John Cassavetes’ crime classic Machine Gun McCain comes to Blu-ray

On my daily morning tour of the net, I found out that director Giuliano Montaldo’s 1970 cult classic crime film Machine Gun McCain is finally out on Blu-ray. If you’re not familiar with Machine Gun McCain – which carried the tagline “Even the Mafia Calls Him Mister!” – the film is a hardboiled, deadly serious action thriller. Giuliano Montaldo – who also directed the World War II drama The Fifth Day of Peace – uses gritty chase sequences and realistic action set pieces, to tell a timeless mob story that any classic action movie fan would enjoy.

I haven’t watched the Blu-ray yet, so I can’t attest to the transfer quality of this particular release, but having watched Machine Gun McCain as part of my steady diet of action and horror cinema growing up, I can say it’s one of those balls-to-the-wall standouts. I rank it right up there with Charles Bronson’s The Mechanic and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry.

The Machine Gun McCain Blu-ray release comes to us from Blue Underground, which has produced a series of cult action and sci-fi re-releases, including A Bullet for the General, The Big Racket and many more.

Machine Gun McCain stars the legendary John Cassavetes, with Britt Ekland (The Man With the Golden Gun), Peter Falk (Columbo) and Gena Rowlands (Gloria) along for the bumpy ride. Cassavetes plays the titular role, Hank McCain, who’s just been released from prison after serving 12 years behind bars for armed robbery, and finds himself the pawn of a ruthless mob runt’s rebellion against a high level don. After discovering that he’s been betrayed and abandoned by his new employer, he retaliates with a high stakes Las Vegas casino heist that erupts into all-out war on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

The long-unavailable gangster classic includes an unforgettable score by Ennio Morricone (The Untouchables), and co-stars cult favorite Florinda Bolkan (Don’t Torture A Duckling).

Check out the trailer for Machine Gun McCain below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDAyeJ__Q6E