Random crime. Brutal crime. Lots of crime! This is the best way to describe the opening scenes of Double Game. There is little build up to the scenes, and the characters are relatively nameless. A rape/murder, a beatdown and a series of shootings happen within the first five minutes alone. There is no protagonist, and no identifiable antagonists. What you get is simply a series of sickening crimes that prove one thing: The streets of Turin are tough ones. If one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, than one night in Turin means he is going to get the shit kicked out of him royally, if not killed. Crime runs rampant - but one man is ready to put an end to it.

That man is Inspector Moretti (George Hilton). Moretti has reached his breaking point and is fed up with crime. Realizing that the system is far too restrictive with what he can and cannot do, he decides that vigilantism is the only way to curb the crime in the city. “The Avenger” is born, and Captain America (er… Italy), he is not. By acting outside the law, he gets the attention of his partner, Inspector Danieli (Emanuel Cannarsa). Danieli and Moretti have worked together for years, but he is unaware of Moretti’s off-the-clock activities.

This scenario is nothing new; as I am sure you are aware. But that said, Double Game is one of the more interesting, and surprisingly popular, Dirty Harry rip-offs that came out of Italy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. For starters, any movie with the great George Hilton (see also The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail, All The Colors Of The Dark, and The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh) should not be as slow moving as this one. They should not be as droll as this one. The certainly should not be as boringly shot as this one. Hilton is the only truly awesome thing about this movie, so why would they use him with such restraint? There simply isn’t enough of him, and the film hurts as a result. For what it lacks in Hilton, it makes up for with the car chases - which are the only effectively shot scenes in the film, as the rest looks mighty pedestrian.

So aside from these mild compliments, and a very enjoyable score, what possible reason would there be to recommend the film when there are many other fantastic examples of the poliziotteschi genre readily available? I won’t pretend to come up with any positive ones.

Ausino’s next effort was to follow on Double Game’s success with the atrociously titled Tony: Another Double Game. This time out Emanuel Cannarsa plays Tony, a man who is, for all intents and purposes, a slacker. He doesn’t have any real sense of a life, but he seems like a genuinely good guy nevertheless. His lackadaisical life takes a considerable about-face when he gets involved with kidnappers. The proverbial shit hits the fan and murder is served up for roughly 90 minutes.

Double Game may have been pedestrian, but its sequel is surprisingly an improvement. Calling it a sequel isn’t really very fair though. None of the characters return (although many of the actors themselves do) and the plots don’t really coincide. If you had never heard of the original, but watched Tony, you certainly wouldn’t feel as though you missed anything. Tony himself is a likeable enough character and you are given time to make this connection since the plot is more coherent and the scene stealing George Hilton is nowhere to be seen. Normally this is a bad thing, but here it forces the movie to rise above cult star power. It doesn’t, but at least it tries.

Presentation 
You get two sides of the coin with this presentation. Double Game looks really good. It is very obvious that it has been remastered and the color scheme looks extremely good. Tony: Another Double Game really looks pretty bad. According to the packaging, this was restored from the director’s personal 35mm print. The negatives, apparently, have been destroyed. Considering the limitations of this, it actually looks surprisingly strong, and sounds as good as the first film. Just don’t expect similar video quality from each film. NoShame should be commended just for releasing the super-rare sequel. The audio is available in both the original Italian as well as an English dub (Double Game only). It should be known that the audio quality is significantly better on the Italian track, but the English dub is laughably bad at points anyway so it really shouldn’t matter anyway. Both films are subtitled for the non-English speaking audience.

And The Extras Are? 
NoShame hits a double play with the Double Game extras. There is a bounty to go through…

Double Game: One Player – (22:18) This is a cool little one-on-one interview with the Carlo Ausino, the director of both films. He is fairly balanced and interesting in discussing his history in cinema, from his origins to current projects, with ample time dedicated to Double Game. This is the most interesting film related feature in this set.

Christmas Tale – (20:49) The first and best of three short films included on this set. This is an artier piece with no dialog whatsoever about a woman who is so overwhelmed and distanced from society that she contemplates suicide. It is a very emotional and powerful piece. Well worth watching.

The Trailer – (16:53) This film, described as inspired by John Carpenter’s Christine, is a short horror piece about an actress shooting a trailer for a horror film about cars taking over. Then the car takes over. It is an interesting piece, but doesn’t really go anywhere.

A Modern Fairy Tale – (24:11) A waste of time. This rather long and tedious “short” follows the would-be star of Sahara Killing, an unfinished Carlo Ausino project. Its pretentiousness is equaled only by its waste of stock. The trailer for Sahara Killing (also included) is actually more interesting.

Original Italian Theatrical Trailer – (2:59) The trailer presents the movie more Dirty Harry than the film actually is. It’s effective, and sells the picture, just not the picture that you get on this DVD.

Poster and Still Gallery – (3:39) Over 45 frames of posters and stills go by with the soundtrack to Double Game playing in the background. This includes some of Ausino’s other work as well.

The Burning of the Marus Department Stores in Turin – (2:30) No audio, just a couple minutes of footage shot by Carlo Ausino of the titular event.

Sahara Killing – Theatrical Trailer – (1:48) The movie that never was… I thought this trailer looked like a good fun mystery. I would have seen it.

Killer’s Playlist – Theatrical Trailer – (2:29) Described as a female Double Game, I have to say, it looks a lot more impressive than either of the two films included here. This was Carlo’s most recent project, and I certainly hope that it gets released here. It will be interesting to see how Ausino has advanced in 26 years.

As always, NoShame’s booklet is packed with interesting facts. This time it provides us with liner notes by Richard Harlans Smith which is very informative. There is a cool article called Turin in Cinema, which as you might expect details the cinematic history that the city possesses. Additionally, we get bios for director Carlo Ausino himself, actor George Hilton, editor Eugenio Alabiso and music composer Stelvio Cipriana (see The Luciano Ercoli Death Box Set for a CD compilation of his works). Great information, free of charge. These booklets are awesome.

Fine
While the set and everything included is well assembled and surely a Double Game fan’s dream come true, I can’t help but be under whelmed by the films themselves. While the short films are a cool inclusion, the feature films are less imaginative. I certainly don’t regret watching them, and having the ultra-rare sequel available for the first time ever in America is great, but I didn’t have as good a time as I expected, and as such, I can only recommend Double Game as a rental.