Director: Pasquale
Squitieri
Notable Cast: Joe
Dallesandro, Stefania Casini, Benito Artesi, Ferdinando Murolo, Raymond
Pellegrin
For a bit of context to this review, I’m hardly an expert
when it comes to Italian crime cinema, but I was super excited to jump into The Climber as it came with solid
recommendations from fans of the genre. Of course, it also helps when it gets a
slick new release from Arrow Video (which includes a new 4K restoration) to get
my hopes up. With these expectations, it’s hard not to feel slightly
disappointed with the film itself as I sat with the credits rolling. The Climber is hardly a bad film, that
is not my opinion at all, and for those looking for exciting action,
questionable anti-heroes, and a story that runs the sequence on ‘young criminal
with big ambitions’ then this film will certainly hit all the right buttons. However,
The Climber is also a film that plays things fairly close to the chest and
straight forward, only digging deeper than its plot to deliver a few
commentaries. It’s entertaining, sure, but hardly the overlooked classic that
so many seem to claim it to be.