La Mala Ordina (aka The Italian Connection) (1972)

A New York mafia kingpin (Cyril Cusack) sends two cold blooded assassins (Henry Silva, Woody Strode) to Italy to kill the man (Mario Adorf) responsible for hijacking a heroin shipment. But in actuality, the man is just a not too bright small time pimp, who's not even a member of the mafia. He's an unknowing pawn in a power play between the New York and Italian mafia leaders. Strongly directed by Fernando Di Leo, this brutal crime thriller is part of the Italian poliziottesco genre which is to crime films what giallo is to horror. Di Leo perfectly captures the paranoid confusion of a man on the run who has no idea what he's done to generate the hunt and the hulky goofy faced Adorf does a wonderful job going from a loser no one takes seriously to a man pushed into the revenge game. In fact, that's one of the reasons this film stands out. Unlike most films of this type, Adorf's character doesn't take any pleasure in the killing, in fact, he's repulsed by it, he's just a dumb animal trying to stay alive. It's a ruthless film and Di Leo takes no prisoners. Not only are innocent women and children murdered but even a kitten gets shot to death! But unlike Tarantino, never once are we invited to laugh at death. Speaking of Tarantino, the Silva and Strode characters are alleged to have been the inspiration for the John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson characters in PULP FICTION. With Luciana Paluzzi, Sylva Koscina, Adolfo Celi and Femi Benussi.