Back when Radiance Films issued its welcome Cosa Nostra: Three Films by Damiano Damiani set in 2023 spotlighting films the director made with star Franco Nero (including The Day of the Owl, How to Kill a Judge, and The Case Is Closed, Forget It), there was one key title missing from the quartet of films they made together. It took a while to materialize, but finally the label got its shot at that last film, Confessions of a Police Captain, ironically the one with the biggest international distribution thanks to being picked up for the U.S. and U.K. by AVCO Embassy. That company's eventual home video arm, Embassy Pictures, kept this one in circulation for a while on VHS, after which it was somehow presumed to be public domain and bootlegged in a number of substandard DVD editions.

Two very different outlooks on justice collide when Captain Bonuvia (Balsam) orchestrates the release from convicted violent criminal Lipuma (Lastretti), who immediately goes after a local construction tycoon, Dubrosio. Instead the target's henchmen unleash a hail of gunfire, which brings in idealistic Deputy District Attorney Traini (Nero) who quickly realizes Bonuvia wanted the corrupt Dubrosio out of the way. It's a staunch anti-corruption stance versus Bonuvia's "the end justifies the means" mentality, with the late Lipuma's sister, Serena (Tolo), dragged into the proceedings.

Though it certainly doesn't skimp on the violence directed at numerous characters, Confessions of a Police Captain (whose title implies something it really isn't) focuses far more on the characters and the deeply flawed social structures around them than the expected chases and gun battles. Nero and especially Balsam are excellent here, the latter making a smooth and confident transition to occasional Italian crime films followed by titles like Smiling Maniacs, Death Rage, Season for Assassins, Blood and Diamonds, and Counselor at Crime. This is easily the meatiest role of the bunch, and Balsam makes the most of it with a complex, gripping characterization that pays off with a memorable final scene. Another major asset is a top-tier score by Riz Ortolani, utilizing those same distinctive fuzz guitar effects he was using in the same year's Web of the Spider. It's no wonder his work here has been reissued numerous times on vinyl and CD over the years, and of the nine films he scored for Damiani, this is the standout.

Of all the questionable DVD releases out there, the best one was probably the letterboxed 2005 one from Koch Media in Germany which appears to be the source used for a double feature DVD in the U.S. from Wild East in 2010 paired up with Summertime Killer. Clocking in fast at PAL speed at 101m14s, that disc was heavily interlaced and came with the U.S., international, and German trailers. If you were unlucky enough to watch the film in one of its numerous bargain bin collections like the 20-film Grindhouse Experience set from Fortune 5, you got a brutally cropped presentation that was also trimmed down and sped up to run 96m40s from the old VHS master. That one was jammed on a double-sided DVD with Executioner 2, Poseidon Explosion, and Earthquake 7.9, which makes perfect sense. At least anything ripped from the old U.S. tape featured the English-language insert shots (see the second comparison example below) which have otherwise been missing since. The first really excellent presentation of the film finally arrived in 2019 on Blu-ray and DVD in Germany from FilmArt featuring Italian or English audio with optional German subtitles, plus the 95m49s German cut of the film in lesser quality, a 4m16s Nero interview (in English with German subs), the German trailer, a 5m7s gallery, and, uh, bonus kung fu and giallo trailers.

The 2026 Radiance Films Blu-ray released in both the U.S. and U.K. comes from the same excellent 2K presentation as the German disc, featuring 1.0 mono English and Italian audio with optional English SDH or improved English-translated subtitles for their respective tracks. It's a bit of a toss-up which version to watch as the actors were almost entirely performing in English but with more care given to the mixing and dynamic nature of the Italian option. Try 'em both. The extras kick off with a new interview with Nero (29m15s) about his first job for Damiani, their films together, the intended casting of Ben Gazzara in the role that fortuitously went to Balsam instead, the moral lessons he learned from his Carabiniere father, the public response to this film, and more. Then you get an interview with actor Michele Gammino (22m47s) about making his debut with this film after working for Damiani as a dubber, the challenges of shooting in English, the importance of this film on his career, and the collaborative work he enjoyed with Balsam. An interview with editor Antonio Siciliano (26m49s) goes into the tweaks the film underwent in the post-production process, the cadence he established in key scenes like a lengthy confrontation between the two leads, and the conditions of working for companies like RAI and notable directors and producers of the period. Finally an insightful analysis of Ortolani's score is provided by Lovely Jon (31m) who contextualizes this within the maestro's output and the crime and jazz music idioms of the time, as well as notable collaborators like the members of I Marc 4. A 79-image gallery is also included, and the disc comes with a limited edition booklet which was announced as featuring an essay by Mark Shiel but instead has two archival Damiani interviews, "Justice Is Never Neutral" with Gerard Langlois and an untitled one with Guy Braucort, both from 1972, covering American noir, the relationship between the law and organized crime, and more.

Radiance Films (Blu-ray)

FilmArt (Blu-ray)

Wild East (DVD)

Fortune 5 (DVD)

Reviewed on April 7, 2026