Luca il contrabbandiere (1980)

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Gianni De Chiara (screenplay)
Gianni De Chiara (story)
(more)

Release Date:

8 August 1980 (Italy)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Cigarette smugglers in Naples run into problems with cocaine operations being set up by a rival smuggler...

Plot Keywords:

Killing | Poliziottesco | Drug Lord | Male Female Relationship | Mob

Cast

Fabio Testi	...	Luca Di Angelo
Ivana Monti	...	Adele Di Angelo
Guido Alberti	...	Don Morrone
Enrico Maisto	...	Micky Di Angelo
Daniele Dublino	...	Assistant Prosecutor
Giordano Falzoni	...	Charlie, the doctor
Giulio Farnese	...	Alfredo
Fabrizio Jovine	...	Chief of Police
Ofelia Meyer	...	Ingrid
Ferdinando Murolo	...	Scherino
Tommaso Palladino	...	Capece
Venantino Venantini	...	Captain Tarantino
Ajita Wilson	...	Luisa, "Little Nepolitan"
Marcel Bozzuffi	...	François Jacois, the Marsigliese
Saverio Marconi	...	Luigi Perlante
Luciano Rossi	...	Marsigliese's Drug Expert
Salvatore Billa	...	Marsigliese's Henchman
Virgilio Daddi	...	Marsigliese's Henchman
Romano Puppo	...	Marsigliese's Assassin
Cintia Lodetti	...	Ursula (as Cinzia Lodetti)
Nello Pazzafini	...	Hitman at the pits (as Giovanni Pazzafini)
Rita Frei	...	Filomenia, Don Morrone's maid
Aldo Massasso	...	Murolo
Antonio Mellino	...	Driver
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lucio Fulci	...	Don Morrone's Assassin with machine gun (uncredited)
Benito Pacifico	...	Thug at Perlante's (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Luca (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Lucio Fulci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gianni De Chiara		screenplay
Gianni De Chiara		story
Lucio Fulci		writer
Giorgio Mariuzzo		writer
Ettore Sanzò		screenplay
Ettore Sanzò		story

Produced by
Sandro Infascelli	....	producer

Original Music by
Fabio Frizzi

Cinematography by
Sergio Salvati

Film Editing by
Vincenzo Tomassi

Art Direction by
Franco Calabrese

Costume Design by
Massimo Lentini

Makeup Department
Gilda De Guilmi	....	hair stylist (as Ida De Guilmi)
Gilda De Guilmi	....	wig maker
Franco Di Girolamo	....	special makeup effects artist
Antonio Maltempo	....	assistant makeup artist
Fabrizio Sforza	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Vittorio Bucci	....	unit manager
Sergio Iacobis	....	production manager
Giulio Longo	....	unit manager
Nicola Venditti	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Giandalia	....	assistant director

Art Department
Luciano Targuini	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ugo Celani	....	sound
Gianni D'Amico	....	sound mixer
Eros Giustini	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Germano Natali	....	special effects
Roberto Pace	....	special effects

Stunts
Omero Capanna	....	stunts
Giuseppe Mattei	....	stunts
Giorgio Ricci	....	stunts
Attilio Severini	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Francesco Bellomo	....	still photographer
Giovanni Brescini	....	assistant camera
Ennio Brizzolari	....	key grip
Franco Bruni	....	camera operator
Daniele Cimini	....	assistant camera
Alfredo Fedeli	....	chief electrician
Alessio Gelsini Torresi	....	camera operator: in sea (as Alessio Gelsini)
Maurizio Lucchini	....	assistant camera
Massimo Pau	....	camera operator: in sea
Roberto Russo	....	studio photographer
Mario Sbrenna	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Berta Betti	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Armando Pace	....	assistant editor
Giancarlo Tiburzi	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Nazzareno Cardinali	....	master of arms
Eliana Cipri	....	production secretary
Roberto de Franceschi	....	cashier
Egle Guarino	....	continuity
Matteo Marino	....	production secretary
Danilo Martelli	....	cashier
Roberto Ornaro	....	administrator
Roberto Ornaro	....	cashier
Dina Pallich	....	production secretary
Sergio Sagnotti	....	master of arms
Daniela Tonti	....	continuity

Distributors

• Blue Underground (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Diamond Video (Greece) (VHS)
• Eagle 6 (Netherlands) (VHS) (uncut version)
• Italian Shock (Netherlands) (DVD) (cut version)
• Shocking Videos (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Stomp Visual (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Walton Video (UK) (VHS) (uncut version)

Also Known As:

The Smuggler (International: English title) (UK) (video title)
Contraband (USA)
Luca the Smuggler (literal English title)
The Naples Connection (UK) (video title)

Runtime:

97 min | UK:88 min (25 fps) (cut version)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Sweden:15 (2007, DVD version) | Norway:15 (uncut) (2007) (DVD) | New Zealand:(Banned) | Italy:VM14 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:(Banned) | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Finland:K-18 | Australia:R (DVD release) (2005) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Naples, Campania, Italy

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ingrid is first seen she clearly has red nail varnish, but when she reaches into her underwear for the drug lipstick, she has clear nail varnish.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alenbi Romance (2005)

Ahh, sunny Napoli...with gore, guns & guts...

(aka: CONTRABAND)

Normally I don't comment on non-horror or mondo films but since Fulci directed it, and since there's enough gore splatter in here to finance a small horror film, I'm gonna put my two cents in.

Fabio Testi plays a Neapolitan cigarette smuggler who's territory is being muscled in on by the Margliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) who wants a clear way to smuggle heroin into Italy using Naples as an entry point.

One by one, Testi's comrades are being killed off in many different gruesome ways, including the backs of heads being blown off, a rotting cadaver thrown through a window, blood bags exploding in stomachs with intestines flying out, and a pretty female drug courier getting half her face burned off by one of the Margilese's henchman.

This has to be one of the goriest crime thrillers I have seen so far. Fulci pulls no stops here and the bad guys are truly gonna get what they deserve. The ending shootout in the street between the Margilese's men and the retired Camorra bosses is classic Fulci.

The Blue Underground DVD uses an excellent widescreen print that is only marred in a couple of places by bad splicing. The only extras that come with it are a couple of bios (Fulci and Testi) and an American trailer.

If you want to see violent crime thriller that doesn't pull any stops like the American ones do, then go see this one!

Recommended! 7 out of 10