“You can’t backstab someone like Ugo Piazza! You’d better not even touch someone like Ugo Piazza!”

The first part in director Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu Trilogy, Milano Calibro 9 is a gritty, ultra-violent masterpiece and an essential entry in the canon of the poliziottesco sub-genre (Italian crime thriller).

Released after a three-year term in prison for a bungled robbery, Ugo Piazza plans to lead the straight life for a while. But no sooner is he back on the street than he’s picked up by a bunch of hoodlums under the employ of his former boss, 'the Americano’ – among them, the psychopathic Rocco – who are convinced that Ugo stole $300,000 from them. The gang forces Ugo to resume working for them in the hope that he’ll eventually lead them to their missing loot.

Eschewing the sleazier, more exploitative approach of some if its poliziotteschi peers, Milano Calibro 9 delivers an altogether more thoughtful approach to its subject matter - although Di Leo is not averse to show-stopping gun fights and long, lingering shots of the lovely Barbara Bouchet (Don't Toture a Duckling, The Black Belly of the Tarantula).