Caliber 9

Caliber 9 (; also released as The Contract) is a 1972 Italian noir-poliziottesco film written and directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Lionel Stander. The film takes its title from the short story collection of the same name by Giorgio Scerbanenco, and is partially based on three of its stories. The musical score was composed by Luis Enriquez Bacalov and performed by the progressive rock band Osanna. Caliber 9 is the first part in Di Leo's Milieu Trilogy of poliziotteschi films. It was followed by La mala ordina (The Italian Connection) in 1972 and Il Boss (The Boss) in 1973. Plot After a stint in prison, small-time Milanese gangster Ugo Piazza is immediately harassed by his old associates, led by a powerful American launderer known simply as "The Americano" (or "The Mikado" in the English dub), who believe that he stole 300,000 US dollars during a handover, shortly before his arrest for robbery. Piazza emphatically denies the theft, even under coercion from The Americano's volatile right-hand man Rocco. His girlfriend, go-go dancer Nelly Bordon, also believes he stole the money, as does the police commissario, who unsuccessfully attempts to turn him informant. Piazza meets his former godfather Don Vincenzo, now a blind old man, and his sole remaining capo Chino. Though Rocco mocks Vincenzo's authority, they still hold a begrudging respect for Chino, who has refused to leave his godfather even after everyone else has. The Americano gives Piazza an ultimatum to return the money and resume working for him, but he still insists he doesn't have it and doesn't know who does. Paranoid about more, similar thefts, Rocco begins killing off his money couriers.