Before Radiance films began offering a career retrospective, Damiano Damiani was mainly known in America for directing Amityville II: The Possession, the sequel/prequel to The Amityville Horror. This allowed him to be viewed as just another Italian horror director for decades. But has I’ve learned, Damiani wasn’t part of the wave of Italian horror maestros with Argento, Bava and Fulci. His reputation was for intense crime films back in Italy. This case was made when Radiance released Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales. Turns out that Franco Nero and Damiani made a fourth film about battling the mafia in Italy. Confessions of a Police Captain deals with the lengths a law man must go to in order to stop a construction executive who has mob ties.
Police Captain Bonavia (Psycho‘s Martin Balsam) decides to give up on bringing justice to Ferdinando Lomunno (A Man On His Knees‘ Luciano Catenacci). The construction kingpin is part of the Mafia and is making a tidy profit controlling the city’s new real estate. He also has no problem turning anyone who opposes him into rebar supporting his latest apartment building. Instead of taking the law in his own hands, Bonavia arranges for a rival of Lomunno to get released from a mental institution and secretly given a machine gun. However when the guy shows up at the construction company’s main office, Lomunno is not at his desk. There’s a bloody shootout that doesn’t quite go Bonavia’s way. The investigating Assistant D.A. Traini (Django‘s Franco Nero) wants to figure out who truly sent Bonavia for a hit job. Is he willing to go after the police captain? Or will the Police Captain have to figure out a way to destroy Traini’s career. Either way, Bonavia has zero desire to back off letting Lomunno proceed with his rackets in the city.
When the Italian cinema fell apart in the early ’80s, a lot of supporting actors from Hollywood lost out on their chance to be a star above the title. What major studio would let Martin Balsam have the more screen time than the superstar in a film? Even in 1971, he was not going to move tickets in the minds of bean counters. But in Italy, not only is he the title character, Balsam is killing it on the screen. He has the attitude and gestures to not make him stick out with his Italian castmates. The scenes where he argues his points on the evils of the construction kingpin’s empire to Nero aren’t lost in translation. He looks like he has no problem taking a swing at Nero if needed. The sad thought is that if a Hollywood studio wanted to remake Confessions, the creative executive would immediately ask, “Who should we get to play the Martin Balsam character?”
Once again, we’re given a Damiano Damiani movie about Franco Nero and others fighting the mob that’s intense and compelling. We get a sense of how deep the underworld has become in Italy at this time. They control real estate, politician and even judges. Confessions of a Police Captain proves that Damiano Damiani deserves to be remember for more than just a name in a horror film. Damiani was a master of men against the mafia films.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 2K transfer brings out the nasty side of the city being built by mobsters. The Audio is Italian in LPCM 1.0 mono. There’s also an English track in LPCM 1.0 mono. Does feel like the film’s was created in post production so either version. Although it is fun to watch Martin Balsam speak Italian. The movie is subtitled in English.
Franco Nero (29:15) is a new interview with the star. He talks about having a small role in a Damiano Damiani film early in his career. After Camelot, the two worked together quite a bit. Although this was because Nero’s wife Vanessa Redgrave told him to not turn down Day of the Owl since the book was great. He originally wanted Anthony Quinn as his co-star. Quinn wanted to relocate the film to America. So that was a no. Ben Gazzara also met for the role. But Ben had his own ideas that didn’t sit well. Ben’s lawyer also represented Martin Balsam. Martin showed up and went right to wardrobe for fittings. Nero realized quickly that Martin was the man for the role. Nero talks about after playing a DA, he became friends with a lot of Italian judges.
Michele Gammino (22:47) has him talk about landing his first on screen film role. He was originally a voice actor doing dubbing work. While doing an earlier Damiano Damiani film, the director suggest he perform on camera. Gammino said to Damiani that he’s the director, why doesn’t he hire him to act in the next film. Thus he ended up in Confessions of a Police Captain as the assistant to the captain. He gets into working with Martin Balsam. The actor helped him with his American accent.
Antonio Siciliano (26:49) lets the editor discuss his approach to cutting the film. The big moment is after they showed a rough cut to Sergio Leone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), the legendary director told him that not a single frame needs to be touched. Leone is still right. This is a great talk for anyone who is editing their projects to put online. He talks about the greatness of Damiani’s I Am Afraid. Is he teasing the next Blu-ray from the director?
Lovely Jon (31:00) gets into Riz Ortolani’s score for the film. Ortolani was very prolific having worked six decades in the movie business. You might know Riz’s work from the Oscar nominated song “More” that came from Mondo Cane.
Gallery includes over 75 images of lobby cards from around the world, press photos, the Japanese film guide and posters.
Illustrated Collector’s Book includes two interviews with Damiani from 1972 when the film came out.
Radiance Films present Confessions of a Police Captain (Limited Edition) Directed by Damiano Damiani. Screenplay by Damiano Damiani & Salvatore Laurani. Starring Franco Nero, Martin Balsam, Marilù Tolo, Claudio Gora, Arturo Dominici, Michele Gammino, Luciano Lorcas, Giancarlo Prete & Adolfo Lastretti. Running Time: 105 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: April 21, 2026.
