed during the long sea voyage. Anderson is determined to bring them back to his ship. He realizes they must be on their way to London and sets out to stop them. Within hours he finds himself entangled with Nazi spies, British agents, Danish waiters and thuggish heavies. In fact, he finds himself in the middle of a stylish, funny, romantic and patriotic espionage adventure which takes place almost entirely in the blacked-out streets of London and in some fine looking restaurants and nightclubs.

This was the first movie Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger fully collaborated on, following The Spy in Black the year before. With Spy, Pressburger had been assigned the writing job and he and Powell realized how much they agreed on the kind and style of movies they wanted to make. With Contraband, they set to work on the movie together. They cemented their partnership with The 49th Parallel (1941) and followed it with One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942). In 1943, with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, they had become The Archers, agreeing to take joint and equal credit for the writing, directing and producing of their movies. And what movies they were. Through 1949, The Archers created, in addition to Blimp, A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948) and The Small Back Room (1949). I can't think of any individual or pair of movie makers who were responsible for so many creative, idiosyncratic, different and just plain great movies as these two.

Contraband, like all their movies, doesn't fit the norm of any genre film. One critic said of it, "It's worth thinking about how such a lighthearted film could be made out of such a dire moment in British history...but it's not to missed." Conrad Veidt, the great actor who fled Germany in 1933, plays Captain Andersen as a stern, imposing man who has a taste for adventure and a liking for a smart, resourceful woman like Mrs. Sorensen...who, of course, is not married, is not named Sorensen, and is as brave and smart as they come. The movie is fast-paced and uses the dark streets of London at night to great effect. Powell builds amusing and effective set pieces which keep driving the story forward. I liked a lot Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen having a duel of a dinner at Erik Skold's restaurant, the escape from the darkened room, Andersen's recruitment of the Danish waiters and his navigation skills with a map of London to locate where he and Mrs. Sorensen had been held. Powell uses the busts of the Patriotic Plaster Products Co. for a dramatic and amusing shootout. If you look closely, you can briefly see a handful of actors, mostly unbilled, some in their first movie roles, who later became well known, such as Leo Genn, Deborah Kerr, Bernard Miles, Milo O'Shea and Peter Bull.

Contraband is highly recommended if you are a fan of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It's also recommended if you just like well-made, amusing, romantic espionage movies. There are no extras. The DVD picture looks better than average, but the movie qualifies for a major restoration.

A real pleasant Hitchcockian surprise!.......2003-09-01

I bought this movie because it was directed by Michael Powell, scripted by Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starred Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson (a great important British director/producer/writer and two great stars). I knew this hailed from just before Powell & Pressburger hit their stride as THE ARCHERS. Boy, what a pleasant surprise; this is FIRST-RATE suspense/spy thriller which takes place in the early days of wartime Britian but before Pearl Harbor. It's about a Danish sea captain who's forced to follow two missing and suspicious passengers while his ship is being temporarily held by the British. What follows is a spy mystery through London during the days of Blackouts....and is ever bit as clever, amusing and suspenseful as any of Hitchcock's superb British sound films. I URGE you to check out this great and little seeen British film classic.

Conrad Veidt rocks.......2002-06-24

The 'old brands' are dead, so the newspapers say. Owners of copyrights of The Three Stooges are desperately trying to get young people interested in them again, the Looney Tunes gang are being tricked out in hip-hop clothes (ick ick ick) to try to interest todays kids.....well, Conrad Veidt needs no such crutches. True, the movie is in black and white which means today's youth won't watch it...til they grow a little older and learn that blacker is better (sort of like Gene Wilder and his Young Frankenstein.) It's WWII and Veidt, a German actor, here plays a Danish ship captain (have to explain his accent) whose ship is halted overnight by customs on a through voyage. A passenger (Valerie Hobson) jumps ship and Captain Andersen (Veidt) is determined to get her back at all costs. They arrive via train in London in the middle of a blackout (one of the film's original titles) and Hobson proceeds to lead Veidt on a merry chase. An excellent screen duo, if you like this movie you absolutely must get their first pairing, The Spy In Black. That one will have you in tears at the ending!

Sublime early Archers, spy thriller as dance of Eros........2001-10-22

'Contrabond' is only the second of the mighty Powell and Pressburger collaborations, and already we can see perfectly formed the unique, treasurable characteristics of their exhilerating genius. A tale of spies tryig to outfoil the Nazis, if the film was intended as a propaganda effort, than it goes off the standard rails pretty quickly. true, the central narrative arc, of an indifferent neutral forced to take a moral stand during the war, inspired by romance, is similar to the later 'Casablanca' (in which star Conrad Veidt featured) and many Humphrey Bogart films of the 1940s.

But it is in comparison to another future Bogart film that 'Contraband''s true flavour lies - 'the Big Sleep'. Ken Russell has called it ' a light, romantic comedy with bondage overtones', and the relationship between the two leads begins with ship captain Veidt threatening to put intransigent passenger Valerie Hobson in irons. Later scenes include the pair being roped toether in a dark basement spied on by Nazi voyeurs (including a coded lesbian), an escape involving Hobson's long legs as a knife, and badinage on a bus of flagrantly transparent doubles entendres. the emphasis on grills, lifts and confined spaces, or fetishistic imagery such as an all-female nightclub band whose legs are mannequins', or the surreal attic stuffed with plaster busts of Chamberlain, add to this sexually fantastic atmosphere. this is a spy thriller in which genre mechanics and development are always erotic, and in which the centre of activity is appropriately a cinema. you could look at 'Contraband' as a benevolent version of Powell's later, darker masterpiece 'Peeping Tom'.

this is not to say the wartime setting is mere backdrop. Like many of the Archers' films, there is a strong documentary element underpinning the fantasy, with a gorgeous montage of ships that could have come from an (unusually good) Grierson factual film (or Powell's earlier 'Red Ensign'). There is a rare vision of the London blackout with its practical difficulties (providing the film with its metaphors of light and darkness). Magically, solid, urban London is turned by the enterprising captain into a navigable ocean.

Customer Reviews:

sleazy but ok.......2006-06-09

This film is incredible. the plot is a joke - i looked at the ceiling several times, wondering what the hell were they thinking. It has the trademark fulci violence and - wait - it even has lucio fulci himself, machine gun in hand, killing some bad guys! now this is what i call class! it's hilarious: a guy in a horse race screams «he won! he won!», then he looks back, with his mouth open and gets a gun barrel in the mouth and boom! a seller of cut cocaine gets her face blowtorched!... it's... well it's funny! the soundtrack is a treat, you keep humming it after the film ended... all the elements of sleaze are here but fans of fulci should seek this one out.

Not enough of anything!.......2004-10-14

Contraband is a so-so mafia movie that never achieves its potential. A new group of narcotics gangsters force their way into the Naples underworld. Fabio Testi and other established gang leaders try to deal with it. Except for Fabio Testi, none of the characters is developed enough to be worth your sympathy. That's unfortunate because there were several very promising characters such as his older brother, then there's the leader of a competing gang, then there's the leader of a friendly gang, there's the police captain, etc. All of these characters could have been developed extensively. This is especially true for the guy who was the French assassin in the French Connection. He returns in this movie in a similar role but doesn't get enough screen time and isn't introduced until relatively late. There are some good scenes that are never developed enough. There is a scene where a hot blonde drug mule from Germany tries to cheat the French guy so that he grabs her and holds a torch to her face. Nothing ever came after that. No follow up scenes to show what, if anything, resulted from this example. Later, they kidnap Fabio's beloved wife and rape her while he is forced to listen over the telephone. I thought that this was a good scene but that it was too short. I'm thinking of the Michael Madsen torture scene in Reservoir Dogs that is utterly brilliant and is stretched out for quite a while. This movie could have included several such scenes and been brilliant. As it is, they give us just enough to tease us without ever satisfying us. The police are clueless and wander through the story like a foreign occupying army. The ending was unexpected and condescending. If you invest millions to make a movie how about hiring a novelist or screenwriter capable of coming up with some memorable dialogue.

Lucio Corleone.......2004-08-01

3:00AM, early this morning-Lucio Fulci night at the Runk house. Basically Fulci night is any time the wife and kid are sleeping coz they don't care much for these kinds of films. I viewed Fulci's Contraband. The saints at Blue Underground re-released it this week. Why they released it last year, stopped and released it again this year is anyone's guess. Anyhow, with Contraband Fulci decided to see what would happen if he took his trademark gore and violence and stick them in a mafioso/crime/action flick. The results? Not too bad actually. Since Fulci's not working in the horror genre this time, the film plays it pretty straightforward-none of the eye closeups or weird, dreamy phantasmagoric horror stuff. In fact, if it weren't for the gore and the Fulci cameo, you'd have no idea he made the film. For a plot we have Fabio Testi as a cigarette smuggler with connections to the mob. His wife's always nagging him to get out of the mob life, but do you think he listens? Some new mafioso comes in and basically tries to wipe out all the competetion and make way for drug smuggling. That's about it. One thing that rubbed me the wrong way about this film is Fabio. He's a decent actor and looks like a butt-kicking Bronson type, but throughout the entire movie he's.....well, basically a wuss. You expect him to snap into high gear and take on the mob, all guns blazing, but he's actually a big wimp. In one particularly disturbing scene he just sits expressionless as he listens to his wife get raped over the phone. The rape is the most unsettling thing in the film-not because it's terribly graphic, but because the actress does such a freakin' convincing job! The gore is not as extreme as you're led to believe. For the casual viewer, yes it is. If you're familiar with Fulci's horror films, it's not all that shocking. It mostly consists of alot of bloody gunshot wounds. Plus, you'll have to wait an hour before you really see any. But there's no need to rely on the gore, coz the film's really not that bad. The story's nothing original, but it's done in a cheesy B movie way that's good enough to keep you interested. All in all, Fulci's stab at a gangster flick wasn't bad, but there's a reason he's famous for his horror films.

Cheap from A to Z.......2004-03-15

Bad dialogue, bad directing, bad acting, bad camera work, and slow describe this waste of time. Grab a camcorder, go see "The Godfather", and you probably have tools enough to make a better film than this; and as far as action and gore are concerned -- it's lame.

The Goriest Gangster Flick Ever.......2004-01-07

One question that should be asked is - Why are there hardly any mafia films based in Italy? Sure we have the Godfather series with its flashbacks of Sicily, but what about Italy? There are not many and certainly even the best of movie lovers will have trouble trying to list one or two if any at all! So here you have one... and its good!... in its own very odd strange way.

Contraband is a lost classic that has now been restored here on this DVD. What happens when the world's foremost gore director decides to make a crime caper? Answer - more blood than Al Pacino can shoot up in all his gangster flicks put together. Although the plot is mostly non-existent and certainly there is little here in terms of brains, there is plenty of action and horror to boot.

Basically the plot revolves around several smuggler gang families from Naples all snubbing each other out in the worst possible way imaginable... and that is all there is it to it really.

Everything on display here is pretty pointless but it is not done badly at all and the acting is a little better than what you would expect. There are several gore scenes that stand out - a woman getting her face torched to full melt, a gangster having his head machine gunned to pieces, a mob leader having his throat blown off, plenty backs of the heads flying across the room, cops arresting nuns, horses burning up, mobsters getting boiled alive, gangster shot up in church, a vicious rape sequence, intestines being shot out and lots of screaming - all done to the tune of a funky eighties disco beat that is more apt for a ...movie. No Sir, you will not find this one playing on television any time soon.

Description

Fabio Testi (Revolver) stars as Luca Di Angelo, an idealistic family man and cigarette smuggler in the treacherous Naples underworld. But when a rival gang slaughters his brother and abducts his wife, Luca triggers a psychotic mob war that goes far beyond mere revenge. Get ready for a crime saga unlike anything you've ever seen before as director Lucio Fulci unleashes his most gut-splattering, brain-blasting, flesh-frying scenes of cruelty and carnage imaginable. This is Contraband! Marcel Bozzufi (The French Connection) co-stars in this depraved shocker (also known as The Naples Connection and The Smuggler) that most Fulci fans have only seen in censored versions. Blue Underground is now proud to present Contraband fully restored from the producer's original negative for the first time ever in America!

Customer Reviews:

sleazy but ok.......2006-06-09

Not enough of anything!.......2004-10-14

Lucio Corleone.......2004-08-01

Cheap from A to Z.......2004-03-15

The Goriest Gangster Flick Ever.......2004-01-07

Basically the plot revolves around several smuggler gang families from Naples all snubbing each other out in the worst possible way imaginable... and that is all there is it to it really.

Description

Traición, peligro, belleza y joyas se entrelazan en esta trepidante película de acción en la que dos bandas de criminales pelearán por hacerse con el control de unas preciadas piedras. ¿Podrá el departamento de policía recuperar las joyas robadas y vencer la humana tentación de quedarse con tal preciado tesoro? Danger, beautiful women and diamond smuggling set the stage for this suspenseful thriller where valuable jewels are stolen by one group of thieves from another.

Average customer rating:

A great INDIE comedy
Smokin' Silly Slappy Fun
A great mob comedy.

Smokin' Stogies
Starring: Dotan Baer , Amy Lynn Baxter , Kenneth Briganti , Kevens Celestine , and Vincent Di Rosa
Director: Vincent Di Rosa
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009MEFB
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Customer Reviews:

A great INDIE comedy.......2006-04-10

Congratulations to all who were in this film a great tribute to Indie film making and adding the touch of The Sopranos and Goodfellas Frank Vincent and Tony Sirico had me laughing out loud!! Marone.

Smokin' Silly Slappy Fun.......2003-10-20

Madonne! Smokin' Stogies isn't GoodFellas or even Analyze This, as far as quality is concerned, it's more like a home movie made by guidos and misunderstood by meddigans. The type of Mafia comedy going on here is more in the style of another movie called Mafia, but Stogies is made by and starring Italians-so already it's worth checking out. The dialogue by everyone is spoken like a cross between Jerky Boy Johnny's "Frank Rizzo" character and The Diceman exaggerated times ten-if you can imagine that. Stogies is a slapstick ride through Miami, basically it's a story about a week in the life of real Goomba-Guido type Wiseguys, the coolest kind if you ask me. Joe Marino is Marscone, Tony "Paulie Walnuts" Sirico is Boss Tony, and Frank Vincent (Casino) even joins in on the search for a million in missing Cuban cigars. The movie revolves around gold chains, women, money, cars, and making sure every hair on the Wiseguy head is in place. In a lot of ways, Stogies is more like another crazy low budget title, The Sopornos (go to Blockbuster and rent this flick with your girlfriend) as opposed to The Sopranos, meaning there's not much seriousness happening and no awards are being handed out. I've seen better, I've seen worse, but if you are looking for some drunken fun, grab a stogie and watch Smokin' Stogies. Capeesh? Best scene: "Beer & Ice."

A great mob comedy........2003-07-20

I laughed my bum off watching this movie. Tony Sirico from the Sopranos and Frank Vincent from Casino and Goodfellas are great.
The story begins in New York, then takes you down to Miami as mob capo Vinnie Marscone (Joe Marino) tries to find the mob's missing million dollars worth of Cuban Cigars. Only to find out that the FBI, cigar smugglers, and the Miami mob are all after the missing cigars. Penthouse Pet, Amy Lynn Baxter has a cameo in this film that's worth seeing, also there is a cigar sniffing ex-Customs dog named Bruno that cracked me up. This movie I would put in the same genre as Get Shorty and Midnight Run. Also if you are a fan of the Sopranos you should really enjoy this film. It's a funny and fast moving adventure comedy with alot of crazy charactors. Too many to mention.
I could see this movie becoming a cult classic.

DVD:

DVD

Power Of Attorney [1995]

DVD: Prisoner of Paradise

Dot and Spot - Ein weihnachtliches Abenteuer