Film

Contraband

Name: Contraband
Genre: Crime, Action
Released: 1980
Cast: Fabio Testi, Ivana Monti, Guido Alberti, Enrico Maisto, Daniele Dublino

Other titles called Contraband: the 1940 film, the 2012 film.

A Neapolitan cigarette smuggler finds his operation threatened when a rival moves cocaine into the territory, sparking a turf war that pulls him deeper into criminal violence. This 1980 Italian crime film has the kinetic energy and moral greyness of the era's best genre work—stylish, brutal, unpretentious. For viewers who love crime stories that don't apologize for their setting.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like Italian crime films that favor grimy street-level dealing, family loyalty and sweaty back-room bargaining over tidy plotting, and you enjoy the gritty texture of that era's Euro-crime cinema.

Skip it if you need a lean, fast-moving thriller; this one lingers over Naples back alleys and family rows, so momentum comes and goes.

What it asks of you: Ninety-seven minutes of talk, scheming and back-room dealing, with the tone staying dour and the violence arriving in short, hard bursts rather than as a steady stream.

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The wildcard

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