When I last experienced the work of director Damiano Damiani, it came via 1977’s satisfying thriller Goodbye & Amen. As such, it seemed logical that I’d give Damiani’s follow-up a look, and that led me to check out 1979’s A Man On His Knees.

Nino Peralta (Giuliano Gemma) leads an ordinary life. Out of nowhere, however, he finds himself targeted by assassin Antonio Platamone (Michele Placido).

Nino eventually learns that someone kidnapped wealthy Mrs. Marini and the hitman intends to murder anyone involved. That list doesn’t include Nino, but this nonetheless leads him on a quest to survive until he can establish his innocence to these parties.

Although Knees represents my fourth experience with the films of Damiani, my view of the first that I saw continues to color my perceptions. 1982’s Amityville II: The Possession acted as my first awareness of Damiani’s oeuvre.

And it didn’t go well. A dreadful stab at horror, the movie flopped in all possible ways.

That said, my next two viewings of Damiani flicks fared much better. I thought pretty highly of 1966’s The Witch as well as the aforementioned Goodbye & Amen.

Even so, the stench of Amityville II continues to color my views of Damiani. Perhaps Knees will finally eradicate that foul odor, as it offers another solid Damiani thriller.

Like those two, Knees provides an understated affair that avoids annoying theatrics. When violence or such antics emerge, they do so organically and don’t seem to exist just to provoke an audience reaction.

Instead, Knees becomes a semi-Hitchcockian portrait of a man who starts to unravel under outside pressures. In a smart move, the script makes Nino a former criminal, a factor that ensures we don’t see him as totally innocent.

Did Nino participate in the kidnapping? No, though even that notion occasionally seems up for grabs, as Damiani refuses to firmly telegraph any plot points.

These choices add complexity and allow Knees to become deeper than a black and white “innocent man in over his head” narrative. The decision to make Nino an ex-con definitely pays dividends, as it leaves authorities – and the audience – more suspicious of him than otherwise would become the case.

All that said, Knees depicts Nino as a guy with a shady past who nonetheless wants to walk the straight and narrow and do right by his wife and kids. We don’t completely buy that he now finds himself completely detached from his past, but we believe he at least attempts to lead a legitimate life.

Gemma plays Nino in a manner that doesn’t beg the viewers for affection. We buy him both as the rough-hewn former thief and the caring family man, no easy feat to accomplish.

On the surface, Knees should become a snoozer. Not a whole lot happens across much of its 110 minutes, and it takes a long time to get where it needs to go.

However, the plot builds in a solid manner that keeps us involved even if it goes the long route to get there. Damiani builds character dimensionality along the way, so even without overt fireworks, the story still moves ahead well.

All of this leaves us with an off-beat thriller but a compelling one nonetheless. It uses its time well and turns into an intriguing journey.

A Man On His Knees appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image seemed reasonably appealing.

Sharpness usually worked fine. Despite a few slightly soft wider elements, the majority of the movie appeared accurate enough.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and no print flaws materialized.

Though they occasionally leaned a bit yellow or blue/green, colors went with a largely natural vibe. The disc replicated the hues in an appropriate manner.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while shadows looked smooth and clear. Even with some mild softness, this was a good presentation.

I expect little from circa 1980 audio, and I expect even less from Italian soundtracks. As such, the movie’s iffy LPCM monaural mix fared about as well – or as questionably - as I anticipated.

That meant it seemed mediocre at best. Speech seemed intelligible but the lines consistently came across as edgy and metallic.

Music tended to sound a bit shrill, and effects were rough as well. Given its age, the track still merited a “C-“, but it came with clear weaknesses.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find four video pieces. An Interview with Film Historian Alberto Pezzotta spans 23 minutes, 44 seconds.

Here we get info about the state of Italian cinema in the late 1970s as well as the work of filmmaker Damiano Damiani as well as notes about the creation of Knees. Pezzotta gives us a solid overview of these topics.

An Interview with Actor Giuliano Gemma comes next. This reel lasts eight minutes, 45 seconds.

Gemma talks about his experiences during the production and some thoughts about the film and its director. Expect a brief but informative reel.

After this we find An Interview with Actor/Filmmaker Tano Cimarosa. He sits for an eight-minute, 59-second chat.

The featurette covers Cimarosa’s thoughts about Knees and his colleagues. Despite terrible sound quality due to wind, we find a good collection of thoughts.

Finally, we get An Interview with assistant director Mino Giarda. This conversation goes for 20 minutes, 41 seconds.

Giarda relates notes about his career and work in films, with a little about Knees. Though we don’t get a ton of info about this disc’s movie, the discussion nonetheless proves fruitful and lively.

As a story of an innocent character who deals with a deadly threat, A Man on His Knees becomes a winner. The film builds a slow but involving plot that keeps us with it the whole way. The Blu-ray delivers very good picture with problematic audio and a decent set of bonus features. The film lands well.